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Knife

Meditations After an Attempted Murder

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Knife

By: Salman Rushdie
Narrated by: Salman Rushdie
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring - and surviving - an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him

Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art, and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. Knife is a gripping, intimate, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art - and finding the strength to stand up again.

©2024 Salman Rushdie (P)2024 Penguin Audio Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Art Art & Literature Authors Best of 2024 Religious Studies South Asian Creators
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This feels very real, I find myself liking Salman very much. There is generosity in his art

an honest account

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Is there anything Salman Rushdie cannot explore through his writing? From mythical, fictional, autobiographical - Salman Rushdie places being human onto every page of every book he has ever written, no exception in ‘Knife’
With enough facts of that horrid day he was stabbed near-to -death, to satisfy the readers gaps in knowledge of the world headline event, Rushdie takes us on his unique tangential rides on magic carpets of his mind; ; from the day of the stabbing, to recovery from horrific wound, to historical, fantastical musings we go .
The writing in this autobiographical novel can only eventuate from a mind as magnificent as his . It is a survival and a love story, examined with the panning out across the years back to childhood, to the fatwa, to emergence from hiding, to loss, love, survival, perspective that can only come from a most ‘examined’ life; Salman Rushdies
If you’ve ever doubted this man’s genius or if you thought you knew him but only through media, and throwabout uneducated opinion you should not only read ALL of his books but make a vow to read this one as a top priority .
I’ll never forget this book.

He leaves me speechless

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It's a raw terrible story of attack, aftermath but more importantly, more than just survival...

So good to hear Salman speak these words

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I am lost for words as my emotions overwhelm me. Such a powerful, brutally honest story of overcoming tragedy, brilliant and overwhelming storytelling by Sir Salman Rushdie- thank you!

Overwhelmingly powerful

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This was excellent until Rushdie - who I didn’t know what so radically racial in his politics - decided to implicate every “white” with carefree, uppity and altogether ignorant generalisations. Leftist politics are tiresome, especially when the readers aren’t here for them.

Not huge on being insulted by the author

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The first several chapters, his biographical stuff and the telling of the story of his attack, and his survival is really great. Then we get to the chapter about his attacker… and it made me physically cringe. From there, it didn’t get any better. His story is fascinating, but Salman seems like the type of guy at a party your non-pretentious friends side eye saying “who the hell brought this bloke.”

First half great, goes downhill fast.

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