Rating: 
Summary: Awesome
Review: This was an awesome book. It was full of every single thing I have ever obsessed about-India, the US, the Anglophilic South Bombay Scene, foppish 60s London, the Bohemian New York crowd, Love, and Rock music. I think every Indo-American should read it. Only complaint was that the characterization was a bit weak. P.S. What do you mean there are no rock stars of Indian descent, Mr Guy from the Midwest...Sonya Madan of Echobelly, Tjinder Singh of Cornershop, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Freddie Mercury of Queen, even Ravi Shankar-LIKE, HELLOO...
Rating: 
Summary: "Play 'Free Bird"! "
Review: I have a great deal of respect for Salman Rushdie's work. I have been a serious student of his novels for several years now. It is thus with regret I must report that his current novel, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", is the textual equivalent of a lighter waved in the air. It takes Rushdie over 500 pages to say, in essence, "Play 'Free Bird'! Yeeeaaaahh! " This is an unfortunate turn of events, to say the least. The novel is undisciplined and self-indulgent, melodramatic and maudlin. It is, in short, a midlife crisis of a book. The story of over-sized, one-dimensional Celebrities, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" fails to engage the reader or create any sympathy for its spoilt, unpleasant protagonists. Rushdie's readers have come to expect better. It is to be hoped his next book will be less of a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: All You Need Is Love
Review: Salman Rushdie is a well respected man, and "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" is a magical mystery tour for my generation, a fable reminding us that terra firma is never a solid foundation. Rushdie achieves this performance by covering foundational Greek, Hindu and Zoroastrian myths, especially the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. Across the universe of rock 'n' roll bands, DJs, promoters and fans, Rushdie's Ormus Cama is the greatest guitarist ever, and Vina Aspara is his foxey lady who, in the novel's opening pages, is swallowed by a seismic shift that opens the ground beneath her feet, on Valentine's Day 1989--the very day that Iran posted its fatwa against Rushdie. But not fade away.Rushdie's narrator is Umeed Merchant, known as Rai ('Hope'). Of all his friends and lovers, the greatest are the mythic pair Ormus and Vina. Rai is an earnest loner, a photojournalist who shares with Vina a quick one while Ormus is away. "Photography is my way of understanding the world," he says, worshipping the eye-god of Western culture. Maybe Rai can see for miles, but photography is both reality and perception, another of the novel's fissures. Ormus and Vina are the earth-gods of the Orient, disoriented by Rai's freeze-frames. Throughout, the shapes of things are isolation. Seeking satisfaction, characters change their names and nationalities, some emigrate, others are disinherited or banished, politicians redraw borders, allies become enemies, and vice versa. The concepts of 'native' and 'relative' are all shook up as the novel portrays a world rocked by shock after seismic shock--to friendship, family, home, love, honor, responsibility, faith, life and death. When the ground opens, Vina is consummated by the earth's inevitable itch to conceive. Maybe castles made of sand fall in the sea eventually but, in a world of good vibrations, all you need is love.
Rating: 
Summary: Shaking Ground Beneath My Feet
Review: There you are ! Well this book is more spectacular of a type that describes the human sufferings, pain and the hearts of lovers in love. That's a wonderful life experience. It shook the ground beneath my feet. Was it the same day that the story begins with that which Khoemini declares fatwa against Rushdie ? If that's the case than where are the characters like Sir Darius Xerexes Cama, that Cyrus, that Ormus Cama and that Vina and above all that committed photographer Ray, who was a watcher of the show and depicting it all. May be they are all with Rushdie. But the way it was presented is really amazing. That's wonderful. I can't resist myself saying that it has increased the familiarity of the love and pain together. I should redefine my concept of pain, pleasure and love and above all those earthquacks and the photographic clicks. Yes that VTO concept relates the human feeling with music. It will definitely help people see the world in a different angle. Any way in his own words the world is what it is. Let's face it. Thank you Rushdie. I am waiting for the next bubble from the ocean of your thoughts. And a big one too. Love, Rupesh
Rating:
Summary: slaman rushdie...will you marry me?
Review: it is impossible for me to begin a "review" of the book, The Ground Beneath Her Feet." well, i guess it isn't impossible. what i mean to say is, this book made my eyes water, my mind enter states of intense restlesness, and my mouth smile so hard it hurt at times, that i am quite often speechless when asked about this novel. this is by far rushdie's most human book. sure, as some nay-saying people point out, he is *too* clever all over every page times one-hundred. true. that is because he is a clever person, i think. also, the book drags on, goes everywhere without going anywhere, etc., etc.... whatever. there is such intense beauty /hilarity/ originality /reality /fantasy /artistry in so many of the passages in this book, just when your heart/mind/funny-bone gets over the last brilliant passage, the next is upon you. god bless 'em. if i weren't such an inarticulate neanderathal i would tell you how his epic writing is more than a match for all the widely diverse themes (some of his most poignant critiques of culture), time and space continuums, lunatic minds and worlds encompassed in this book. i would mention that his characters, rai, ormus, vina, are some of the most memorable people i have never met. i would mention how the reader is always at his mercy- when he wants you to feel, you feel- and how, fortunately, rushdie is merciful to those in need of complete satisfaction. too bad i'm not that articulate. in any case, if you're just a casual reader, there are 1,000 and 1 reasons for you to read this book. if you are one of those intense stay-in- on-the-weekend- to-read-the-latest-from- this-or-that- contemporary-super-duper-intellectual- cutting-edge- blah-blah-blah-author people, then you probably make me look like the ignorant buffoon i am and there are even *more* reasons for you to read The Ground Beneath Her Feet. VTO forever!
Rating:
Summary: Not Rushdie's best, but worth reading
Review: For the Rushdie fan, there is much in this book to be admired: imagination, brilliant storytelling, an excellent sense of humor and passages of some of the best prose being written in English today. It seems, at times, that Rushdie's inventive capacity is unlimited: the strangest of characters emerge with the most checkered of personal histories, idiosyncrasies and destinies -- so much so that believability is stretched to almost absurd limits. But hasn't this always been Rushdie's domain, ever since Midnight's Children? The difference here, perhaps (and this is why the novel is not a peer of Rushdie's best), is that the author appears to let the absurd, the outlandish, the improbable invade in almost random tentacles throughout the body of the work. Also, the prose is not as consistent as in earlier works -- flashes of brilliance, of genius, are followed by untidy ramblings in need of editing. There is something baffling-joycean about the work, but that is a mode that doesn't really suit Rushdie and his mature voice. He is at his absolute best at times, but the whole structure of the work does not always sustain the narrative. Moreover, you never really feel that Ormus and Vina are truly in love -- the deep love never really happens -- not anything that seems human, at least. Perhaps owing to the rock'n'roll milieu in which the novel transpires, there is more use of gutter language and more casual exposes of sexual acts and fantasies than one would normally encounter in a Rushdie novel. A bit of this kind of language is descriptive, demonstrative; too much of it (and this happens from time to time) impoverishes the overall texture of the novel. Still, Rushdie remains one of the most exciting and engaging writers alive today. I have not yet found a rival in the modern literary world. Let's only hope that his next novel will find the right blend between inventive caprice and the craftsmanship of an undisputed master.
Rating:
Summary: Please make it stop!
Review: First, I only got to page 63. Second, you would need the patience of Job to finish this tome. Does Rushdie really have to say something three different ways in one passage? You know, part of art is knowing what to leave out. Apparently, Rushdie feels this would pay him back for his time in writing this, to leave everything in. I wish someone would pay me back my time for reading it. Also, one of characters-Ormus father?-does this twitching muscle thing whereby he twitches each muscle on his bare torso to amusement or derision of others....there can be no better metaphor for Rushdie's work, than in this character's habit. Being able to say something many different ways & even ELOQUENTLY is no reason to do it. It should be necessary in the context of the story. Not just doodling about just to doodle. It's self-indulgent, mannered writing, less in the service of story, than in letting ego roam wild. Where is the editor when you need them?
Rating:
Summary: Not Disappointed!
Review: Salman Rushdie is an excellent writer, there is no doubt about that, and he has once again shown this in his newest novel. As I looked over the other reviews I kept on seeing a common inconsistency. What I do not understand is why everyone keeps on comparing The Ground Beneath Her Feet to The Satanic Verses. The Satanic Verses is in a caliber of its own, (although personally I found the novel a bit more convoluted then necessary). Basically, The Satanic Verses was more detailed as far as time goes, there were more intricate plots and the concept of good and evil was raised to a higher degree. The Ground Beneath Her Feet focused more on a smaller group of people, which in my opinion gives the reader a better understanding of each character; something I appreciated. The main characters in this book also have a certain charisma that I have not noticed in many of his other novels and short stories. I sincerely enjoyed reading The Ground Beneath Her Feet, even more so than in most of Rushdie's other works.
Rating: 
Summary: If you want Rushdie at his best, read Kleier
Review: I've said it months before and it's still true: Rushdie had his moments with "Satanic Verses," but it's been downhill ever since. Once again, he never seems to get firm footing with "GROUND." Verbose, overwritten and self-indulgently wandering. Unquestionably, the mantle for outrageous satire has passed to Glenn Kleier, who has earned the title "The Salman Rushdie of Christianity," with his provocative ground-breaking novel, "THE LAST DAY." If you've not read Kleier, I strongly urge you to do so. He will more than entertain you until Mr. Rushdie regains his footing.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: One of the slowest reads ever but worth it. Rushdie is an intricate storyweaver with a sense of history, humor and respect.
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