Midnight’s Children in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jun 03, 2009 Bucket rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: world-lit, 1001-read-all-editions, history, generational-epic, culture, identity, reviewed, magical-realism, literary, diversity

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This took me three weeks, but it was worth it. I was enthralled by the connections between Saleem's life and the history of India. It was interesting to think back to "A Fine Balance" and Mistry's portrayal of events that happened here too - the Prime Minister and her beautification and sterilization projects. This book is profoundly sad - nearly everyone is destroyed and, in the end, even those who remain will be destroyed if Saleem's prediction is true. However, I still found a little bit of h This took me three weeks, but it was worth it. I was enthralled by the connections between Saleem's life and the history of India. It was interesting to think back to "A Fine Balance" and Mistry's portrayal of events that happened here too - the Prime Minister and her beautification and sterilization projects. This book is profoundly sad - nearly everyone is destroyed and, in the end, even those who remain will be destroyed if Saleem's prediction is true. However, I still found a little bit of hope in this novel - Saleem has a son (sort of) and both India and his son will continue on. I liked the idea of the pickle jars at the end, but the discussion of the 'flaws' seemed a little like an excuse for not trying to fix them - it was a really good excuse, but still an excuse. I also enjoyed continually turning back to the prophecy on page 96 -it was fun how each piece suddenly made sense when it was fulfilled.

Themes: numbers (1001 and 420), prophecy and curses, Indian and Pakistani relations, Indian history, talent vs. deformities (Saleem has plenty of both), exile, magical realism, unreliable narrator, pickles

Summary: Saleem is a 'midnight's child' - he was born at the stroke of midnight in 1947 on the day that India became an independent nation. He has prophesied (very interesting!) and has telepathic abilities that allow him to enter the minds of everyone in India - but most especially the minds of the 1000 other midnight's children - all have powers of their own. More than that, though, this story is about Saleem and his connection to the history of India. He both shapes and reflects the nation's growing pains. In the book, Saleem tells the story of his life, beginning with his grandfather's coming of age, moving through his parent's lives, his birth, childhood, the destruction of his family and his ability, learning to smell, his amnesiatic stint in the army (and the jungle), his subsequent regaining of memory, the destruction of the midnight's children and his life thereafter. In the end, he bottles it all in pickle jars and tells of his death as though it has already occurred.
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Sep 22, 2008 Tien rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, india

A very strange book. I first tried to read it about 3 years ago and gave up at around page 100 (good effort, don't you think?). This time around, I picked it up for my f2f bookclub and was determined to finish it. I did it but still did not appreciate it.

At first it was very hard to adjust to the way the book is written. It was written in a sort of autobiographical way; Saleem Sinai spoke of his personal history starting from his grandfather to the present time and there were so many time shifts ...more

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