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bethdevlin9's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
daphnesayshi's review against another edition
3.0
I'm generally fine with Rushdie as a writer, but for some reason I remember Midnight's children being really difficult to finish. I first picked it up as part of a module on colonial literature – needless to say, I never managed to quite finish the book then. picked it up again a couple of years later, started anew, and drifted off.. a couple cycles of this start and stop and I guess I finally finished it, but.. I don't think I am capable of commenting nor reviewing this book.
chiliramon's review against another edition
4.0
"To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world."
Pretty much feel like I bit off a big chunk of India and I'm still chewing. So many parts to digest, a lot has already gone over my head -- and that's ok. The whole story is so absurdly distinct and flavorful and chaotic that to just get a sense of it is satisfying enough. I don't need to understand or even believe every little thing. I willingly "swallow the world."
Pretty much feel like I bit off a big chunk of India and I'm still chewing. So many parts to digest, a lot has already gone over my head -- and that's ok. The whole story is so absurdly distinct and flavorful and chaotic that to just get a sense of it is satisfying enough. I don't need to understand or even believe every little thing. I willingly "swallow the world."
will_meringue's review against another edition
2.0
To understand one life, you have to swallow the world.
As difficult a book to rate as it was to read. It's an undoubtedly impressive endeavour. In places then prose is breathless, racing, and beautiful (particularly: Saleem's deafening by his father; the sequence of bombs falling on his family; the ending ), and in others I decided to skim. The plot is labyrinthine and meandering, which creates a rich portrait of a life against and within history but also can be tedious. I think the book suffers from mis-marketing, at least the Penguin Vintage copy that I read, because the supernatural powers of the Midnight's Children are actually a tiny tiny portion of the narrative, when they were what drew me to read the book from the blurb. More than that though, and what will be the true legacy of Midnight's Children for me, and why the rating is low is the horrific levels of misogyny in this book. Every woman in this book is a cariacture: the shrew and/or the whore, conniving, manipulative, hysterical, money-grubbing, hypersexualised (including almost all of Saleem's female family members) and often adulterous too. I think it is genuinely unforgivable, and goes far beyond what's 'historically appropriate'. It constantly made me shocked and appalled and really soured me towards being able to connect with the narrative.
As difficult a book to rate as it was to read. It's an undoubtedly impressive endeavour. In places then prose is breathless, racing, and beautiful (
severin23's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
daniel_ov's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
patsmith139's review against another edition
4.0
The first three quarters of this book are a joy. Immaginative, joyous, sparkling with wit and intelligence and above all telling a fantastic story. The characters spring from the pages and India is a character in itself. As we move to Pakistan and as Saleem, one of the Midnight's Children of the title, gets older things get darker and after a catastrophic event occurs in the last section the sparkle vanishes and I found this large section a struggle to get through-otherwise it would have been 5 stars. This is a novel that needs time and patience-time to accustom yourself to the original writing style and immerse sheer scope and wonder. I now understand why Mr Rushdie is so feted in the literary world.
oscard99's review against another edition
3.0
Goliath is slain! Finishing this book was my white whale and I never want to look at it again