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Anyone who has spent time in the developing world will know that one of Bombay's claims to fame is the enormous film industry that churns out hundreds of musical fantasies each year. The other, of course, is native son Salman Rushdie--less prolific, perhaps than Bollywood, but in his own way just as fantastical. Though Rushdie's novels lack the requisite six musical numbers that punctuate every Bombay talkie, they often share basic plot points with their cinematic counterparts. Take, for example, his 1980 Booker Prize-winning Midnight's Children: two children born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947--the moment at which India became an independent nation--are switched in the hospital. The infant scion of a wealthy Muslim family is sent to be raised in a Hindu tenement, while the legitimate heir to such squalor ends up establishing squatters' rights to his unlucky hospital mate's luxurious bassinet. Switched babies are standard fare for a Hindi film, and one can't help but feel that Rushdie's world-view--and certainly his sense of the fantastical--has been shaped by the films of his childhood. But whereas the movies, while entertaining, are markedly mediocre, Midnight's Children is a masterpiece, brilliant written, wildly unpredictable, hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure.
Rushdie's narrator, Saleem Sinai, is the Hindu child raised by wealthy Muslims. Near the beginning of the novel, he informs us that he is falling apart--literally:
I mean quite simply that I have begun to crack all over like an old jug--that my poor body, singular, unlovely, buffeted by too much history, subjected to drainage above and drainage below, mutilated by doors, brained by spittoons, has started coming apart at the seams. In short, I am literally disintegrating, slowly for the moment, although there are signs of an acceleration.In light of this unfortunate physical degeneration, Saleem has decided to write his life story, and, incidentally, that of India's, before he crumbles into "(approximately) six hundred and thirty million particles of anonymous, and necessarily oblivious, dust." It seems that within one hour of midnight on India's independence day, 1,001 children were born. All of those children were endowed with special powers: some can travel through time, for example; one can change gender. Saleem's gift is telepathy, and it is via this power that he discovers the truth of his birth: that he is, in fact, the product of the illicit coupling of an Indian mother and an English father, and has usurped another's place. His gift also reveals the identities of all the other children and the fact that it is in his power to gather them for a "midnight parliament" to save the nation. To do so, however, would lay him open to that other child, christened Shiva, who has grown up to be a brutish killer. Saleem's dilemma plays out against the backdrop of the first years of independence: the partition of India and Pakistan, the ascendancy of "The Widow" Indira Gandhi, war, and, eventually, the imposition of martial law.
We've seen this mix of magical thinking and political reality before in the works of Günter Grass and Gabriel García Márquez. What sets Rushdie apart is his mad prose pyrotechnics, the exuberant acrobatics of rhyme and alliteration, pun, wordplay, proper and "Babu" English chasing each other across the page in a dizzying, exhilarating cataract of words. Rushdie can be laugh-out-loud funny, but make no mistake--this is an angry book, and its author's outrage lends his language wings. Midnight's Children is Salman Rushdie's irate, affectionate love song to his native land--not so different from a Bombay talkie, after all. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Review
"Salman Rushdie has earned the right to be called one of our great storytellers." -- Observer
"Huge, vital, engrossing... in all senses a fantastic book." -- Sunday Times
"The literary map of India has been redrawn... Midnight's Children sounds like a country finding its voice." -- New York Times
"A brilliant and endearing novel." -- London Review of Books
"Huge, vital, engrossing... in all senses a fantastic book." -- Sunday Times
"The literary map of India has been redrawn... Midnight's Children sounds like a country finding its voice." -- New York Times
"A brilliant and endearing novel." -- London Review of Books
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Find writing style very tiring and subject very history specific,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Midnight's Children (Hardcover)
I bought this book because Salman Rushdie is a world renowned writer and this is a very popular book. This is my first Salman Rushdie book and I am finding his style of writing very tiring. After 150 pages, reading this book has become a chore. I know Indian history and can relate to almost all the historical events referenced so far. I would not recommend this book for someone who does not know about India's history of the times around her independence.I hope the book will get more interesting later on. If it does and I like it better than I like it now; I'll write another review. So far it is two stars for me.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Imagery!,
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This review is from: Midnight's Children (Mass Market Paperback)
Wonderful Imagery!Rushdie creates a wonderful panorama and guides us through post-1947 nehru's india toward indira's new india as his characters move across the length and breadth of india, associating themselves with history, witnessing its events, and occasionally being a part of them. From the old Kashmir with the silent dal lake to the massacre at Jallianwalbagh, From the Streets and Forts of Delhi to the language riots of Bombay, From the military coups in pakistan, along the mysterious rann of kutch to the Mangroves of the Sunderbans, the story keeps turning while showing you all the nuances, sentiments, and personalities of the indian subcontinent. The characters are brilliantly depicted in rich variety and grab the readers attention immediately. It's not a history book but it presents history with stunning images in rushdie's wonderful hinglish. A wonderful read!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply a "must read",
By Ben E (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Midnight's Children (Hardcover)
I don't have the time or inclination to go into a long rant about what makes this book so outstanding, but I will say that it is by far the best book I've ever picked up. I learned a lot about India and its turbulent history, but that was just an added bonus. As with any great novel, some of the characters in the book reminded me of myself, and taught me some things about myself, but that too was just a bonus. Rushdie's writing style is very pleasing and his methods of storytelling are far better than anything I've ever read. Those are the things that make this book so great. You simply MUST read it!
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