Beautiful, metaphorical prose, but at times frustrating for its meandering plot and somewhat obtuse narration. It felt like the first draft of a better book, but is still filled with imaginative imagery and some very interesting plot points involving the politics of Pakistan. The novel is deals with magical realism, and like other novels of that genre, leaves the reader wondering what has and hasn't actually transpired. I approached this with the intent of reading Rushdie's more well-known novels, so I'm curious how his writing and style matures in later works.