[Review] Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights - Salman Rushdie

Title of Book: Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Random House
Publication Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Hardback
Pages: 304

From one of the greatest writers of our time: the most spellbinding, entertaining, wildly imaginative novel of his great career, which blends history and myth with tremendous philosophical depth. A masterful, mesmerizing modern tale about worlds dangerously colliding, the monsters that are unleashed when reason recedes, and a beautiful testament to the power of love and humanity in chaotic times. 
Inspired by 2,000 years of storytelling yet rooted in the concerns of our present moment, this is a spectacular achievement--enchanting, both very funny and terrifying. It is narrated by our descendants 1000 years hence, looking back on "The War of the Worlds" that began with "the time of the strangenesses": a simple gardener begins to levitate; a baby is born with the unnerving ability to detect corruption in people; the ghosts of two long-dead philosophers begin arguing once more; and storms pummel New York so hard that a crack appears in the universe, letting in the destructive djinns of myth (as well as some graphic superheroes). Nothing less than the survival of our world is at stake. Only one, a djinn princess who centuries before had learned to love humankind, resolves to help us: in the face of dynastic intrigue, she raises an army composed of her semi-magical great-great--etc.--grandchildren--a motley crew of endearing characters who come together to save the world in a battle waged for 1,001 nights--or, to be precise, two years, eight months and twenty-eight nights.

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Honestly I don’t know where to start with this book. I picked it up with no expectation whatsoever. I didn’t even know what this book is about, I only know that I want to try reading books written by Salman Rushdie. In fact, I still have difficulties in summarizing what this book is actually about. First of all, two years eight months and twenty eight nights equal to 1,001 nights. I thought this book would be a twist on the 1,001 nights folktales. I’m not so sure because I haven’t read the folktales. Moreover, this book involve a supernatural creature from Arabian mythology called jinn. The story in this book spans through generations. It follows a jinn princess called Dunia who fell in love with a human philosopher named Ibn Rushd. From him she bore many half-human half-jinn children who’ll involved in a war between jinn in the future.

I think how I’d describe the general idea of this book is there’s a war which going on for 1,001 nights. The war is between jinns but happens in the human world and involves Dunia’s many offsprings. In this book, the jinns live in a different world than ours. However, somehow there’s a slit in between their world and the human’s world causing the jinns to roam freely in our world. The book starts out as a set up for this war by introducing Dunia and how she came to the human world leading up to the war and how it finally ends.

As to the reasons why the war happens in the first place, there’s actually several motifs included. The jinns involved, Dunia and Zumurrud the Great’s reason is what I’d say petty. Even so, there’s actually another reason, a philosophical one. In this book, there are fictionalized version of philosopher Ibn Rushd and Al-Ghazali. A long time ago, Ghazali managed to trap Zumurrud in the bottle. To free the jinn, they make a pact and that he will free the jinn in exchange for wishes, you know the drill. One of the wishes is to start a war to prove a philosophical point about God to Ibn Rushd.

As to the writing, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just to me, it feels like up and down. Sometimes I enjoyed the writing and the flow of the story, sometimes it went over my head that I was out of it. Although this book incites meaningful questions, sometimes the narration takes me away from the story. The narration can be confusing. Maybe because this book has a big cast of characters and how each of them interconnected is shown very late in the book. All in all, this book is okay. I mean, I didn’t have any expectations anyway. However, I still want to read Rushdie’s other books such as Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses.

“The existence of the jinn posed problems to moral philosophers from the beginning. If men’s deeds were motivated by benevolent or malignant sprites, if good and evil were external to Man rather than internal, it became impossible to define what an ethical man might be.”