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notthatcosta's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I kinda went all over the place with this one - I was dreading starting it because it's so damn long (the longest book I've read, in fact) and to be honest I remain unconvinced that this book (or any book for that matter) has any right being over 600 pages.
I tend to struggle with first person narration at the best of times, but when it's this indulgent, tangiential and scattered as this it became a slog to try and follow the plot. With a story as expansive, there were also a lot of characters (many having multiple names) which also made it hard to know which threads to pay attention to. Even our narrator often switched how he referred to himself...
While I would say Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude is a far better execution of a similar story (and even provided a graphic to help you follow the family tree), I really enjoyed book 2 because of its focus on the family and its dysfunction, which is always a winner for me in a novel. When it was meandering preamble about ancestors who you don't get much time with or our antihero being kind of awful, I was less invested.
On the positive side, it has a great premise and most of the plot is pretty riveting despite the execution being spotty. I can see why it's so beloved, because it's a remarkable work of fiction despite my critiques.
I tend to struggle with first person narration at the best of times, but when it's this indulgent, tangiential and scattered as this it became a slog to try and follow the plot. With a story as expansive, there were also a lot of characters (many having multiple names) which also made it hard to know which threads to pay attention to. Even our narrator often switched how he referred to himself...
While I would say Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude is a far better execution of a similar story (and even provided a graphic to help you follow the family tree), I really enjoyed book 2 because of its focus on the family and its dysfunction, which is always a winner for me in a novel. When it was meandering preamble about ancestors who you don't get much time with or our antihero being kind of awful, I was less invested.
On the positive side, it has a great premise and most of the plot is pretty riveting despite the execution being spotty. I can see why it's so beloved, because it's a remarkable work of fiction despite my critiques.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Classism, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Incest, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Body horror, Pregnancy, Racism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
travisppe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is a remarkable book. Uniquely written with a vibrancy that is rarely seen in literature. It is also very dense, difficult, and complex. I can’t say I always had a ton of fun reading it. I’m impressed and have nothing but respect for this accomplishment but I doubt I’d ever reread this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Bullying, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Body horror, Car accident, Alcohol, Animal death, Police brutality, Sexism, Classism, Deportation, Infertility, Violence, Alcoholism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Grief
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-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
4.75
It’s impossible to do justice to Midnight’s Children in a quick Instagram review. It won the Booker in 1981 and has twice been judged the Best of the Bookers to mark the prize’s 25th and 40th anniversaries. It’s sweeping and epic, a magical realism infused family saga that parallels the post-colonial history of India and references many classic Indian - and other - tales. I loved the narrative style with Saleem’s recounting his life story to his wife feeling like a direct address to the reader. Listening on audio undoubtedly amplified this effect. And the audio was fabulous, with the narrator really bringing intonation, personality and verve to Saleem’s voice. Saleem’s life was full of fantastic twists and turns right from the beginning. He was born at the exact moment of India’s independence, and like the 1000 other midnight children born in the hour between midnight and 1am he has special powers. He was also swapped at birth with another baby. This novel manages to explore weighty themes such as identity, religion, colonialism, the importance of storytelling, partition and the porousness of all sorts of barriers, legacy, and truth in a thoroughly engaging way, with a deceptively light, often irreverent, touch. A layered, richly detailed, unforgettable story. It’s just unfortunate that it was an attack on the author which finally promoted me to pick this up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Islamophobia, and Violence
natii4u's review against another edition
Very overrated the book is slow and doesnt seem to be picking up space the writing style seemed nothing special and at times it was anti Pakistan and anti christianity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia
elossa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Islamophobia
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