Hooray! You have added the first book to your bookshelf. Check it out now!
[−]
  • Search Digit-count Valid ISBN Invalid ISBN Valid Barcode Invalid Barcode
Blog this item

Midnight's Children

A Novel

By Salman Rushdie

(153)

| Paperback | 9780812976533

Like Midnight's Children?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Sign up for free

Book Description

Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magContinue

Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India’s 1,000 other “midnight’s children,” all born in that initial hour and endowed with magical gifts.
This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people–a brilliant incarnation of the universal human comedy. Twenty-five years after its publication, Midnight’s Children stands apart as both an epochal work of fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary voices of our time.

Critics

  • Book Review: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie Share

    Sometimes, I wonder how authors like Salman Rushdie come up with books like these. I mean, one cannot help but give credit to authors who have the ability to come up with a bizarre yet fascinating premise, and turn it into 530 pages of pure art. What ... (read full critics)

    blogcritics published on Sun, 21 Aug 2011

  • Guardian book club: Language of film

    Saleem Sinai, the narrator of Midnight's Children, sometimes finds that his memory is like a film. Recalling how as a child, convinced that his mother was having an affair, he followed her to an assignation at a Bombay cafe, he slips easily into the ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

6 Reviews

Login or Sign Up to write a review

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Fabulous

    Saleem Sinai was born in India, on the midnight of its independence. Rushdie tells the story of Saleem - and of his family - magically tied in the history of India by the time of his birth. In doing so, the author uses English like play dough shaping the story into a fable. No word is chosen at rand ... (continue)

    Saleem Sinai was born in India, on the midnight of its independence. Rushdie tells the story of Saleem - and of his family - magically tied in the history of India by the time of his birth. In doing so, the author uses English like play dough shaping the story into a fable. No word is chosen at random or by habit. And the rhythm, o such rhythm.

    Is this helpful?

    fran_ces said on Mar 8, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    The Booker of Booker Prize winners. Best novel in 25 years.

    Midnight's Children is Rushdie at his finest. The book is surrealist fiction that deals with the history of India from 1910 to the declaration of the emergency in 1976 through the eyes (and nose) of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke o ... (continue)

    The Booker of Booker Prize winners. Best novel in 25 years.

    Midnight's Children is Rushdie at his finest. The book is surrealist fiction that deals with the history of India from 1910 to the declaration of the emergency in 1976 through the eyes (and nose) of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke of Midnight August 15, 1947. Midnight's Children, like most of Rushdie's writing, does have political overtones, yet the fog of larger events is never permitted to detract from the more personal experiences of all the multi-faceted characters in the novel.

    Is this helpful?

    ambient pleasures said on Sep 12, 2006 | Add your feedback

  • This book is incredibly well written, and magic realism is one of my favourite genres. I've been meaning to read this since I was about 15, and I'm very pleased I have now achieved that goal! As far as the story goes though, I have to say I found it somewhat more depressing than other books in the s ... (continue)

    This book is incredibly well written, and magic realism is one of my favourite genres. I've been meaning to read this since I was about 15, and I'm very pleased I have now achieved that goal! As far as the story goes though, I have to say I found it somewhat more depressing than other books in the same vein - Isabelle Allende's House of the Spirits, for example - which deal with just as dark and violent subjects, but somehow retain a sense of lightness in a way I personally prefer.

    Is this helpful?

    Kahlamayhew said on Aug 4, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • Hard-going narrative structure, not what I was expecting but once you get into the swing of Rushdie's writing style the lyrical beauty shines through. This is a fantastically rich book; you can almost taste and smell India in its pages. Extremely evocative and powerful.

    Is this helpful?

    Sugarbear said on Jun 8, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • This is a five-star book. More than Rushdie at his finest, it's Literature at its finest.

    Is this helpful?

    Mawy3 said on Apr 4, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

Improve data of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780812976533 Paperback $16.00 $11.52 bn.com
-- $11.99 ebooks.com
$16.00 $10.49 The Book Depository
Other editions →
+ 1 copy tradable: →
Added to Shelf Added to Wish List

Inline Translation Mode

Left click to navigate, right click to translate.

inline translation guide

or close

Inline translation is not ready for this page yet.

Inline translation mode.

Share this page with your friends.

The viewport has not loaded.