Booker Prize 2019 Longlist: Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

(UK/India)

Book number 9 read and rated by Book Worm & Tracy.

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: Inspired by the classic Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, Quichotte is the story of an aging travelling salesman who falls in love with a TV star and sets off to drive across America on a quest to prove himself worthy of her hand. Quichotte’s tragicomic tale is one of a deranged time, and deals, along the way, with father-son relationships, sibling quarrels, racism, the opioid crisis, cyber-spies, and the end of the world.

Book Worm’s Thoughts: Rushdie seems to be a bit of a marmite author you either love him or hate him and up until this book I have loved everything I have read including the really whacked out stuff. What went wrong with this book? It was too much for me to keep track of I am sure it is a very intelligent book and I am sure that a lot of that went above my head but I personally found it hard to keep track of which character’s storyline we were in at any given point and while I liked the idea of the quest there was so much political/social commentary included it detracted from the storyline for me.

In a nutshell this book didn’t transport me to another world because the commentary kept dragging me back to the here and now.

Writing quality: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 2/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 1/2
Total: 12/20

Tracy’s Thoughts: A modern telling of one of my favorite stories, by one of my favorite authors? It should be a win. It was.

I love Rushdie’s playfulness with language, plot and kooky characters- and this book had all that. Quichotte, the lovable main character of Sam DuChamp’s book, and his alter ego, was a great character.

Rushdie had a lot to say in this book: politics, crumbling morals and crumbling morale, racism, opioid addiction: all were covered. This may be a drawback for some, but I liked how he addressed these issues.

Writing: 5/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 18/20

Rankings

The Man Who Saw Everything 18.2
Lanny 15.92
Frankissstein 15.2

Quichotte 15
My Sister, the Serial Killer 14.6
An Orchestra of Minorities 13.66
Lost Children Archive 13.3
10 Minutes 38 Seconds 12
The Wall 11.57

What are your thoughts on this one will it make the short list?