Sunday, May 29, 2005
These are exalted females whose intercession is to be desired.
I finally got down to completing it after months, a masterpiece this is. Then my understanding of the book, its significance and islam as a religion improved with post-read materials such as this and this.
I doubt I can give commentaries that can match up to this level, for one it'll take way too much time and two, I might just end up trying to sound intellectual with hardly any meat to substantiate. So it's best I end the entry with a couple of excerpts I enjoyed, also noting to self that I will attempt to smuggle a copy of said book from hong kong come july.
From page 277:
'This is pretty cold comfort,' Chamcha managed a trace of his old dryness. 'Either I accept Lucretius and conclude that some demonic and irrevisible mutation is taking place in my inmost depths, or I go with Ovid and concede that everything now emerging is no more than a manifestation of what was already there.'
From page 364:
... required animals to be killed slowly, by bleeding, so that by experiencing their deaths to the full they might arrive at an understanding of the meaning of their lives, for it is only at the moment of death that living creatures understand that life has been real, and not a sort of dream.
From page 463:
While, elsewhere in the burning Shaandaar, faceless persons stand at windows waving piteously for help, being unable (no mouths) to scream.
From page 467:
What happens when you win?
When your enemies are at your mercy: how will you act then? Compromise is the temptation of the weak; this is the test for the strong.
I finally got down to completing it after months, a masterpiece this is. Then my understanding of the book, its significance and islam as a religion improved with post-read materials such as this and this.
I doubt I can give commentaries that can match up to this level, for one it'll take way too much time and two, I might just end up trying to sound intellectual with hardly any meat to substantiate. So it's best I end the entry with a couple of excerpts I enjoyed, also noting to self that I will attempt to smuggle a copy of said book from hong kong come july.
From page 277:
'This is pretty cold comfort,' Chamcha managed a trace of his old dryness. 'Either I accept Lucretius and conclude that some demonic and irrevisible mutation is taking place in my inmost depths, or I go with Ovid and concede that everything now emerging is no more than a manifestation of what was already there.'
From page 364:
... required animals to be killed slowly, by bleeding, so that by experiencing their deaths to the full they might arrive at an understanding of the meaning of their lives, for it is only at the moment of death that living creatures understand that life has been real, and not a sort of dream.
From page 463:
While, elsewhere in the burning Shaandaar, faceless persons stand at windows waving piteously for help, being unable (no mouths) to scream.
From page 467:
What happens when you win?
When your enemies are at your mercy: how will you act then? Compromise is the temptation of the weak; this is the test for the strong.
