Changes

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=9780224093972

|pages=656

|publisher=Jonathan Cape

|summary=Rushdie's memoir of the fatwa years is a must read for anyone who cares about literature and/or free speech. A fascinating insight on his life in hiding and his battle to regain his freedom. Compelling both for the issues and the portrayal of a flawed man. It's a story that is not as clear cut as it first seems.

}}

Salman Rushdie's memoir of, predominantly, the fatwa years is completely gripping - albeit not necessarily in the way the author intended I suspect. For any lover of literature it's a fascinating insight into the man. People write memoirs largely to put their side of the story. Rushdie is of course supremely intelligent and a gifted wordsmith and yet while aspects of the story remain shocking and induce both anger and incredulity that the situation was allowed to go as far as it did and for so long, it's probably not a book that will change your views of Rushdie the man, not least as he displays many of the traits that the press ascribed to him. Oh why do our heroes always have to be so imperfect?