Saleem Sinai is born at the very stroke of midnight on the first day of India’s Independence from British rule. But he is only one of 1,000 other children born in the first hour of India’s freedom. And all of the children are gifted with supernatural powers, Saleem with a telepathic power to connect with and channel each of his brothers and sisters of freedom. Saleem’s life, his family’s history, and the lives of [Midnight’s Children] mirror the turbulent story of India.

I would never have ever picked up a Salman Rushdie book if not for the 100 best lists that I have been reading through over the years. Rushdie is such a polarizing figure, with a jihadist bounty on his head for offending an Ayatollah, he grinds through wives and women and is always ready to comment on anything to anyone. For example, the top search result for him just this minute is the following quote:
The world is full of things that upset people. But most of us deal with it and move on and don’t try and burn the planet down. There is no right in the world not to be offended. That right simply doesn’t exist. In a free society, an open society, people have strong opinions, and these opinions very often clash. In a democracy, we have to learn to deal with this.
Whether he offends you or not, and he’s offended many, Rushdie is a master and I’m glad I didn’t miss this book.

Told in a sort of rabbit-trail stream of consciousness, the narrative begins by telling Saleem’s family history first, beginning with his grandparents. Gazing at the past through a long lens in this way, Rushdie is able to ground his message of interconnectedness – who we are is a derivation of all our ancestral history and every event, no matter how insignificant, that plays a part in any life. Languid in its pace, the story never rushes to any conclusion or climax – our narrator, the hero of the story, is not even born until well after the first 100 pages of the book. Every detail of each character’s life and motivation is pondered on and explored. And the result is a rich, succulent epic that is never tiresome.

[Midnight’s Children] has been categorized as a magical realism story – one that blends the magical with the real. Whether that is an accurate characterization depends on your view of Saleem’s narrative, as he repeatedly admits to being an unreliable narrator. Is Saleem telling the truth about the powers of his compatriots and the mystical events that often plague him? Or is he processing the tragic and difficult history of his home with the fantastical to make it more palatable. Saleem would simply say, “It happened that way because that’s how it happened.”

Don’t be frightened by Rushdie’s polarizing personality. [Midnight’s Children] is a good old-fashioned story-telling. There are political and social implications to the story, but Rushdie doesn’t force an agenda, he just tells Saleem’s story. And don’t be put-off by the cultural milieu of this story. Unless you’re from India or are a scholar on Indian history, there will be much in the book that is strange and indecipherable. But the history and culture are not important; they are simply different colors or tastes in a familiar and common story.

Bottom Line: A rich epic of India, but also just a good-old fashioned well-told story, recognizable to anyone, anywhere.

5 bones!!!!!
A Favorite for the Year. ( )

Rushdie is a genius. This is his finest book. Six stars. ( )

Chosen as the Booker Prize winner of all Booker Prize winners. Magical realism in India and Pakistan. Not for me, for some reason. It took me forever to read this. ( )

More on magical realism. And then some. There is some truth in the idea that any banned author is worth reading. If you don’t believe me, re-read Calvino (above), and then we can talk. ( )

For me, a successful piece of magical realism is possible when the constraints and opportunities for the characters are set in some impossible way, which you promptly forget is artificial and become invested in. This is absolutely the case with the way the Midnight's Children can hear each other's voices, and is even mostly the case with the special powers of the main characters. At the end, when we learn about the rush of powers possessed by other Midnight's Children, it did all seem a bit artificial, but it didn't matter so much at that point. Within the world established at the start, it was a lot of fun to watch Saleem buffeted around by the various voices in his life. ( )