Midnight's Children: The iconic Booker-prize winning novel - Softcover

Rushdie, Salman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099578514 ISBN 13: 9780099578512

Publisher: Vintage, 1995

Synopsis

Born at the stroke of midnight, at the precise moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai is destined from birth to be special. For he is one of 1,001 children born in the midnight hour, children who all have special gifts, children with whom Saleem is telepathically linked.

But there has been a terrible mix up at birth, and Saleem’s life takes some unexpected twists and turns. As he grows up amidst a whirlwind of triumphs and disasters, Saleem must learn the ominous consequences of his gift, for the course of his life is inseparably linked to that of his motherland, and his every act is mirrored and magnified in the events that shape the newborn nation of India. It is a great gift, and a terrible burden.

About this title

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.

Review

"A magical-realist reflection of the issues India faced post-independence including culture, language, religion, and politics... It’s a truly incredible work." (Jack Rear Verdict)

"The extraordinary alchemy of Midnight’s Children was its miraculous fusion of the fantastical and the historical." (Jereme Boyd Maunsell Evening Standard)

"A wonderful, rich and humane novel that is safe to call a classic." (Sam Jordison Guardian)

"Rushdie’s novel took a post-colonial “empire fights back” spirit, and a deep personal understanding of the politics of Indian partition, and exploded them into something teeming with imaginative life... He inhabits a hybrid consciousness, with a telepathic connection to the other children of midnight, and tells its stories for all he is worth." (Tim Adams Observer)

"'Salman Rushdie has earned the right to be called one of our great storytellers.' Observer"

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0099578514
• ISBN 13: 9780099578512
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672