Scan barcode
suzannesugarbaker's review against another edition
3.0
Got bored halfway. This ended up being a slog to get through. I didn't care about any of the characters. Sped read the last 100 pages.
msgcogs's review against another edition
2.0
2nd attempt and despite having finished it, it was no more rewarding. Flabby, verbose and un disciplined.
bookgut's review against another edition
soft dnf, I liked what I’ve read but I just can’t finish it rn. I plan to come back to it once I have some time
wjacksonata's review against another edition
2.0
I almost quit this book as often as I turned its pages. Other reviews cover the issues: density, bad narrator, sheer volume of tangential description at every turn. I realise this was part of the author's grand plan, and if the purpose was to irritate the reader, the objective was achieved. I like being challenged when I read, but this was on the border of too much. YET YET YET, some part of me wants to re-read it, in order to see if knowing what I am in for makes it better. I will not pick it up again any time soon though - I need serious Saleem Sinai detox time.
moxrees's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a year to read-so dense in terms of things to appreciate.
neilcake's review against another edition
1.0
Midnight's Children represents a final nail in the coffin for Salman Rushdie's literary efforts as far as I'm concerned. Previously I'd read Fury and I thought it was just awful. Midnight's Children isn't quite as awful as that, but I found it so annoying, and I couldn't be entirely sure why. I think the style would certainly fall under magical realism, and it turns out that isn't a genre I've dipped into all that often. One notable exception is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I thought was brilliant; fascinating and charming. Maybe that's it; Midnight's Children seemed to lack any kind of charm. Any time I finished a block of text, or a chapter, I found myself thinking, "what a load of shit."
I agonised over whether to continue or not - finally getting all the way to page 245 before deciding I didn't have to take this shit anymore - because normally I can read anything. But yeah, this was just annoying. The way events are referenced several times, the way everything is linked back to something that happened to someone else a generation or more ago, as if this makes things meaningful - oh, someone just got punched in the nose - just like this other character got punched in the nose 40 years ago. So fucking what?
Even more annoying than that is the way Rushdie precedes anything actually happening with a discussion as to what might have caused this thing that's about to happen that he isn't going to talk about yet - to happen. Just get on with it, for christ's sake.
And that's why I found Midnight's Children to be the most annoying thing I've read since Piers Morgan's piss-poor celebrity namecheck onanism, God Bless America, and why I won't be tempted to pick up another of Rushdie's critically acclaimed snoozefests.
I agonised over whether to continue or not - finally getting all the way to page 245 before deciding I didn't have to take this shit anymore - because normally I can read anything. But yeah, this was just annoying. The way events are referenced several times, the way everything is linked back to something that happened to someone else a generation or more ago, as if this makes things meaningful - oh, someone just got punched in the nose - just like this other character got punched in the nose 40 years ago. So fucking what?
Even more annoying than that is the way Rushdie precedes anything actually happening with a discussion as to what might have caused this thing that's about to happen that he isn't going to talk about yet - to happen. Just get on with it, for christ's sake.
And that's why I found Midnight's Children to be the most annoying thing I've read since Piers Morgan's piss-poor celebrity namecheck onanism, God Bless America, and why I won't be tempted to pick up another of Rushdie's critically acclaimed snoozefests.
maria_rb's review against another edition
3.0
Have enjoyed the strange back-and-forth perspective in this book but can't seem to finish the last 50 pages.
mudder17's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
So this is probably not a very fair rating because I really had a hard time concentrating on this one. Based on what I did focus on, I really liked it and I liked the voice of the main protagonist. I also liked Padma, the woman to whom he is telling this story. But there was a LOT to this story. This was a book that deserved 100% my undivided attention and I just don't have the bandwidth for it. That said, I picked up a lot, and I suspect that when I give it a second read, I'll get a lot more out of it. In fact, I might just start over from the beginning and do one chapter a day. My brain may be able to handle that a bit better. This was a massive historical fiction story with magical realism thrown in and I honestly liked quite a bit of it. But I couldn't concentrate enough to fit all of the pieces together. So as soon as I catch up on sleep, I may go back all the way to the beginning and absorb it one chapter a time. I truly believe this book deserves that. If I am lucky, I may be able to finish it by the end of the year.
So this is probably not a very fair rating because I really had a hard time concentrating on this one. Based on what I did focus on, I really liked it and I liked the voice of the main protagonist. I also liked Padma, the woman to whom he is telling this story. But there was a LOT to this story. This was a book that deserved 100% my undivided attention and I just don't have the bandwidth for it. That said, I picked up a lot, and I suspect that when I give it a second read, I'll get a lot more out of it. In fact, I might just start over from the beginning and do one chapter a day. My brain may be able to handle that a bit better. This was a massive historical fiction story with magical realism thrown in and I honestly liked quite a bit of it. But I couldn't concentrate enough to fit all of the pieces together. So as soon as I catch up on sleep, I may go back all the way to the beginning and absorb it one chapter a time. I truly believe this book deserves that. If I am lucky, I may be able to finish it by the end of the year.
teaflowerer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ariannelilley's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-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