This long book’s primary impact was to get me to consider my own preconceived notion of who Salman Rushdie is. And to acknowledge how much my notion of who he is had been the production of the media—for I hadn’t read his books (&, for that matter, only barely had heard his name—if I had) at the time, Valentine’s Day of 1989, when he became front page stories with the “fatwa”: the calling for his death by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini. And, I think that’s the author’s major point—to tell his story from his perspective. It strains your openness toward him, as it’s so much from his thoroughly subjective perspective, especially in regards to of his sympathetic and unsympathetic attitude toward x-wives and x-professional colleagues and those orbiting in his circles, particularly other literary celebrities. (In the end, perhaps this book is mostly a statement on celebrity—but here I’m getting off my “primary” point.) In JOSEPH ANTON Rushdie articulately (by a cute—or annoying—third person, he=I, stance), persuasively, and forcefully presents his case. He rewards those who were good soldiers and punishes those who failed him. I like this author least when he’s bothering me with his celebrity status by focusing so much value on those other “stars.” I liked this book the most when learning about Rushdie’s childhood—his dilemma at age 13 to escape his native India (and leave his family’s sanctuary) in favor of an UK education and much wanted distance from bitter parental discord, his adolescence in the changing ‘60s, and his first work as a writer of snappy copy for the ad business in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s. & particularly the discovery of his voice—his reaching back to hear the sounds of his Indian childhood & languaging that in his first successful novel, MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN. Back to my start, the reason I’d urge others to read this book is to appreciate the great injustice of the fatwa and to admit her/his lack of courage in standing up against this injustice. Or, at least to acknowledge, as I have to, that her/his opinions about this man were the result of accepting the media’s presentation of him—as someone who was partially responsible for bringing on the fatwa, because he wanted it, because this “outrageous provocation” was somehow in his interest. Rushdie might not be (especially for feminists) an attractive figure—how many celebrities are?—but he deserved more of our undiluted support. He’s an artist and a state leader offered great incentives for his followers to kill him. Just because he wrote a novel (THE SATANIC VERSES) that included his theological examinations of his ancestors’ religion.

I want to cancel a hold on Joseph Anton. I'm asked if I really want to cancel. I do. Please help me cancel it.