Salman Rushdie

Tue., Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m., $6 simulcast tickets only, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.

by K. Ross Hoffman

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Published: Nov 17, 2010

[ reading/signing ]

Not so much a sequel as a (much) younger sibling to 1990's beloved Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Luka and the Fire of Life spins a similarly fantastical quest-saga. Full of wordplay and whimsy, awash in allusions to pop culture and literature (in this case, borrowing particularly heavily from video games and world mythology), Luka offers obvious kid-appeal without straying too terribly far from the allegory and magical realism of Salman Rushdie's more serious "adult" output. Again, there are sly parallels to the author's own family and life situation (both books were inspired by and indeed petitioned for by Rushdie's real-life sons, who share their middle names with the respective protagonists) but this time, the threatening forces from which our plucky 12-year-old hero must endeavor to save his father, the famous storyteller Rashid Khalifa, are those of aging and mortality rather than creative stifling and censorship. That gives the book a rhetorical flavor that's more philosophical than its political big brother.

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