Fantastical story! A most wonderful read whisking me aloft on a journey thru space and, well, time! I read it aloud to my two elder colleagues just now in our lunch break, without divulging its author until after, and they were most enchanted and enthused and wanted an intro into to the Substack platform ! One of them is a fan, as I am, of SHAME, MC, your short fiction, SV, and HAROUN !
The beginning ( I mean until Brunella-Bruno sets up his Time business which keeps flourishing, attracting customers of all ages) is exciting. I felt that Rushdie, one of the greatest story tellers of the world of all times, is back again after The Enchantress of Florence and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The thrill and excitement, as the grand sweep of imagination of your kind always produces, continued even till the entry of the government official into the plot and Brunella-Bruno's proposal to him. But from the point of Bruno-Brunella's decision to leave, the plot lapsed into a strained narrative trudge. Maybe I'm too dimwitted to piece things together, but it may also be due to the fact that you allowed your imagination to be short-circuited for failing to drag it (or for not enjoying dragging it) any further. BUT THE END IS POETRY OF A PROFOUNDLY TOUCHING EDGE. This poetry is what you seem to have melted into at present! As a reader, I'm grateful to you, Dear Rushdie, for drawing me back to yourself!!
We met briefly at the Hudson Valley Writers Center Gala on September 21. Your wife was being honored. I'm a big fan of your work. Could you follow me/subscribe on Substack? It would mean so much.
This is beautiful, and biting, and funny and sad and just a wonderful dark story. But Mr. Rushdie, I am hurting. We are hurting. Aren't we all hurting? We have been waiting for this covid-fog to dissipate, so we can return to our old normal worries. And yes, maybe we are close to a devastating end. Maybe we are just moths and bugs. Maybe we get nothing more from this cold universe. But some of us are still wishing, in the untouched innermost core of our most private souls. You make up the stories. You have the power to save us from flying straight into the flame, even if only in fiction.
As a little girl I listened to the Threepenny Opera so many times that I learned all the songs by heart. I know:
Happy ending, nice and tidy
It's a rule I learned in school
Get your money every Friday
Happy endings are the rule
So divide up those in darkness
From the ones who walk in light
Light'em up boys, there's your picture
Drop the shadows out of sight
True enough.
Still, you are the story teller. You can make it so.
The idea of desire for peace as opposed to violence instead of the dichotomy of goodness and villany (right and wrong/ justice and injustice) is interesting (and especially suited for human society.)
An enjoyable story, yes — but it also brings forth everything that is occurring today in this wintery spring. The internal warring of hope and despair. The outward display of goodness and evil. Did some readers want a happily ever after ending so they could go back to watching the news as they prepared their trip to the grocery store?
What a wonderful story. I - we - totally enjoyed it.
Fantastical story! A most wonderful read whisking me aloft on a journey thru space and, well, time! I read it aloud to my two elder colleagues just now in our lunch break, without divulging its author until after, and they were most enchanted and enthused and wanted an intro into to the Substack platform ! One of them is a fan, as I am, of SHAME, MC, your short fiction, SV, and HAROUN !
I thoroughly enjoyed this! I particularly liked the concept of kindness-as-non-currency.
It's a good read. Thank you Rushdie Sir for presenting us such a beautiful story.
Cool story
So cool and funny!! Thanks:-)
Thank you
The beginning ( I mean until Brunella-Bruno sets up his Time business which keeps flourishing, attracting customers of all ages) is exciting. I felt that Rushdie, one of the greatest story tellers of the world of all times, is back again after The Enchantress of Florence and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The thrill and excitement, as the grand sweep of imagination of your kind always produces, continued even till the entry of the government official into the plot and Brunella-Bruno's proposal to him. But from the point of Bruno-Brunella's decision to leave, the plot lapsed into a strained narrative trudge. Maybe I'm too dimwitted to piece things together, but it may also be due to the fact that you allowed your imagination to be short-circuited for failing to drag it (or for not enjoying dragging it) any further. BUT THE END IS POETRY OF A PROFOUNDLY TOUCHING EDGE. This poetry is what you seem to have melted into at present! As a reader, I'm grateful to you, Dear Rushdie, for drawing me back to yourself!!
I felt like I accelerated to the end of the story! A very enjoyable read. Thank you, sir!
I tell a story in my newsletters. nancybrisson.substack.com You are one of my favorite authors.
We met briefly at the Hudson Valley Writers Center Gala on September 21. Your wife was being honored. I'm a big fan of your work. Could you follow me/subscribe on Substack? It would mean so much.
This story will be a great film one day.
"So many books, so little time.” Frank Zappa.
Thank you Mr. Rushdie
This is beautiful, and biting, and funny and sad and just a wonderful dark story. But Mr. Rushdie, I am hurting. We are hurting. Aren't we all hurting? We have been waiting for this covid-fog to dissipate, so we can return to our old normal worries. And yes, maybe we are close to a devastating end. Maybe we are just moths and bugs. Maybe we get nothing more from this cold universe. But some of us are still wishing, in the untouched innermost core of our most private souls. You make up the stories. You have the power to save us from flying straight into the flame, even if only in fiction.
As a little girl I listened to the Threepenny Opera so many times that I learned all the songs by heart. I know:
Happy ending, nice and tidy
It's a rule I learned in school
Get your money every Friday
Happy endings are the rule
So divide up those in darkness
From the ones who walk in light
Light'em up boys, there's your picture
Drop the shadows out of sight
True enough.
Still, you are the story teller. You can make it so.
Really wonderful and thought-provoking story.
The idea of desire for peace as opposed to violence instead of the dichotomy of goodness and villany (right and wrong/ justice and injustice) is interesting (and especially suited for human society.)
An enjoyable story, yes — but it also brings forth everything that is occurring today in this wintery spring. The internal warring of hope and despair. The outward display of goodness and evil. Did some readers want a happily ever after ending so they could go back to watching the news as they prepared their trip to the grocery store?