Thursday, May 5, 2011

Luka and the Fire of Life

Okay, don't hate me.

So I read another Salman Rushdie book. I know you're probably thinking, Why did we even let her join this group if she only talks about one author? or perhaps, Good grief, is she stalking him? Answer to first question: I promise I'm halfway through another book that is so far from Salman Rushdie you will be amazed at my diversity.


And I may or may not be attempting to stalk him.

Anyway. Luka and the Fire of Life is a sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories, so if you want to read it it's worthwhile to read Haroun first. Luka is our protagonist, and he embarks on an adventure with Bear, his dog, and Dog, his bear, as well as a variety of other characters, into the Magical World in search of the Fire of Life. One of my favorite characters who he encounters is the Insultana of Ott. She is clever and funny and very very kind. She and her Otters help Luka through several situations, as is explained by a red squirrel named Ratatat:

And some of us (I don’t want to boast, but there it is) are Honorary Otters of long standing—oh yes!—members of the highly confidential Ott List, the Insultana’s emergency undercover squadron—sleeper agents, if you will, lurking in our secret Ott Beds and available to the lady twenty-four/seven on her personal Ott Line, just in case she needs to activate us. But, much as I’d like to stop and chat about these Ott Topics, I do believe you might be in something of a hurry. So, let’s Ott-foot it up this so-called Mountain while we can.

Once again, Rushdie's word plays are some of my favorite parts of the book. But really it's a beautiful story about the love and loyalty Luka feels for his father. You will love it. 

1 comment:

Erin said...

Allison, I didn't get judged for reading every single Anne of Green Gables book, so you're certainly not going to get any flack for 3 Salman Rushdie books. You have definitely convinced me to read some of his, though.