The Satanic Verses

Rushdie is dense; and, I discovered, if you don't know enough about South Indian culture (traditional and pop), he can be impossibly obtuse.

Thankfully, I read Satanic Verses after binging on Amitabh Bachchan movies; so Gibreel Farishta, apparently modeled on early 80s Bachchan, was immediately familiar. The Hindi puns; the digs at Indira Gandhi; etc. - all became clear(er, at least).

Anyway: this is one of those Big Famous magic(al) realist novels, and rightly so. Vast, richly imagined and, best of all, funny. My favorite Rushdie.