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Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder | Salman Rushdie
48 posts | 21 read | 19 to read
From internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring--and surviving--an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art, and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. Knife is a gripping, intimate, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art--and finding the strength to stand up again.
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CatMS
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Peter's choice for bookclub, it is amazing Salmon Rushdie lived through this attack. Highly recommend.

9 likes1 stack add
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Night_Reader
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Pickpick

3.5/5 🌟

This is a straightforward and compelling retelling of his experience following an attempted murder. It's heartbreaking and shocking that he had to endure such a terrible ordeal.

'We would not be who we are today without the calamities of our yesterdays.'

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ClairesReads
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Pickpick

As always it feels weird rating or even reviewing a memoir, not least one about such a traumatic event as this. I found Rushdie‘s account of the recent attack on his life, and its aftermath compelling, and moving reading. He‘s a quirky, interesting character, and I found this memoir generous in its vulnerability and honesty of its reflection. It was interesting too, to read about the long term impact of living with the fatwa of 1989.

34 likes2 stack adds
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rachelk
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Pickpick

Salman Rushdie was attacked by a young man with a knife at an event where Rushdie was to speak about keeping writers safe — over 30 years after the fatwa against him was issued. Here Rushdie tells us what he experienced during his incredible recovery.

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currentlyreadinginCO
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Pickpick

It's been such a pleasure to listen to Salman Rushdie perform his beautiful prose the last few mornings on my walks. I particularly enjoyed the fictional interview with The A. -- I cackled, and loved the manipulation of language. I watched Mr. Rushdie's interview on The Daily Show about this book and I just love him and appreciate the way that he discusses this vicious attack, the fatwa, The Satanic Verses, and his fascinating life.

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currentlyreadinginCO
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I've been rearranging the front room while listening to the tagged book all day and I'm pretty pleased with it (ignore the bernese mountain dog tail/butt... he's always in the way 🙄)

TheBookHippie How lovely!!!! 3mo
Leftcoastzen Looks beautiful! 3mo
dabbe Love that bushy butt, too! 🖤🐾🖤 3mo
See All 7 Comments
Aimeesue Aww, Berners- such great doggos. 🤎 3mo
AnnCrystal 📚🤩👍💕🐕💝. 3mo
currentlyreadinginCO @Aimeesue he's the best, if slightly too big 💖 3mo
currentlyreadinginCO @TheBookHippie @Leftcoastzen thank you!! my Saturday was worth it then 😂 3mo
53 likes7 comments
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JenniferEgnor
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Pickpick

I have never read ‘The Satanic Verses‘, the infamous banned book which earned the author a fatwa, 6 assassination attempts, plus the 7th—which he recounts in this memoir. I cannot imagine wanting to kill someone because they wrote a book I don‘t like, or taking religion so seriously that I would feel this way. Rushdie survived 15 stabs in one night, in front of an audience. Those 27 seconds must have felt like an eternity. He was not ⬇️

JenniferEgnor expected to live. Had it not been for the love of his wife and his passion for writing, he might not have survived. His attack that night proved the very point of the speech he was giving that night—the importance of keeping authors free from violence. This memoir is out in a good time right now, with all the fascist attacks on our books, educators, libraries and librarians. This book is about courage, passion, death, and the will to live. (edited) 4mo
TheBookHippie Having read all his books, I was so devastated at this last attempt. This book was so good. I agree with everything you said. 4mo
JenniferEgnor @TheBookHippie I am reminded of the saying that goes, a good library has a book that will offend everyone. 4mo
20 likes4 comments
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JenniferEgnor
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And we—or, let me say more modestly say, I—have no need of commandments, popes, or god-men of any sort to hand down my morals to me. I have my own ethical sense, thank you very much. God did not hand down morality to us. We created God to embody our moral instincts.

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JenniferEgnor
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During those empty sleepless nights, I thought a lot about The Knife as an idea. When the knife makes the first cut in a wedding cake, it is part of the ritual by which two people are joined together. A kitchen knife is an essential part of the creative act of cooking. A Swiss Army knife is a helper, able to perform many small but necessary tasks, such as opening a bottle of beer. Occam‘s razor is a conceptual knife, a knife of theory, that⬇️

JenniferEgnor cuts through a lot of bullshit by reminding us to prefer the simplest available explanations of things to more complex ones. In other words, a knife is a tool, and acquires meaning from the use we make of it. It is the misuse of knives that is immoral. Whoa, I told myself. A hard pause. Wasn‘t that the same thing as saying “Guns don‘t kill people, people kill people”? Was I falling into a familiar trap? No. Because a gun had only one use,⬇️ 4mo
JenniferEgnor one purpose. You couldn‘t cut a cake with a Glock, or cook with an AR-15, or open a bottle of beer with James Bond‘s favorite Walther PPK. A gun‘s only way of being in the world was violence; its sole purpose was to cause damage, even to take lives, animal or human. A knife was not like a gun. Language, too, was a knife. It could cut open the world and reveal its meaning, its inner workings, its secrets, its truths. It could cut through ⬇️ 4mo
JenniferEgnor from one reality to another. It could call bullshit, open people‘s eyes, create beauty. Language was my knife. If I had unexpectedly been caught in an unwanted knife fight, maybe this was the knife I could use to fight back. It could be the tool I would use to remake and reclaim my world, to rebuild the frame in which my picture of the world could once more hang on my wall, to take charge of what had happened to me, to own it, make it mine. 4mo
13 likes3 comments
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JenniferEgnor
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The way the author describes a ventilator feeling like an armadillo tail in his throat…that‘s going to stick with me. I‘m used to seeing them as road kill all the time. Now, I‘m going to see them in some other universe being used as ventilators 🤣

dabbe 😱😱😱 4mo
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JenniferEgnor
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I‘ll just say: we would not be who we are today without the calamities of our yesterdays.

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JenniferEgnor
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I stood there in the moonlight for a while and let my mind run on moon-stuff.

~~~‘moon stuff‘. I love this description!
🌛🌜🌚🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌙

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Sapphire
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Knife was easily my favorite read in July, Rushdie one of my all time favorite authors. Will have to think on which one comes out ahead with braiding sweet grass. #bookbracket2024 #readingbracket2024

Catsandbooks 👏🏼❤️ 4mo
16 likes1 comment
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Karisimo
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#coverlove #weapon

I haven‘t read this one, but I‘ve heard it‘s good!

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Lesliereadsalot Just saw him interviewed on tv, such an interesting man. Book looks great! 4mo
Eggs Great cover 👏🏻 🔪 👌🏼 4mo
27 likes2 comments
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Sapphire
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Pickpick

I admit I am already a fan of Rushdie, having been strongly impacted by reading Midnight‘s Children twenty years ago. I saw Rushdie speak in 2017 at the National Cathedral for the Pen first Eudora Welty lecture and was intrigued. But this Memoir brings the beauty and insight of his more complicated works to the telling and reckoning with the attack. I was astounded to be just as moved in this genre. The man is brilliant.

vivastory One of the strangest live events I attended was in Minneapolis for Joseph Anton 4mo
Sapphire @vivastory he states this is different than the prior autobiography, not just because Jospeh Anton is told in third person. I will need to read that. I never could get through Shalimar the clown. The JA event must have been during very high security days. 4mo
21 likes2 comments
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Sapphire

I would answer violence with art

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Sapphire

We would not be who we are today without the calamities of our yesterdays.

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Sapphire

The future came rushing toward him while he slept.

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Chelsea.Poole
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Pickpick

Salman Rushdie was attacked, stabbed 14 times, even once in the eye, and has lived to write about that incident. He describes the moments of terror, the aftermath and recovery, his family‘s reaction and, ultimately, his healing process. What I found the most surprising in this book was his imagined conversation with “A”, the assailant. This was a brave response to an act of terror committed against him, and I‘m so grateful to have read it.

kspenmoll Wonderful review! On my wishlist! 4mo
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britt_brooke
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rushdie is a complicated human. Quite a prolific author, but weirdly, this was my first time reading him. A fatwa was placed on him in 1989 for alleged “blasphemy” in his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. Imagine living this way; always looking over your shoulder. Decades later, as he was on stage to give a talk, he was stabbed multiple times. This is a memoir of surviving near death. Incredibly written; raw and introspective.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

As with those few works where the quality of the writing struck me as among the best I've encountered, I'm going to feel particularly clumsy using the same medium to express my admiration.
I agree this is a good place to start with Rushdie's work. Considering how much I loved it, I now look forward to trying his fiction. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? There are harrowing moments, but so much of this is about healing, love, reveling in the opposites to hate. His love of reading shines through in where he finds quotes to help him express his physical and psychological journey from near death to a degree of equanimity and recuperation. I appreciate that he chose a fictional interloction with his attacker, that he did not put much focus on the individual who did the violence, 5mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/? even as the results from that violence consumed his life for months. I loved seeing his joy and gratitude for his wife and family and friends. I admire his choice to clearly state that this attack has not changed his mind, he still is not religious, he still sees the need to critique, to satirize ideologies, political or religious, as necessary. 5mo
Robotswithpersonality 4/? He does not feel the need to apologize for or rehash what was previously spoken about in previous works. There's a brief window into a difficult childhood, but again, he doesn't dwell. I gather there is a previous autobiography, so it may be that things were dealt with differently there, but the clarity of conviction displayed here, what he understands as worth fighting for, having the added significance of someone whose life has now 5mo
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Robotswithpersonality 5/5 been immediately at risk because of how others have reacted to his work, it was quietly impressive to read.

Tread carefully if you've ever had a loved one in the hospital with an uncertain prognosis, this is likely to bring it back.

⚠️Alcoholism, child abuse, domestic abuse
5mo
Sapphire Midnights Children is my favorite of his. If you want his fiction I would start there. I have Victory City on my TBR 4mo
Robotswithpersonality @Sapphire Happy to have a personal recommendation, thanks! 😀 4mo
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Robotswithpersonality
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When exactly...

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Robotswithpersonality
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It does not accept violence.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Annihilated by his own flesh and blood! 😂

Texreader Yikes!! 😂 😱 5mo
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Robotswithpersonality
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Meet cute with injury. 🫣🥰

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Robotswithpersonality
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“moon-stuff“ 🌝
Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Witty AND valid.

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Graywacke
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Pickpick

The attack on Rushdie I think hurt all of us. But he survived. And this is his response. That the book exists is important by itself. And I‘m glad I bought a copy (pre-ordered) and glad I read it. It‘s not the most profound book I‘ve ever read. But it‘s reflective and interesting and it‘s nice to hear his nonfictional voice.

(His wife took this photo. It‘s mentioned in the book.)

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MicheleinPhilly
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Pickpick

Unbelievably powerful. I‘m not a Rushdie super fan, because I haven‘t read all that much of his work, but was shocked and saddened when I learned of this attack. A lot of this resonated with me for personal reasons but even setting that aside, this was a remarkable portrait of physical and psychological healing.

Graywacke I‘m eyeing this. It‘s on my bedside table. Glad you liked it so much. And, yeah, the whole religious violence thing is truly depressing. 6mo
squirrelbrain I found this fascinating - very raw and honest, but also (darkly) humorous in places. 6mo
BarbaraBB Great review Michele. I must definitely read it. 6mo
Suet624 I forgot that I purchased this one! Like you, I‘m not a super fan but the attack shook me. I can‘t wait until I stop grabbing books from the library and sit down and read my own books. 5mo
69 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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MicheleinPhilly
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This book is absolutely brutal.

LeahBergen Hello, Pickles! 😘 6mo
squirrelbrain I just started this one, after you mentioned it yesterday. Pickles is keeping an eye on you. ❤️ 6mo
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Pinta
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Mehso-so

Rushdie reflecting on the knife attack that came 30 years after the fatwa ordering Muslims to kill him. Felt heavy on medical info & self-regard, light on insight, but maybe insights hard to glean from violent acts both horrific & mundane? Sprinkled w/ literary references. Imagined convos with assailant felt therapeutic but off. 2024

P13 “Why didn‘t I act?”
P13 “The targets of violence experience a crisis in their understanding of the real.”

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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

In Knife, Rushdie details his attack by a violent assailant and the aftermath, interspersed with some musings on life. This is an outstanding read. He doesn‘t hold back or mince words but it‘s also not a polemic but the words of a thoughtful (and surprisingly funny at times) man.

squirrelbrain Looking forward to this - if that‘s the right way to describe it. 7mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 7mo
keithmalek Cute doggie. 7mo
Hooked_on_books @keithmalek Thanks! Her name is Bindi. 🐶🩶 7mo
59 likes4 stack adds4 comments
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Bookboss
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Happy Independent Bookstore Day! I visited four bookstores and managed to limit myself to one book per store!

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Sara_Planz
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Pickpick

Salman Rushdie is one of my all-time favorite authors, so when I turned on the news that morning in August of 2022, my heart sank to the floor. To see a voice like his attacked in that way was horrifying and I am thankful for his recovery and for his continued literary contributions. This was an incredibly powerful recounting of the event, and I was struck by how close he brought us into his emotional and physical states along the way.

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Twocougs
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Pickpick

Wow 🤩 wow 😮 wow 🤯

TheBookHippie Ack I can‘t wait!!! 7mo
26 likes1 comment
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keithmalek
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Pickpick

I was looking forward to the release of this book for quite a while, and it did NOT disappoint. I didn't care for the chapter in which he has an imaginary conversation with his attacker. Aside from that, this book is terrific. #2024Book16

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keithmalek
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Indeed.

Suet624 9/10/89 is the birthdate of my twins. I‘m so glad they weren‘t born on 9/11/89. 7mo
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keithmalek

When the faithful believe that what they believe must be forced upon others who do not believe it, or when they believe that nonbelievers should be prevented from the robust or humorous expression of their nonbelief, then there's a problem.

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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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He's specifically referring to comments on Twitter, but overall, this is great advice.

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keithmalek
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keithmalek

I had close to twenty-three years in New York living a full, rich life. There were mistakes along the way, plenty of those, and things I could have done better, and I do regret those. But my life in general? I'm glad I have lived it, and I've tried to live it as well as possible.

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keithmalek
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"To regret what your life has been is the true folly, I told myself, because the person doing the regretting has been shaped by the life he subsequently regrets."

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JenReadsAlot
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Virtual event with Salman Rushdie in conversation with Suleika Jaouad. I'm really looking forward to reading his new book!

vivastory This was a great conversation 7mo
30 likes1 comment
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keithmalek
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"Happiness writes in white ink on white pages."

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keithmalek
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😅

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keithmalek
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😲😲😲