Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children: A Reader's Guide

by Norbert Schürer

The aim of this series is to provide accessible and informative introductions to the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years.

Genres: Literary Criticism

104 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 2004

Reviews

[Kelly Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started reading Rusdie's Midnight's Children I realized it was going to be necessary to seek out a reader's guide and I choose Schurer's summary. There are too many cultural and historical references for me to understand without a little background first. Now I'm more prepared to complete Rushdie's book and I may reread this Schurer's book when I've finished Midnight's Children. Perhaps, I should have looked for a foot noted version of Midnight's Children because I would have liked more detail about the actual context.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I use books or essays of literary analysis when I'm reading a hard book without the benefit of a discussion group. "Midnight's Children" was a hard book. I'm glad I picked this up from the library because it gave me a much deeper understanding of the meaning behind what is going on in this story. For example, did you know the number of Midnight's Children alive when Saleem is 10 -- that is, 561 -- is the number of members of the Indian Congress?

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little book that gives an overview of the context of Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, including the necessary historical references of the 1947 partition of India. I read this book immediately after completing Midnight’s Children, which I recommend since this book does contain spoilers of the plot.