A review by boxcar
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

challenging informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Salman Rushdie writes how I think. Seriously, it felt so natural to read. All over the place yet coherent, parentheses, run-ons, fragments, fluctuating punctuation, all done with a tactful hand, none clumsy or kitschy. There are so many themes in here, (duh it's a book!) and I feel that I could read this over and over and never fail to wrest something new from its pages. The very concept of a nation is explored through the life of a single child, boy, man. That single man is not singular, but a part of many singular men and women that comprise a nation, a group, an idea. Saleem is a man with endless fathers, mothers, siblings--he himself is many different people through his lives. Mundane events shake the very nature of his existence; immense events rattle in the background. A family saga where the very family is undefinable. Saleem's voice, writing this tale and referencing the current moment in the middle of his past somehow just works. I, who know little about the history of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh did not feel lost. At no point does Rushdie lecture or explain events in depth, yet I came away feeling I understood the state of Rushdie's imagined country. Whether or not that accurately reflects reality is not for me to say. The magical elements are so very unique and seamlessly weave into a narrative about history. So very good.