by Salman Rushdie
This is the story of a young woman who, after seeing her mother die on a funeral pyre, takes some seeds and creates a city from them. I have not read anything by Rushdie before. He has a lovely writing style however while it was a good story I didn't feel it said anything particularly new or profound, as one review says "His new novel is about a kingdom that is founded on pluralism but fails to live up to its ideals".
Two cattle herders? come to the city and take power as King, first one brother and then the other. The young woman, Pampa, ends up marrying them both. She attempts to direct things to a society where women are equal and all views are respected but has limited and no lasting success. The story is all about how people scheme and fight for power and in the end the city is destroyed. Pampa lives to be almost two hundred years old so she is witness to, and documents, the history of her city.
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