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Description edit
With the same dazzling imagination and love of language that have made Salman Rushdie one of the great storytellers of our time, Luka and the Fire of Life revisits the magic-infused, intricate world he first brought to life in the modern classic Haroun and the Sea of Stories. This breathtaking... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Luka: The protaganist of the novel, the son of Rashid Khalifa and the younger brother of Haroun.
- Rashid Khalifa: Luka's and Haroun's father, the great Shah of Blah.
- Soraya: Luka's and Haroun's mother.
- Haroun: From 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories' by Rushdie, Luka's older brother.
- Insultana of Ott: Leader of the otters of Ott.
- Dog: A brown bear, from the circus of Captain Aag.
- Bear: A chocolate labrador dog, from the circus of Captain Aag.
- Coyote: A coyote in the magical world.
- Ratshit: A nasty classmate of Luka's.
- Nobodaddy: A transparent form of Rashid Khalifa.
- Old Boy: Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from Zeus.
- Captain Aag: An evil circus owner.
- The Old Man of the River: The gatekeeper of the river and a riddle master.
- Elephant Duck: An animal who has a very sharp memory.
- Elephant Drake: An animal with a very sharp memory.
- Nuthog: A dragon.
- Bahut-Sara: Sister of Nuthog.
- Badlo-Badlo: Sister of Nuthog.
- Gyara-Jinn: Sister of Nuthog.
- Xolotl: A small god in the shape of a dog - god of bad luck.
- Jo-Hua: 'What Is'. One of the Mighty Aalim: The Holy Trinity. The Ultimate Guardians of the Fire.
- Jo-Hai: 'What Was'. One of the Mighty Aalim: The Holy Trinity. The Ultimate Guardians of the Fire.
- Jo-Aiga: "What Will Come". One of the Mighty Aalim: The Holy Trinity. The Ultimate Guardians of the Fire.
- Ratatat: A red squirrel. Loyal to the Insultana of Ott and an honourary Otter.
- Slippy: King of the Horses. A gigantic, white, eight-legged horse.
- Ra: The Egyptian sun god.
Quotes edit
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“Do not speak to me of such things, I am in-console-able.”
Soraya Khalifa
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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The Torrent of Words, by the way, thunders down from the Sea of Stories into the Lake of Wisdom, whose waters are illumined by the Dawn of Days, and out of which flows the River of Time. The Lake of Wisdom, as is well known, stands in the shadow of the Mountain of Knowledge, at whose summit burns the Fire of Life.
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You of all boys should know that Man is the Storytelling Animal, and that in stories are his identity, his meaning, and his lifeblood. Do rats tell tales? Do porpoises have narrative purposes? Do elephants ele-phantasize? You know as well as I do that they do not. Man alone burns with books.”
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Life is not a drip. Life is a flame. What do you imagine the sun is made of? Raindrops? I don’t think so. Life is not wet, young man. Life burns.”
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“We don’t know the answers to the great questions of who we are and what we are capable of,” Rashid liked to say, “until the questions are asked. Then and only then do we know if we can answer them, or not.”
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“It seems there is no such thing as a purely good deed, a completely right action. Even this task, which I took on for the very best of reasons, involves making choices that are not that ‘good,’ choices that might even be ‘wrong.’ ”
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“Knowledge is both a delight and an explosive minefield; both a liberation and a trap,”
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“There are those of us who learn to live completely in the moment. For such people the Past vanishes and the Future loses meaning. There is only the Present, which means that two of the three Aalim are surplus to requirements. And then there are those of us who are trapped in yesterdays, in the memory of a lost love, or a childhood home, or a dreadful crime. And some people live only for a better tomorrow; for them the Past ceases to exist.
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So everyone in Kahani was fully aware that there was a World of Magic existing in parallel with our own non-Magic one, and from that Reality came White Magic, Black Magic, dreams, nightmares, stories, lies, dragons, fairies, blue-bearded genies, mechanical mind-reading birds, buried treasure, music, fiction, hope, fear, the gift of eternal life, the angel of death, the angel of love, interruptions, jokes, good ideas, rotten ideas, happy endings, in fact almost everything of any interest at all.
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eliminate the impossible, and what remains, however improbable, is the truth.
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Her husband, Rashid, was lost for words, and so, as usual, found far too many of them.
Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
Set in the city of Afilbay where Luka lives with his family and also in the Magical World where Luka's adventures happen.
- Alifbay: The city in Kahani where Luka and his family live.
- River Silsila: A nasty, polluted river in Luka's hometown.
- Kahani
- Panama
- Mountain Of Knowledge
- Magic World
First Sentence edit
There was once, in the city of Kahani in the land of Alifbay, a boy named Luka who had two pets, a bear named Dog and a dog named Bear, which meant that whenever he called out ‘Dog!’ the bear waddled up amiably on his hind legs, and when he shouted ‘Bear!’ the dog bounded towards him wagging his tail.
Table of Contents edit
1 The Terrible Thing That Happened on the Beautiful Starry Night
2 Nobodaddy
3 The Left Bank of the River of Time
4 The Insultana of Ott
5 The Path to the Three Fiery Doughnuts
6 Into the Heart of Magic
7 The Fire of Life
8 The Race Against Time
Authors & Contributors edit
- Salman Rushdie (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Random House
Country: USA
Publication Date: November 2010
ISBN: 9780679463368
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Random House
Country: USA
Publication Date: November 2010
ISBN: 9780679463368
Page Count: 240
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813
Notes for Parents edit
Reading Level: Young AdultsAlthough this novel deals frequently with the subject of death, it does not dwell on the concept. There are no sexual themes in the novel and the epic battle sequences do not include graphic scenes. This novel is free from obscenity as well.
Subjects edit
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