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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"We will watch your life closely; it will be, in a sense, the mirror of our own."
— Jawaharlal Nehru to Saleem Sinai
The popular and well-renowned book written by Salman Rushdie was more dreary than I expected and less fantastical, but that didn't make reading it any less magical. The book is a sprawling biography where the main character, Saleem Sinai recounts the inconceivable tragedies that have marked his life and how they mirror the myriad of troubles that have beset his home country of India. I was slow-to-warm up to this book because of the first 150 pages of backstory (the book is a whopping 600 pages), but it really picked up when It focused on Saleem and his acquisition of his powers, his family and friends, and his ignoble yet still paramount birth. He soon writes about his adolescent and early adulthood, which were marked by tragedy, guilt, and regret. The ending was rather despondent as well. The depressing nature of this book was buffeted by Rushdie's amazing and rich prose. He was able to weave past and present seamlessly and was able to make the must mundane event seems extraordinary. The magic realism in this book seemed scant but practically pervaded the book. All characters seemed to exude some magic and the each setting seemed to be a world in in itself. Another book that absolutely surprised me!
— Jawaharlal Nehru to Saleem Sinai
The popular and well-renowned book written by Salman Rushdie was more dreary than I expected and less fantastical, but that didn't make reading it any less magical. The book is a sprawling biography where the main character, Saleem Sinai recounts the inconceivable tragedies that have marked his life and how they mirror the myriad of troubles that have beset his home country of India. I was slow-to-warm up to this book because of the first 150 pages of backstory (the book is a whopping 600 pages), but it really picked up when It focused on Saleem and his acquisition of his powers, his family and friends, and his ignoble yet still paramount birth. He soon writes about his adolescent and early adulthood, which were marked by tragedy, guilt, and regret. The ending was rather despondent as well. The depressing nature of this book was buffeted by Rushdie's amazing and rich prose. He was able to weave past and present seamlessly and was able to make the must mundane event seems extraordinary. The magic realism in this book seemed scant but practically pervaded the book. All characters seemed to exude some magic and the each setting seemed to be a world in in itself. Another book that absolutely surprised me!
Not a good sign that I sprinted back to the library to get rid of this
book the second I was finished. Rushdie has a way with words, but not with a
story. His phrasing & observations were pleasing - in a dense & wordy way.
But the story was so sprawling, I couldn't keep track of the characters & many of the side plots & ceased caring long before I finished its 533 pages.
book the second I was finished. Rushdie has a way with words, but not with a
story. His phrasing & observations were pleasing - in a dense & wordy way.
But the story was so sprawling, I couldn't keep track of the characters & many of the side plots & ceased caring long before I finished its 533 pages.
Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie’s magical realism is eloquent, and in the case of Midnight’s Children, is interwoven with real-life events in India’s history.
A few of my favorite quotes -
“I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come.”
“Memory's truth, because memory has its own special kind. It selects, eliminates, alters, exaggerates, minimizes, glorifies, and vilifies also; but in the end it creates its own reality, its heterogeneous but usually coherent version of events; and no sane human being ever trusts someone else's version more than his own.”
Overall glad I stuck with it, but finishing this book felt harder than running a marathon.
A few of my favorite quotes -
“I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come.”
“Memory's truth, because memory has its own special kind. It selects, eliminates, alters, exaggerates, minimizes, glorifies, and vilifies also; but in the end it creates its own reality, its heterogeneous but usually coherent version of events; and no sane human being ever trusts someone else's version more than his own.”
Overall glad I stuck with it, but finishing this book felt harder than running a marathon.
A man born at the moment of India's independence tells the tale of his life to date--pickles and all.
I was expecting something deep and literary and serious. This is a perfect fool's book--the tale of a complete and utter goob who happens to live in interesting times, serving both as the idiot who gets in over his head on the way to wisdom, and the court jester who is the only one allowed to speak the truth.
Recommend if you like A Confederacy of Dunces or The 100 Year Old Man Who Stepped Out Of A Window and Disappeared, or even Forrest Gump.
I was expecting something deep and literary and serious. This is a perfect fool's book--the tale of a complete and utter goob who happens to live in interesting times, serving both as the idiot who gets in over his head on the way to wisdom, and the court jester who is the only one allowed to speak the truth.
Recommend if you like A Confederacy of Dunces or The 100 Year Old Man Who Stepped Out Of A Window and Disappeared, or even Forrest Gump.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was hard to get into Rushdie's style of writing - it requires 100% attention. but once I got into it, i found it funny, touching, and engrossing.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Grazie a questo libro si fa un'avventura meravigliosa nella storia dell'India. Il narratore è Saleem Sinai, un ragazzo indiano nato allo scoccare della mezzanotte del 15 agosto 1947, ovvero quando l'India dichiara l'indipendenza dall'Inghilterra. Crescendo scopre di avere poteri sovrannaturali e riesce a mettersi telepaticamente in contatto con gli altri bambini della mezzanotte e scopre che tutti hanno dei poteri speciali.
Il libro, però, non parla principalmente di questi bambini, ma di Saleem e della sua stramba famiglia partendo dai nonni che vivevano nel Kashmir all'inizio del 1900. Attraverso questa saga familiare assistiamo agli eventi storici più importanti dell'India del secolo scorso: il massacro di Jallianwala Bagh, l'indipendenza e la conseguente carneficina tra hindu e musulmani, la guerra indo-pakistana, quella sino-indiana, l'indipendenza del Bangladesh fino ad arrivare allo stato d'emergenza proclamato da Indira Gandhi nel 1975.
La storia è raccontata da Saleem, ormai trentenne, in retrospettiva. All'inizio la narrazione può risultare confusa perché Saleem aggiunge al racconto del passato alcune osservazioni che fanno parte del presente; mentre ci parla del passato aggiunge anticipazioni di ciò che succederà in futuro, tornando però subito alla narrazione del passato. Il tutto però non è troppo confuso perché dopo i primi capitoli ci si abitua a questo tipo di narrazione.
Il libro è ricco di parti divertenti, i personaggi sono caratterizzati molto bene, gli eventi storici sono interessanti...insomma, un gran bel libro!
Anche questo libro fa parte della mia sfida Curarsi con i libri ed è consigliato a chi soffre di "tristezza da compleanno". Non soffro di questa "malattia" ma ho comunque voluto leggerlo perché amo leggere libri ambientati in India. Se devo essere sincera, dai 30 ai 40 anni mi pesava festeggiare il compleanno e preferivo che nessuno me lo ricordasse; compiuti 40 anni ho fatto pace con me stessa, con la mia età e con lo scorrere del tempo. Le autrici di [b:Curarsi con i libri: Rimedi letterari per ogni malanno|18758859|Curarsi con i libri Rimedi letterari per ogni malanno|Ella Berthoud|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383840900s/18758859.jpg|24757268] hanno ragione: paragonati a Saleem Sinai, tutte le persone dovrebbero essere felici di festeggiare il proprio compleanno in modo normale. I bambini della mezzanotte hanno poteri sovrannaturali, maledizione della loro data e ora di nascita, che gli hanno condizionato la vita e questa non è stata molto clemente con loro.
English
What an incredibile adventure in India's history!
The story is told by Saleem, a guy who was born at midnight of the 15th August 1947, when India declared its independence. All the children born in that moment had special powers. The book isn't about all these children, but mainly about Saleem and his family starting from his grandparents who lived in Kashmir at the beginning of 1900. Through this family saga we know about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Independence and the massacre among Hindu and Muslims, the war between India and Pakistan, the attack by China, the Independence of Bangladesh and the Emergency by Indira Gandhi.
But all these historical events are told by Saleem (when he is already 30 years old) and they are the background of the story of his family. Of course there are also the midnight's children with their special powers but there isn't too much magic. All in all it's a credible story. It's so well written that the reader really thinks that it's possible to smell feelings and emotions, that it's possible to kill with the knees and so on.
It's not an easy book because the narrator tells in retrospetive the story of his relatives and his life, and often he adds thoughts of the present to what happened in the past. Sometimes he discloses what will happen next but then he stops again and turns back in the past with his narration. But I loved it! I loved the funny parts of the book, I liked all those historical events in one book...an amazing book!
This books is part of my "Novel-cure-challenge" and it's recommended to people that have birthday sadness. I don't have this disease but since I wanted to read this book since a long time, I decided to read it for this challenge. Well, from my 30th to my 40th I had some problems to accept my getting older but when I turned 40 I stopped to care about my age and now I'm an adorable 44 years old woman.
I loved this book and I must admit that compared to the main character everyone should be happy to celebrate his "normal" birthday and to have a normal life. Saleem Sinai, the main character, and other children born during the Indian Independece (at midnight of the 15th August 1947) have special powers that influence their lives, and not always in a good way. Compared to them no one should have birthday sadness.
Il libro, però, non parla principalmente di questi bambini, ma di Saleem e della sua stramba famiglia partendo dai nonni che vivevano nel Kashmir all'inizio del 1900. Attraverso questa saga familiare assistiamo agli eventi storici più importanti dell'India del secolo scorso: il massacro di Jallianwala Bagh, l'indipendenza e la conseguente carneficina tra hindu e musulmani, la guerra indo-pakistana, quella sino-indiana, l'indipendenza del Bangladesh fino ad arrivare allo stato d'emergenza proclamato da Indira Gandhi nel 1975.
La storia è raccontata da Saleem, ormai trentenne, in retrospettiva. All'inizio la narrazione può risultare confusa perché Saleem aggiunge al racconto del passato alcune osservazioni che fanno parte del presente; mentre ci parla del passato aggiunge anticipazioni di ciò che succederà in futuro, tornando però subito alla narrazione del passato. Il tutto però non è troppo confuso perché dopo i primi capitoli ci si abitua a questo tipo di narrazione.
Il libro è ricco di parti divertenti, i personaggi sono caratterizzati molto bene, gli eventi storici sono interessanti...insomma, un gran bel libro!
Anche questo libro fa parte della mia sfida Curarsi con i libri ed è consigliato a chi soffre di "tristezza da compleanno". Non soffro di questa "malattia" ma ho comunque voluto leggerlo perché amo leggere libri ambientati in India. Se devo essere sincera, dai 30 ai 40 anni mi pesava festeggiare il compleanno e preferivo che nessuno me lo ricordasse; compiuti 40 anni ho fatto pace con me stessa, con la mia età e con lo scorrere del tempo. Le autrici di [b:Curarsi con i libri: Rimedi letterari per ogni malanno|18758859|Curarsi con i libri Rimedi letterari per ogni malanno|Ella Berthoud|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383840900s/18758859.jpg|24757268] hanno ragione: paragonati a Saleem Sinai, tutte le persone dovrebbero essere felici di festeggiare il proprio compleanno in modo normale. I bambini della mezzanotte hanno poteri sovrannaturali, maledizione della loro data e ora di nascita, che gli hanno condizionato la vita e questa non è stata molto clemente con loro.
English
What an incredibile adventure in India's history!
The story is told by Saleem, a guy who was born at midnight of the 15th August 1947, when India declared its independence. All the children born in that moment had special powers. The book isn't about all these children, but mainly about Saleem and his family starting from his grandparents who lived in Kashmir at the beginning of 1900. Through this family saga we know about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Independence and the massacre among Hindu and Muslims, the war between India and Pakistan, the attack by China, the Independence of Bangladesh and the Emergency by Indira Gandhi.
But all these historical events are told by Saleem (when he is already 30 years old) and they are the background of the story of his family. Of course there are also the midnight's children with their special powers but there isn't too much magic. All in all it's a credible story. It's so well written that the reader really thinks that it's possible to smell feelings and emotions, that it's possible to kill with the knees and so on.
It's not an easy book because the narrator tells in retrospetive the story of his relatives and his life, and often he adds thoughts of the present to what happened in the past. Sometimes he discloses what will happen next but then he stops again and turns back in the past with his narration. But I loved it! I loved the funny parts of the book, I liked all those historical events in one book...an amazing book!
This books is part of my "Novel-cure-challenge" and it's recommended to people that have birthday sadness. I don't have this disease but since I wanted to read this book since a long time, I decided to read it for this challenge. Well, from my 30th to my 40th I had some problems to accept my getting older but when I turned 40 I stopped to care about my age and now I'm an adorable 44 years old woman.
I loved this book and I must admit that compared to the main character everyone should be happy to celebrate his "normal" birthday and to have a normal life. Saleem Sinai, the main character, and other children born during the Indian Independece (at midnight of the 15th August 1947) have special powers that influence their lives, and not always in a good way. Compared to them no one should have birthday sadness.
Loved it. I love interwoven tales that span decades and families and loves. It was long, but beautifully written and told. I also found that I had to pay attention since there were a lot of Indian words I was unfamiliar with and the timeline is not linear.