Quichotte
by Salman Rushdie
2019 / 398 pages
read by Sasha Rotermund 15h 38m
rating – 8.75 / contempt lit fiction 
my 1st review – https://mybecky.blog/2019/11/15/quichotte-by-salman-rushdie/
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This was my second read and I often get so much more out of Rushdie’s books on second reads. I really should read Grimus but It just isn’t calling to me.  Quichotte is sooooo funny though.  And it’s sweet and a bit scary and insightful in places.  It’s complex though so it needed two readings for me to make sense of it .

The characters:
Ismael Smile (aka Quichotte)
His love, Salma R – 
Dr. Smile – Q’s cousin – a pharmacist
Happy Smily –  his wife 
Sancho – Q’s imaginary son
Brother (author)
Sister = powerful Indian lawyer/politico 
Evel Cent – billionaire techie
Cricket – Pinocchio-like character  

The Quest path:
Valley of the quest itself
Valley of Love
Valley of Knowledge 
Valley of Detachment
Valley of Wonderment
Valley of apology and healing (the dale of restored harmony)
Valley of Poverty and Annihilation 

In some ways it’s like the encyclopedic novels of the 1980s with lots of real people,  place and events. I Googled a lot of other for fun, like Lilburn (a suburb in Atlanta). But the point plays games with something along the lines of what is real and what’s not.

There are some good reviews out there –
“Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte Drives You Nuts That’s Fine It’s Meant”
https://www.krwg.org/post/if-salman-rushdies-quichotte-drives-you-nuts-thats-fine-its-meant

And from the Washington Post:
The animus of this chaotic novel would seem to be Rushdie?s abiding horror at the political ascension of a dissembling reality TV star. Full review