Welcome to our very first buddy read of the year! Ariel and I started with Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Since this is a comparatively dense book, set in a time and world we are not used to reading about regularly, we have decided to break down the discussion into parts, following the sections in the book. Take a look at the synopsis below and then follow along the discussion, book by book.
Saleem Sinai was born at midnight, the midnight of India’s independence, and found himself mysteriously “handcuffed to history” by coincidence. He is one of 1,001 children born at the midnight hour, each of them endowed with an extraordinary talent—and whose privilege and curse it is to be both master and victims of their times. Through Saleem’s gifts—inner ear and wildly sensitive sense of smell—we are drawn into a fascinating family saga set against the vast, colourful background of the India of the 20th century.
Content Notes: Depiction of violence, political unrest, bullying, alcoholism, infidelity.
Midnight’s Children
Part-by-part Discussion
Book One
From the synopsis, I had suspected Midnight’s Children to be centered around the time of independence of India. However, I was surprised (in a good way), to find that the first part of the book covered more historical background, going back to the early 1910s and showing how Saleem came to be – the story of his grandfather moving from Kashmir to Agra and then his parents moving from Old Delhi, all the way to Bombay where he was finally born.
I really appreciate how much attention is spent on the fine details of everyday life and the various dynamics of 1910 India. We get a glimpse into family and religious life, as well as some humor and history.
Through the course of these first eight chapters, we have already been to a lot of different parts of the country – starting in the north in the state of Kashmir, then going a bit towards the heart of India (Agra) and then to the capital (Delhi) and then finally to the west coast of Bombay. How are you finding visiting all these places, Ariel? It’s quite a lot to imagine and I can see this being challenging without any context or travel experience there. I personally have only been to Agra and lived in Delhi but seen lots of movies about Bombay and Kashmir. 🙂
Without having been or even knowing about all of the locations, I know I’m missing a lot of things in context, but I do feel like I am getting a broad tour of India and the various places, dynamics, and smaller-scale politics in each area.
Moving on from places and talking about religions – Saleem and his family are Muslim with varying degrees of faith. We also meet a number of Hindus in the book so far as well as learn about Christianity in Bombay. This mix of religions is so refreshing to read about in everyday life and see how they interact with each other.
I think this book is so important in that I am sure many people here in the West have a single, Westernized version as to what the “Indian identity” looks like. This book quickly dives into the nuances and the diversity that is within India, and I love how vibrant it all is.
What do you think of the writing style so far?
The writing style is a little bit dense at times. It takes a bit of concentration for me, and I appreciate our discussions after each chapter in order to make sure that I’m not missing anything important. Also, I really do enjoy being pushed a bit outside of my normal comfort zone; as I am learning more every day. Some of the jokes have gone over my head, so it’s really awesome for us to go on this journey alongside each other!
I am really enjoying giving you extra content and translating a couple things for you as we read this. It took me a while to adjust to the writing and I am happy to see that it reflects how I would translate conversations in Hindi into English. The sarcasm is definitely there though I think sometimes, the book fails to portray that certain things which the West would be horrified by (what might be seen as racist comments) are not really meant that way. I can’t quite explain it. But at the same time, I don’t think the book was written for the West and so, those nuances are something the reader is expected to know. And rather than over explaining and breaking the spell, the writing is unaffected by the audience. Does this make sense?
An unapologetically Indian worldview, without having to make itself more palatable to the Western mind, and I see it as an act of resistance against colonization in a way, too.
Yes, I totally agree with that. And as we are already seeing the independence movement develop in the book, it adds a new layer to the worldview we have. For the first time (at least for me), I am reading a book set in the same time as World War 2 without the emphasis on the war in Europe. There were other wars happening around the world as countries like Pakistan and India fought to be free.
Yes, I think that this book really hits a lot of our goals for our new year reading goals– where we really branch out from the “norm” or, what is popularized in certain genres.
We know from reading the introduction by the author and the shelves on Goodreads that some people categorize this book as fantasy. Though so far, I won’t go as far to say that this is fantasy, the power of belief and prophesy form an integral part of the narrative and I can see that being misinterpreted as fantasy.
I think “fantasy” that is popularized in the Western worldview is very different from the book we are reading now. There are some elements that may be seen as magical to the non-Indian eye, but I love how this book is essentially a literary historical fiction from an Indian worldview, with an emphasis on belief and prophecy like you said!
Book Two
The second part of the book focused on Saleem’s childhood and family. At the end of Book One, a major revelation about Saleem’s birth and Book Two is partly about that truth being revealed and how the family reacts to it. Meantime, using his detective skills, Saleem discovers a secret that his mom has been hiding and in an attempt to teach her a lesson, he insigates some bloodshed. While I really enjoyed Book One, Book Two started to feel like a drag. The novelty of the rambling-style storytelling already began to wear off me here.
Book two definitely starts to fall into a rhythm, and the pace drastically slows down. We get more glimpses of India, and we begin to see various tensions arise between political groups.
Book Two showed a few more places in the Indian subcontinent. The Sinai family lived in Bombay but had relatives in Pakistan. A part of the book took us there and introduced us to the intricacies of life and politics there. While India, after independence had gone for a democrative rule, Pakistan had a military leader.
I really appreciated the perspective and tensions that are described regarding Pakistan and India. This book describes a lot of tension– whether that be through style of leadership on a national level, religion on a community level, or one’s own memory at an individual level, we begin to see in this book how lines of tension blur and things can get a little confusing even as people double-down in their positions.
The other midnight children are also introduced in this book. I found it interesting that (spoiler) Saleem could not communicate with the kids when he was not in India. How physical barriers became mental barriers was another instance of magical realism in this book.
Book Three
These last couple of chapters are about Saleem’s later life. He joins the Pakistani army and is involved in a number of military conflicts, including one in Bangladesh, which leads him back to his home country. He meets one of the midnight’s children and ultimately marries her. At the birth of his son, parallels are drawn between the new born child and the political situation in India. The rise of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her declaration of emergency are key historical events of 1970s India, which Saleem successfully integrates into the narrative.
It is in book 3 we really get to see how unreliable of a narrator the storyteller is. First we are told of a major death of a character, and then the next chapter the narrator admits he was lying. Having this revelation so late in the book itself causes the reader to begin to question everything from the start.
Whole Book Discussion
Overall, Midnight’s Children had a unique premise. I loved the intermingling of Indian culture and history with the main storyline. I have two main issues with the book. Firstly, I could not relate to the main character. Saleem comes off as this full of himself man, who wants to be at the epicenter of everything. Because of this, he orchestrates and takes the blame for a number of bad things that happen in the story.
This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read. Reminiscent of other classic books I’ve read where the author takes liberties to ramble and take side trails, Midnight’s Children provides a look into India’s independence and mythos through the lens of a literary classic.
My other problem with the story was how convoluted it felt at times. Saleem is not a reliable narrator because he jumps timelines while at the same time, referring to things, starting to tell a story and then changing his mind. Similar to Padma, his companion as he is writing this book, many times I was fed up. What helped was Ariel reminding me that all this was very intentional. Padma is the voice of the reader throughout the book, asking Saleem to get on with his story and depicting reactions that we had along the way.
I studied Indian history growing up, but had never read about it in prose. Always facts. Midnight’s Children took me back in time and masterfully placed me at the places that are important in the country’s story. The parallels between Saleem and India herself were well done, though we had to read through a lot of dense text to get to the gist of the events and emotions. What did you think of the concept of the midnight’s children, Ariel?
I really enjoyed it, and I feel like I learned a lot from you about various phrases and jokes, and I loved that insight. Being able to glance at analysis on the Sparknotes page for this book also helped me grasp some symbolism that flew over my head.
Are there any other books that this reminded you of?
The other book this kind of reminds me of is Gingerbread. Unreliable narrator, magical elements intertwined with reality, and a wandering storytelling style that brings its own flavor to the story.
Concluding thoughts on Midnight’s Children
All in all, this was a solid read. It drags along at times, and the narrator is extremely unlikeable, but it stretched my worldview and perspective of India (someplace I’ve never been), and to me, that is a success. If anything, it makes me excited to visit India someday and experience the vast mosaic of colors and cities myself!
I am glad. 🙂
Interested in reading Midnight’s Children and adding to our discussion? Find it on all retail stores. We would recommend finding it at your local library and supporting them!
Our next read will be one of the ARCs for March. Take a look at our buddy reading list for what else is coming up!
Cover Image: Photo by Mitchell Ng Liang an on Unsplash
I read this ages ago for Uni and your post has made me want to read it all over again – I think as I had to read it for a Course, I wanted to get through it and didn’t really spend enough time diving into it properly! Definitely agreeing with you though about the unreliable narrator convoluting the plot!
It’s definitely one to read once but I don’t think I will be able to reread it. I will try and find some other books based in India which would be better to spend time on! 🙂
I’ve only just started Book Two, so I’ve skipped over all but your initial discussion about Book One until I’ve finished the book. I agree that it is densely written and there’s a lot going on. It took me a little while to adapt to the writing style and I have to concentrate when I read. You can’t lose yourself in a single narrative, you have to be alert.
I’ll be back… 😉
I am so glad that this book is divided into sub-books. That helped organize this discussion and make good progress in reading. Looking forward to your thoughts after you finish! 🙂
🙂
Finished Book 2. Still interesting, but as you say, the paces slows and I’ve found it rather stodgy to read. I’m going to park the book for a bit. I will come back to it, but at the moment I’ve far more enticing books calling me, starting with Isabel Allende’s ‘In the Midst of Winter’.
I totally understand! I struggled in this book too and if it wasn’t for a library book which I had to return, I probably won’t have finished it. Keeping it for later isn’t always the best thing to do. I hope you get to it sometime. Meantime, enjoy Isabel Allende’s book 🙂