First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

“’A mixture of science fiction and folktale, past and future, primitive and present-day . . . Thunderous and touching.’
Financial Times

After drinking an elixir that bestows immortality upon him, a young Indian named Flapping Eagle spends the next seven hundred years sailing the seas with the blessing — and ultimately the burden — of living forever. Eventually, weary of the sameness of life, he journeys to the mountainous Calf Island to regain his mortality. There he meets other immortals obsessed with their own stasis and sets out to scale the island’s peak, from which the mysterious and corrosive Grimus Effect emits. Through a series of thrilling quests and encounters, Flapping Eagle comes face-to-face with the island’s creator and unwinds the mysteries of his own humanity. Salman Rushdie’s celebrated debut novel remains as powerful and as haunting as when it was first published more than thirty years ago.

‘A book to be read twice . . . [Grimus] is literate, it is fun, it is meaningful, and perhaps most important, it pushes the boundaries of the form outward.’
Los Angeles Times (Source: Goodreads)”

Happy Friday everyone! It is the last day of the workweek, at least for those who follow the conventional workweek; the Middle East works from Sunday to Thursday. Regardless, I hope everyone is ending the workweek on a high note. I hope everyone was able to achieve what they wanted to achieve during the week. But for those whose goal was just to make it through the week, kudos to all of you as well. With the workweek done, it is time to shed those corporate attires and don more comfortable articles of clothing. It is now time to dive into the weekend. I hope everyone gets to spend the weekend resting or pursuing their passions. It is also a time to complete household chores. Regardless of how you spend the weekend, I hope everyone is doing well in body, mind, and spirit.

With the workweek coming to a conclusion, I am reminded that the fourth month of the year is also about to conclude. Today is the last Friday of April. Just like that, we are about to greet a new month. Time for sure takes its natural course sans any regard for anyone. With this, how has the year been so far? I hope that it is going great for everyone, or at least it is going the way you wanted it to. If your year is going otherwise, I hope you experience a reversal of fortune. I hope positive energies, blessings, and good news flow into your lives in the coming months. I hope you are get to achieve your goals this year. Speaking of goals, I have several, reading-wise. I am glad to say that I am making headways on these reading goals. My 2025 reading journey is literally in full swing.

After a full quarter of venturing into works of East Asian literature, I pivoted toward the rest of the Asian continent. It is a vast world but one that I admittedly haven’t explored as extensively as I wanted to, except perhaps for certain sections. This brings me to my current read, Salman Rushdie’s Grimus. I have been a devout reader of the Indian writer ever since I read Midnight’s Children, the Booker of Bookers. I was not that impressed with the first works I read. I have since read ten of his novels, making Grimus the eleventh novel by the highly acclaimed writer I read. Published in 1975, Grimus is actually Rushdie’s debut novel; he followed it up with Midnight’s Children. Unlike his succeeding works, Grimus is also often overlooked by critics and readers alike; some are not even aware of it. Even Rushdie himself is known for disowning his first published work and considering Midnight’s Children as his debut work.

Despite all these, I am curious about what the novel has in store. I have been particularly looking forward to reading Grimus when I learned that it was Rushdie’s debut novel. At the heart of the story is Flapping Eagle. He is an Axona Indian and is the younger brother of Bird-dog. His sister was visibly troubled and it didn’t take time before she eloped with a mysterious man, leaving her younger brother with two vials. One elixir grants immortality while the other causes immediate death. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what elixir he drank. Bestowed with immortality, Flapping Eagle then set out on a journey to search for his immortal sister. After 777 years 7 months and 7 days, he fell through a hole in the Mediterranean Sea.

Flapping Eagle found himself in a parallel dimension at the mystical Calf Island. The parallel dimension is occupied by immortals who are tired of the world but are ambivalent about giving up their immortality. On Calf Island, they lived an idle existence in a static community called K under a subtle and sinister authority. In the parallel dimension, Flapping Eagle got to meet a bevy of characters, among them Virgil Jones. Virgil Jones is an exiled associate of the titular Grimus; Grimus, I learned, is the creator of the dimension. Under Virgil Jones’ guidance, Flapping Eagle undertakes more adventure as his goal changes upon arriving on the island. One can surmise that the only way for Flapping Eagle to find his sister is to go up against Grimus. However, Flapping Eagle must first locate the absentee king.

Personally, I find the novel’s premise a little interesting. Rushdie’s choice of a Native American as a primary character naturally piques my interest and curiosity. It seems like it is a deviation from his succeeding works. On the other hand, I see this as an opportunity to explore Rushdie’s oeuvre from a different dimension. I see it as a primer although by all measures, I, so far, don’t find it measuring up to Rushdie’s loftier works like The Satanic Verses or even Haroun and the Sea of Stories. For now, I am looking forward to how Flapping Eagle’s adventure will turn out. Will he be able to locate Grimus? But what if Grimus was a mere construct? I remember Stephen King’s It. The more you fear it, the more it manifests. What if Grimus is the same? He lingers in the mind because of the fear he strikes.

Regardless, there are some layers of mystery that I am looking forward to unpacking. The book is a rather quick read despite the unconventional language; this is usual in Rushdie’s world. I am looking forward to losing myself in Rushdie’s world this weekend. I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds. But, on the other hand, I am also curious about the ideas that Rushdie is trying to convey. For now, the ideas are rather muddled or disjointed. How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!