Word: vina
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...novel set primarily in America, though the main characters are Indian and a good chunk of the book takes place there. The first third of the book is a dense, atmospheric and compelling look at India during the beginning of British decolonization. The novel's featured three-some, beautiful Vina Apsara, musically gifted Ormus Cama and the narrator, Rai, are united early through friendships and tragedy. Vina, relocated to India from America after the murder of her family is adopted by Rai's parents, the Merchants. Soon, Vina meets Ormus Cama, the son of the Merchants' good friends; the three...
...America, Rai becomes a photographer, while Vina and Ormus become full-blown celebrities through the success of their band, VTO (or V-2--The bands' name a fitting homage to Rushdie's real-life inspiration...
...empty, with a few discotheques and famous faces but lacking energy and life. The essence of America seems to slip through Rushdie's fingers, and a rich history of pop culture is reduced to a handful of amusing cameos. Narrator Rai becomes myopic in this foreign environment, keeping Vina and Ormus at a distance from the reader and failing to portray them as more than celebrated anomalies...
Rushdie's prose ranges from lush to breathlessly over-the-top to simply ridiculous; in an attempt to bring a more rock-and-roll feel to the work, he introduces slang, throwaway puns and silly lyrics that hinder his otherwise elegant style. He describes Vina as "Professor Vina and Crystal Vina, Holy Vina and profane Vina, Junkie Vina and Veggie Vina, Women's Vina and Vina the Sex Machine, Barren-Childless Tragic Vina and Traumatized-childhood-Tragedy Vina." Um, what was that again...
Ormus' musical elegy for Vina reaches a poetic level missing in the rest of his fabricated song lyrics. He sings, "and now I can't be sure of anything, black is white and cold is heat; for what I worshiped stole my love away, it was the ground beneath her feet." The words are expressive but minimal and emotional, a style Rushdie might have stuck to when writing other parts of the book. The nature of celebrity is a subject Rushdie tackles with aplomb, yielding a few entertaining bits of satire. His celebrities are drugged up, swaggering, stylized and often...