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
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
More...