I picked up the audiobook simply because there was so much controversy over the book back when it was published that I was curious. Have to say, the fatwa against Rushdie probably did way more to get people to read this book than the actual merits of the book would have. It essentially follows the story of two men on a hijacked plane from India going to England, but it wanders around disjointedly and confusingly into their childhoods, their dream sequences and hallucinations, into surreal realms of magic and miracles, and does this at such length that it's downright tedious. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind a little wordiness, I read Charles Dickens for pleasure and enjoyed many of his books. But this felt like the author sat down at his keyboard and just typed days' worth of stream-of-consciousness until he ran out of ink, and didn't bother editing a word. It is at least well written in terms of language and phrasing which is why it didn't get 1 star, but it's everything i dislike about meandering, pointless, pretentious "literary" writing. I would never have finished this if it wasn't an audiobook and even so it was a painful struggle. If the ayatollah hadn't called a fatwa over this book I imagine it would have quickly and deservedly dropped into oblivion where it would have been far better off.