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emmamorganti's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
gauriraut's review against another edition
4.0
Took so long to read, I'm surprised I managed to enjoy it. The writing takes a while to get used to. And at first (when we spent 156 pages on 32 years worth of backstory before our protagonist was even born) the inability of the narrator to follow a linear timeline without jumping to some incident in the future of which we know nothing about and in doing so opening up approximately 200 plot lines, honestly left me so confused I thought I was never going to figure the book out or even enjoy it. The first is true, the latter isn't.
The narrator wasn't very likeable and the plot is (is there one, that is my real question) weird. But there was something that kept drawing me in. Maybe it is because I love magical realism, and the enjoyment I derived was solely from that love and had nothing to do with this particular book. Maybe it had. Some chapters were so clever in their wordplay or joy inducing in their sheer absurdity, while being simple and inconsequential, that I am surprised at that possibility.
(The book also made reference to my hometown twice and that made me very excited.)
If someone were to ask me what this book is about, I honestly can't tell. It's about our protagonist's life, but it's also about the life of India and how our protagonist (believes to have) influenced it.
The narrator wasn't very likeable and the plot is (is there one, that is my real question) weird. But there was something that kept drawing me in. Maybe it is because I love magical realism, and the enjoyment I derived was solely from that love and had nothing to do with this particular book. Maybe it had. Some chapters were so clever in their wordplay or joy inducing in their sheer absurdity, while being simple and inconsequential, that I am surprised at that possibility.
(The book also made reference to my hometown twice and that made me very excited.)
If someone were to ask me what this book is about, I honestly can't tell. It's about our protagonist's life, but it's also about the life of India and how our protagonist (believes to have) influenced it.
whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite books by Salman Rushdie. Egotistical, but brilliant. (That may be the best way to describe the man himself.)
margaret_parker's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
zerofactorial's review against another edition
4.0
Whew! Finally done! And what a marvellous ending. I was truly satisfied with the literary excellence of the last ten pages, although I was worried ten pages prior that I wouldn't be.
It took me a long time to finish this book. I read the first 200 pages or so a few years ago, but couldn't get through more. The structure did at times lag for me (especially during Saleem's time in Pakistan and the end of the second section), which gives me more respect for Shaharazade.
There were many beautiful moments, but for me, this book, Booker of Bookers that it is, is not truly a masterpiece because I did not truly feel much during its reading. I didn't care too much about most of them. To another writer, this would be fatal. But the brilliant style and fast paced (mostly) plot keeps us coming back and coming back. Emotional intensity is simply not one of its priorities, instead a flavor of truth.
Much of the interest and mystery of the book centers around that notion-- truth and storytelling, but not in a way that makes me too curious to investigate, just makes me grateful that I get to listen to this spinning tale.
It took me a long time to finish this book. I read the first 200 pages or so a few years ago, but couldn't get through more. The structure did at times lag for me (especially during Saleem's time in Pakistan and the end of the second section), which gives me more respect for Shaharazade.
There were many beautiful moments, but for me, this book, Booker of Bookers that it is, is not truly a masterpiece because I did not truly feel much during its reading. I didn't care too much about most of them. To another writer, this would be fatal. But the brilliant style and fast paced (mostly) plot keeps us coming back and coming back. Emotional intensity is simply not one of its priorities, instead a flavor of truth.
Much of the interest and mystery of the book centers around that notion-- truth and storytelling, but not in a way that makes me too curious to investigate, just makes me grateful that I get to listen to this spinning tale.
faircloughliv's review against another edition
Aggressively slow reading, past 100 pages I still wasn’t having any actual fun with midnights children
born_in_a_cardboard_box's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
savaging's review against another edition
4.0
"Family history, of course, has its proper dietary laws. One is supposed to swallow and digest only the permitted parts of it, the halal portions of the past, drained of their redness, their blood. Unfortunately, this makes the stories less juicy; so I am about to become the first and only member of my family to flout the laws of halal. Letting no blood escape from the body of the tale, I arrive at the unspeakable part; and, undaunted, press on."
This book is six hundred pages of an almost-unbearable narrator, which all the same ferments into something . . . meaningful? Saleem the narrator says near the beginning "I must work fast, faster than Scheherazade, if I am to end up meaning -- yes meaning -- something. I admit it: above all things, I fear absurdity." This is the big joke: to approach meaning backward, looking for the most trivial, insignificant, ridiculous, impossible. Sometimes he sounds like Henry James with a fixation on an object as an all-encompassing metaphor (with a silver spittoon instead of a golden bowl). Except Saleem is cracked, is a clown, and when your brain isn't trying to follow all the narrative turns you realize it's telling you that the very process of finding meaning in life is mostly insane.
Then suddenly: the shriek of torture, colonization, war. Wait, weren't we just having fun here?
It has the casual misogynist voice so beloved by authors in the 70s, spiced with more overt, violently misogynist events. Hordes of female characters, but thinking back, I'm not certain it could have passed the Bechdel test (maybe Reverend Mother talking to Pia about the petrol pump . . .)
It contains the best extended metaphor for literature, as a process of pickling. In fact, the book is probably best thought of as one of those chutneys that have every flavor, that make your eyes water, that you regret a little bit, that you return to.
This book is six hundred pages of an almost-unbearable narrator, which all the same ferments into something . . . meaningful? Saleem the narrator says near the beginning "I must work fast, faster than Scheherazade, if I am to end up meaning -- yes meaning -- something. I admit it: above all things, I fear absurdity." This is the big joke: to approach meaning backward, looking for the most trivial, insignificant, ridiculous, impossible. Sometimes he sounds like Henry James with a fixation on an object as an all-encompassing metaphor (with a silver spittoon instead of a golden bowl). Except Saleem is cracked, is a clown, and when your brain isn't trying to follow all the narrative turns you realize it's telling you that the very process of finding meaning in life is mostly insane.
Then suddenly: the shriek of torture, colonization, war. Wait, weren't we just having fun here?
It has the casual misogynist voice so beloved by authors in the 70s, spiced with more overt, violently misogynist events. Hordes of female characters, but thinking back, I'm not certain it could have passed the Bechdel test (maybe Reverend Mother talking to Pia about the petrol pump . . .)
It contains the best extended metaphor for literature, as a process of pickling. In fact, the book is probably best thought of as one of those chutneys that have every flavor, that make your eyes water, that you regret a little bit, that you return to.
murzmur's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75