'The sentences, by Rushdie’s standards, are short there are fewer bells and whistles (although, by normal standards, there are still a lot of bells and whistles).

There are intensely passionate anti-war passages, but they somehow don't impact on the main narrative in quite the way they might.' - Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday

'Rushdie addresses many geopolitical, philosophical and theological questions in his novel but this is not polemic.

With fewer of the stylistic irritations of his previous fictions, this is one of Rushdie's best novels yet.' - Suhayl Saadi, The Independent Its shuddering epiphany and dynamic immediacy are exceptional, and the characters of the villagers are drawn with humour, intelligence and intense emotional power.

' Shalimar the Clown is a brilliant symphony with some bum notes.

(.) (L)ose sight of the lecture, and you are left with an increasingly absurd plot and a style that is more and more mannered.' - Natasha Walter, The Guardian

'(F)rom the beginning the prose seems to be straining to live up to expectations, and slipping into hyperbole as a result.

But if you can ignore the geopolitics-as-love-triangle, read Shalimar the Clown for the effervescent fun factor that is always present in Rushdie's work (.), and for its devastating portrait of the destruction of Kashmir.' - Annabel Lyon, The Globe and Mail

'In the end, there's something a little too neatly schematic about this novel: Muslim man murders Jewish man over Hindu woman.

Rather, as the movie people describe such segments, it is back story.' - Erik Spanberg, Christian Science Monitor

'(A) devastating if at times heavy-handed examination of a doomed love and doomed region.Gone is the time when anywhere was exotic or magical or mythical, or even remote.' - Christopher Hitchens, The Atlantic Monthly No more Shangri-las, if it comes to that. (.) Rather than seek anything as trite as a 'message', I should guess that Rushdie is telling us: No more Macondos. It is not necessary to assimilate all the details of the conflict in Kashmir in order to read it. 'This is a highly serious novel, on an extremely serious subject, by a deeply serious man.Not quite a consensus, but many quite impressed General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the authorī : many fine ideas and parts, but doesn't quite work as a whole Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

Shalimar the clown