Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Monday, December 27, 2010

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981, 533 pages)

Every since I read The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie I knew I wanted to read a good  more of his work.   A bit of research seemed to indicate the consensus best work by Rushdie is Midnight' Children (1981, 531 pages).    The novel won the very prestigious Booker Price in 1981 and in 2008 was voted "the best of the Booker award books".   Rushdie has won nearly every award short of the Nobel Price for literature.    When Jov of Bibliojunkie announced she would be hosting a Read Along from 12 November to 13 December I decided this was my push to read Midnight's Children.   




This will be my second and final post on Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.      (My first post is here.)
I began reading this book in conjunction with a read-a-long being hosted by Jovenus of Bibliojunkie.    I finished the book about  a week ago but then my primary Internet carrier, Sky Cable of The Philippines, went down for a week.   We still have service here in the house but it is at a rate too low for me to wish to post using it.   I now have two other completed books waiting to be reviewed and plans to write a number of year end/first of the year type posts so I am keeping my final post on this wonderful novel simple and short.

I am keeping this post very brief.   In my first post on the book I saw Midnight's Children  as kind of a meditation on the nature of historical truth, a commentary on ancient Indian Metaphysical systems and a look at post WWII Indian history from the ground floor

Reality is a question of perspective;  the further you get from the past the more concrete and plausible it seems, but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible...illusion is itself reality.
The prose in Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie is a marvel itself.   A lot of the point of the book is in the trying to experience it,  not in the trying to come up with a  paraphrasing of the novel one could put in a term paper or literary journal.

I really enjoyed this book and will look forward to reading more of Rushdie's novels in the years to come.

There are a number of great posts that can be found via the link to the read-along that will help you enjoy the novel.

Mel u

3 comments:

Mystica said...

This is a book I have and I must get to it soon.

Mel u said...

Mystica-I am optimistic you would like it and I would love to read your post on it

Kals said...

I haven't gotten to this book yet, but it's on my must-read list for 2011! Glad to hear you enjoyed it.