Midnight’s Children in Reading List Completists

Mar 24, 2017 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, favorites

Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems--but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.

This exceptionally lauded, magical tour-de-force needs not my humble opinions, it already has the praise of countless clever wordsmiths and the critiques of many superior minds, but the laying down of my thoughts is none the less my task and I shall do so with haste to meet the end. Rushdie's writing is cy Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems--but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.

This exceptionally lauded, magical tour-de-force needs not my humble opinions, it already has the praise of countless clever wordsmiths and the critiques of many superior minds, but the laying down of my thoughts is none the less my task and I shall do so with haste to meet the end. Rushdie's writing is cyclical and beautiful, it's beat forces your mind to match it's stolid and whimsical pace; a story that is organic yet maintains a deliberateness that allows you to take a breathe and rest your eyes, knowing that while the destination is not fully known the conductor will deliver you there at a time of their choosing and by circuitous routes.

I am not completely sure where to start, how to approach the task I have undertaken, still smitten with the beauty of this book and the ugliness it contains, I almost dare not pick at it for fear it will vanish like a man in a basket crossing political barriers, or crumble in my mind like so much eaten away bone matter. Let me just try to sum up what kind of book this is - as anyone will know, it is a superb (perhaps the superb) example of magic realism, it is also a multi-generational family epic and the epic of India herself. This book is a coming-of-age, again of a man, but also of a nation. This book is about the magic a place and people can hold, breed, and live; it is also about how that magic can be stolen, ripped away, squandered - birth and death, hope and fear. This is a tale of Kashmiri blue eyes, cucumbers, pickles, knees and noses, hands that dance, and perforated sheets. There are diamonds and rubies, snakes and ladders, mothers and fathers; there are tetrapods, as well as, center partings. I fear I am still just circling, failing to describe this incredible story of India and of Saleem Sinai, if I tried to explain you wouldn't believe, but if you read you will doubt your present, but accept his past.

Perhaps nonsensical rambling is all I can give you... I was not born at a time of magic. As far as I know my life is my own, not burdened with ties to that of my homeland. I have no special gifts bestowed upon me and thus I can not use them to entrance you in a tale, but Salman does, and Saleem does, so quick, depart this circling drain of hints and glimpses, enter the world of children born at midnight where destiny rules over reason, bends it, morphs it, contorts it into a likeable if not always attractive and enviable form. Go be witness to the alpha and omega. Go see what silver spittoons have to offer and how the dead are burdened by the sins of the living. Go now, to the land of green chutneys and saffron beards. Do not be weary, this a tale that contains pain and suffering true, but it is not suffocated by it, it lives... it will live on in your own mind long after you reach the close. ...more

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Nov 16, 2021 Eileen rated it liked it

Shelves: literature, 2021-ng-group-challenge, 2021genrechallenge, historical-fiction, magical-realism, classics, 2021, audiobook, cultural

3.5 stars

So this is probably not a very fair rating because I really had a hard time concentrating on this one. Based on what I did focus on, I really liked it and I liked the voice of the main protagonist. I also liked Padma, the woman to whom he is telling this story. But there was a LOT to this story. This was a book that deserved 100% my undivided attention and I just don't have the bandwidth for it. That said, I picked up a lot, and I suspect that when I give it a second read, I'll get a lo ...more

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Dec 10, 2021 Liane rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: x-2021

Ugh. I hated this. Crass, ugly, absurd and way too dang long. Listened to the first third as an audiobook, then split the difference reading and listening intermittently.

Having read some other reviews, I have to consider if listening to the audiobook wholly decreased my perception of this book. What I would have preferred not to read in excruciating detail, I could have skimmed, which is more difficult to accomplish with an audiobook. By the time I got the paper copy and began reading, I had cer ...more

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