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A review by noonjinx
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this one but found it exhausting to read. It took me four months to finish because I had to keep breaking off to balance it with something lighter.
Every page is beautifully written and densely packed with wonderful descriptions and metaphors and looping allusions to other parts of the book. The trouble is it’s a long book with no texture, just a constant barrage of ideas.
There is a lot of humour in the novel and some great one liners (eg. one character is strong enough to squat forever, “simultaneously defying gravity and cramp”). I enjoyed the magical realism. Unbelievable stuff is just thrown in as if it’s totally mundane so you just accept it and move on (eg. contortionists who can swallow their own legs up to their knees). There’s a lot of tragedy too but even though I liked the characters I didn’t find their fates bothered me much (probably because I was being overwhelmed by the dense text.
I’m only giving it 3.5 because, although I thought it was worth reading, to me 5 means “read again” and 4 means “read other stuff by this author” and I don’t think I’ll do either of those.
Every page is beautifully written and densely packed with wonderful descriptions and metaphors and looping allusions to other parts of the book. The trouble is it’s a long book with no texture, just a constant barrage of ideas.
There is a lot of humour in the novel and some great one liners (eg. one character is strong enough to squat forever, “simultaneously defying gravity and cramp”). I enjoyed the magical realism. Unbelievable stuff is just thrown in as if it’s totally mundane so you just accept it and move on (eg. contortionists who can swallow their own legs up to their knees). There’s a lot of tragedy too but even though I liked the characters I didn’t find their fates bothered me much (probably because I was being overwhelmed by the dense text.
I’m only giving it 3.5 because, although I thought it was worth reading, to me 5 means “read again” and 4 means “read other stuff by this author” and I don’t think I’ll do either of those.