Midnight's children.... anyone actually enjoy this?

[InsaneDame]

I'm halfway through but it has taken me ages to get that far! I'm so close to giving up but my stubbornness won't let me. I hate his style of writing and the meandering and flitting around. Did he actually write this for a reader to enjoy? Am I missing the point entirely??

[EnquiringMingeWantsToKnow]

I loved it, but the USP is the writing style, so it's pretty easy to know whether you're going to enjoy it just from the first five pages.

I read a couple of his others but he never matched it again.

[TheDuchessOfKidderminster]

I can't stand magic realism - this being one of the books that really cemented that opinion. My copy went on its merry way to Oxfam last time I had a clear out.

[cooliebrown]

I got halfway through and put the damn thing aside for a few months, then returned to it and read it twice straight through. Loved it. There were more laughs in Satanic Verses mind...

[JennyOfOldstones]

Loved it and have re-read a few times. Agree it runs out of steam towards the end.

[InsaneDame]

Well, I've given up - got about two thirds through but such slow going and there are hundreds of other books I want to read. Back to the library it goes, and good riddance!

[Fleck]

Similar to others I read this as a teenager (in the late 90s) and loved it, it was on my list if favourite books. Reread it a few years ago and was less engrossed, found it quite heavy going to get through. I do tend to go for easy reads nowadays, too tired for much else!

[Stokey]

I loved it but I seem to remember the first half was better than the second. So if you're not enjoying it half way through, maybe give up?

[WriteMeBiteMe]

I was disappointed with Midnight's Children. I've read a few of his other books and really enjoyed them, but they are a bit samey after a while and by the time I got to MC I think I was done with Rushdie

[starchildareyoulistening]

It took me a while to get into it but I ended up really enjoying it - then decided to read the Satanic Verses and didn't get into that at all and gave up halfway through.

[ThursdayNextIsMyHero]

I enjoyed it whilst actually reading it, but have never managed to read more than half of the book. I've started again several times but never got any further, not really sure why. I love Haroun and the Sea of Stories but that's the only other one of his books that I've read

[museumum]

I loved it. I had been to India and read a lot of other India-set books first though.

[misskelly]

I read this book years ago whilst travelling through India and absolutely loved it. I think being there made the book more understandable, might give it another go to see if I still like it.

[SatsukiKusakabe]

I think the repetition is all part of the effect he is trying to create though. He's one if those authors where I can appreciate what he's doing, without particularly enjoying the overall effect. I did learn a lot about India and the partition though.

materof dragons The Moor's Last Sigh! That was another one I read. I looked it up on wiki just now and though I was nodding along in recognition of the plot, it had completely vanished from my memory. I actually can't recall if I read the Satanic Verses or not I read a lot around the subject, can picture the cover vividly and know I wrote an essay on Rushdie so think maybe I must have. There was lots in them to get stuck into.

So I think I admire and appreciate Salman Rushdie much more than I like the experience of reading him, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad (Meatloaf, now there's a storyteller )

[Roomba]

I loved it, despite knowing next to nothing about partition etc. when I started reading it.

I've never managed to finish another Rushdie novel though. I really struggle with them and it's not like me to not finish a book!

[flamingnoravera]

I read it in India 30 years ago and loved it. I think you may need to have some knowledge of Indian culture and just "indianness" to really get into it.

[lionheart]

It's post-modern isn't it? Actually, I think Rushdie needs an editor to stand up to him and eradicate his showy off say the same thing in 23 different ways tendency.

[MaterofDragons]

I enjoyed reading midnight's children and like others went on to read more of his. I particularly enjoyed The satanic verses (eventually) and The Moor's Last Sigh.

Pretty sure I would find them hard going now.

[OhTheRoses]

I read half of it and it was hard work. I was heavily pregnant and due in January and there was a resonance. Then the baby arrived and replaced the book.

I know more about partition now and the Muslim/Hindi divide so it might make more sense.

From what I remember it charted the journey of two boys born either side of partition on 1 Jan 47 and drew in a parallel between the two years and the two countries and how lives would play out against the upheaval. May have remembered that totally wrong.

Worth a reread in the context of ISIS I think.

[InsaneDame]

I'm the OP and I've only read about 3 more pages since I posted! It's getting me annoyed as I normally devour books and would have one this size done and dusted within a week (children and work allowing!) I'm going to plough on though. Doesn't help that is a library book so under pressure to get it returned!

[Cooroo]

Oops sorry! Memory going. Yes I was living in uni city but must have read it after I graduated! Loved it though. Maybe not wise to return?

[DoreenLethal]

Loved it back when I read it in the 70s

It was published in 1981.

[Backingvocals]

I've literally never managed to get beyond the first page

I keep picking it up with high hopes which fizzle out almost immediately.

[Cooroo]

Loved it back when I read it in the 70s. And loved Satanic Verses even more. Since then I've been a bit disappointed.

[SatsukiKusakabe]

I found some of it funny and interesting but overall, no, I didn't enjoy it. I like magical realism, like books set in other cultures and that take in history, politics and religion, but I very quickly had enough of the radio receiver nose business and found it a slog. I read a couple more of his (studied him at uni) but actually can't remember a thing about either of them now, even the titles.

[BitOutOfPractice]

Exactly what ladyStark said. I loved it as a teen / student but I suspect I might find it heavy going now