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1.95k reviews for:

Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie

3.88 AVERAGE


"I figli della mezzanotte" è un libro leeeento e luuuuungo, ma... ma. Come dice il protagonista del libro, c'è sempre un "ma ma".
Se leggete la trama vi farete un'idea completamente sbagliata di ciò che racchiudono queste pagine. Non si parla di bambini prodigio, non si parla di eroi. Si parla, attraverso la voce e la vita del protagonista, dell'India. La vita di Saleem inizia insieme all'India indipendente, in quel lontano 15 agosto del 1947, e da quel momento in poi i due nascituri crescono insieme, e mentre il protagonista cerca semplicemente di raccontare la sua vita, la storia della sua coetanea filtra nel racconto e si fa seconda protagonista.
Ma è lo stile che avvince... Saleem racconta come un vecchio: anticipa, perde il filo, sbaglia la cronologia degli eventi, divaga, inizia il racconto dagli albori (parte dalla storia del nonno, la sua nascita è circa a 1/3 del libro), si sente vittima, protagonista, per la sua particolare nascita, di vicende che con lui non avevano niente a che fare... E racconta tutto come si racconterebbero le storie intorno al fuoco. Hanno un ritmo lento, sono confuse perché si va a memoria, ma hanno un fascino che ti incanta.

I am done with this book, quitting it at %38, life is too short to spend it reading Midnight's children.

The only positive of the book is the Indian setting, which I found interesting, but I can't even tell if the story is good, the self-concious writting style is so boring that whenever I am not yawning, i am zoning out.

i read it in college and i know i'm supposed to have liked it. it's great and important writing, of course, but not so much for the pleasure of reading, imho.
adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I enjoyed this but struggled at times.
adventurous challenging emotional funny informative mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A narrative which plays out over what is a very slow, though never too slow, book, Midnights children represents what it seeks to well but is undermined by both a slight level of over enthusiasim on the writing style and plot points which are simply odd.

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was not an easy book to read but it is something else. A lot happens and the language is complicated so you have to pay attention and even re-read pages as necessary. I marvel at Rushdie's imagination. How he tells he story of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in such a fantastical way. I really enjoyed, learned a lot, fact checked along the way, it was hard but well worth it.


I had to drag myself kicking through the mud to finish this one, but we did it. It was rough.

Oh this book. I spent a lot of time with this book. The writing was gorgeous and I learned to read it in the way it was meant...it's not a pick it up for 10 minutes book. It's like reading Shakespeare-you've got to commit to reading a good chunk at a time to get into the rhythm of the story.

I will say I loved it but I will also say I'm pretty sure I did not grasped the full scope of the story. Throughout the whole book I kept wondering-what's that stand for, what is the author trying to convey???