Got mine from Amazon years ago, Sandy. Gave up after 40 pages, then picked up book again a few months ago (just to say that I'd read it -unlike the morlock rentamob we saw bullying us back in 88). And still got 80 pages to go.
Rushdie does have something as a writer. There's the Anglo-Indian thing: he has the ability to observe and reflect on the interaction of cultures. Now and again he says something which is interesting and well expressed. Sufficiently so that I might have a go at Midnight's Children. But largely his style is self-consciously erudite and full of irritating cleverness designed more to impress Booker prize judges and his mates in Hampstead than the general reader such as me.
To cite Boris on Question Time (referring to Rushdie's knighthood): "I object to the award on purely literary grounds. In terms of pace, characterisation and plot Dick Francis is far the superior writer".