Review of THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEAT by Salman Rushdie.
The Ground Beneath Her Feet**** by Salman Rushdie Quality Paperbacks Direct (originally Henry Holt & Company), 1999 In his eagerly awaited new novel, Salman Rushdie, acclaimed author of The Satanic Verses, takes his readers on a brilliant journey through the past 40 years of pop culture, from Bombay to New York, mesmerizing us with one of the most captivating love stories in modern literature. He tells the tale of the “world’s greatest rock band,” formed by Vina Apsara, the siren with the irresistible voice, and Ormus Cama, her lover and a sensational musician. Their extraordinarily deep but unstable love — one marked by breakups, reunions and a seemingly endless number of obstacles — spans decades and continents, transcending even death. The photographer Rai, their childhood friend and Vina’s secret sometime lover, narrates the story with dry wit and wisdom, revealing that despite his detachment as the eternal observer he, too, is unable to escape their spell. The novel begins at the end, when in a devastating earthquake the ground literally swallows Vina whole. This scene is fraught with symbolism: The natural catastrophe occurs on Valentine’s Day in 1989, the day on which the fatwa issued against Rushdie by Iran’s Khomeini shook up the author’s own life; the earthquake serves as both the climax and the leitmotif of the book. The ground beneath the protagonists’ feet is unsettlingly shaky, ready at any time to crumble, crack and betray glimpses of unexpected truths. Even “reality” becomes alarmingly disorienting on account of Rushdie’s rewriting of history. When Watergate is described as an amusing fantasy thriller and Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel” is attributed to one Jesse Aron Parker, it becomes clear that the world Rushdie creates is not the world as we know it. While Vina and Ormus are clearly the star characters of the novel, Rushdie recounts the entangled histories of a host of fascinating and carefully developed minor characters. He explores such issues as racial barriers, the homeland and exile, the encounter of East and West, the global significance of pop music and the phenomenon of celebrity. Although the compelling lyrics that punctuate Rushdie’s prose lend credibility to Ormus’ and Vina’s claim to superstardom, they also serve to emphasize the book’s only shortcoming: that the music celebrated in its 600 pages cannot be enjoyed as well. However, this is about to change: The new album of rock band U2, which is due to come out this month, will include the title song “The Ground Beneath Her Feet,” Rushdie’s lyrics set to music by his friend Bono of U2. “This is a novel with a theme song,” declared Rushdie with delight in a recent interview.