Midnight's Children: Amazon.co.uk: Salman Rushdie: Books

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Before Salman Rushdie had that problem with a certain religious-political figure with a serious need to chill out, he'd already shown he was an important literary force. Quite simply, Midnight's Children is amazing--fun, beautiful, erudite, both fairy tale and political narrative told through a supernatural narrator who is caught between different worlds. Though it's a big book, with big themes of India's nationhood and of ethnic and personal identity, it's far from a dry history lesson. Rushdie tells the story in his own brand of magical realism, with a prose of lyrical, transcendent goofiness. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Daily Telegraph, James Walton
'the result is a book that feels not unlike anything written before, but also anything written since...it's exhilirating' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

53 Reviews

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (53 customer reviews)

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51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a fantastical-magical great read, 26 Nov 2002

By	"scjackson3" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight's Children (Paperback)

Four and a half stars.
This was my first Rushdie book. A multilayered, multifaceted book. The story of "Saleem Sinai, later variously called Snotnose, Stainface, Baldy, Buddha and even Piece-of-the-Moon.." who was born at midnight, the precise moment of independence for his country, India. And 'thanks to the occult tyrannies those blandly saluting clocks" he was "mysteriously handcuffed to history". His story is the immortalisation of his memories, the "chutnification of history", "the pickling of time". It is the story of a nation finding it's identity, of impressions and memories, of people and events, of families and more.

But it is Rushdie's fantastical, magical prose that brings the book to life, colours, sights and especially smells, like you've never experienced before. It is not necessarily an easy read, for at least the first fifty pages I couldn't get it, but then something clicked and I just immersed myself in the wonderful text. Some of the passages I read again and again to savour the intricacies. It won't be everyone's idea of a good read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe that I will enjoy it more when I come back the second time.

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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to live with..., 18 May 2007

By	Neil Kealey "Neil Kealey" (Littlehampton, Sussex) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight's Children (Paperback)

Like many, I intially read this at University and didn't really enjoy it, but there is a huge gulf between reading and studying and when I came across it again on a forgotten book shelf I thought, "Well, it won the Booker of Bookers, I must've missed something." With this in mind, I read it again and oh, my goodness, I'm glad I did. I certainly missed something. Actually, I missed rather a lot (and not just lectures).

Midnight's Children deserves a place alongside One Hundred Years of Solitude as one of the finest examples of Magic Realism. It is allegorical, reflecting India's development as a country and more loosely Rushdie's own childhood, but the books stands up as a piece of writing in its own merit. The writing is vibrant; the (many) characters are well-observed; the humour is delightful; and the story is melancholy and touching in places but is stuffed with examples of Rushdie's elegant style.

To me, it is more than just an allegory for the birth and development of a nation, it is more than a great piece of writing; Midnight's Children has become an evocative depiction of how we seek to find things to lift ourselves from the futility of existence, to separate ourselves from the normal. By way of example, I give you Saleem's birth. It is normal in every way apart from the accident of timing that gives the book its title but it's the way he uses this accident of timing to lift his existence away from the mundane that I love.

Finishing this book left me hollow and a little lost. In short, I loved it and have subsequently read it again and again. Rushdie has done nothing that matches this. I doubt he, or anyone, can.

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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Words cannot describe..., 14 Mar 2007

By	Sam J. Ruddock (Norwich, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Midnight's Children (Paperback)

Once upon a time I used the words `great' and `masterpiece' with frivolous regularity. Then I read Midnights Children. Salman Rushdie works on a different scale to other authors, seamlessly blending the magical and the realistic, enhancing and supplanting accepted history, and illuminating his tactile world to all. He is first and foremost a storyteller who juggles plots and ideas with consummate ease, building a tapestry of flawed heroes and three dimensional characters. He writes with such a conversational narrative voice that is a pleasure to sit back and wallow in his half real, half magical worlds. Common perception of Salman Rushdie is of a dense and unreadable author, for literary buffs rather than general readers. This is not true though his individual style takes some getting used to. If you have never read any Rushdie, start with his more recent work such as Fury to get into his groove. Once you have done this then grab this book, sit back and prepare to enter the magical world of the children of Midnight, eternally tied to the fate of their fledgling nation. You will not be disappointed.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I'd hoped after all the plaudits
I came to this book knowing that it had been chosen as the all-time best of the Booker Prize winners, so expectations were very high. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Phil O'Sofa

1.0 out of 5 stars Overrated
I found this book to be over verbose and pretentious. Some very clever, well- turned prose, but overall the writing does not flow. It is hard work. Read more

Published 2 months ago by P. Connelly

5.0 out of 5 stars Mythical, Magical Midnights Children
Midnights Children, let there be no doubt, is a huge novel and not only as it is a grand 675 pages long. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Simon Savidge "savidgeread...

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic prose
This has been the first book I've read by Rushdie. His prose has completely blown me away: it's rich and light, piercing and funny, dense and precise. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Marco Colombo

4.0 out of 5 stars 1001 nights
I struggled with the first few chapters but then became engrossed with the life and ancestry of Saleem Sinai. Read more

Published 2 months ago by palace pier

1.0 out of 5 stars Like ""Finegan's Wake" - an unreadable fantasy
I would compare this to James Joyce's "Finegan's Wake". Both are written by highly intelligent expatriates, obsessed by but unable to live in the land of their origin. Read more

Published 2 months ago by T. S. Fox

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Stunning - but requires effort from the reader.
After reading this book I feel the need to put some effort into this review - but having just finished reading Midnight's Children, I feel impotent and that whatever I say will... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Mr. J. MCNAMARA

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical journey of discovery
This is a beautiful, magical story of children born at the moment of India's partition. Rushdie captures the sights, sounds and smell of nation as it grows, and faces new... Read more

Published 3 months ago by John Holland

1.0 out of 5 stars PANTS
This was my book club choice, I picked it because of the reviews it had received and the prizes it had won, my god what hard work, not one person in the book club thought it... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Mrs. D. Datson

5.0 out of 5 stars Midnight's Children
Midnight's Children (Vintage Classics)

A Fantastic book that charts India's early progression as an independent country through the simile of Saleem Sinai. Read more

Published 4 months ago by JH Milne

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Midnight's Children (Paperback)

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