Book Review | ‘Midnight’s Children’ by Salman Rushdie

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book review, Deepa Mehta, India, Indian literature, magical realism, midnights children, salman rushdie

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“To understand just one life you have to swallow the world … do you wonder, then, that I was a heavy child?”

Like a weaver at his loom, Rushdie manages to gather in his hands the medusa-like threads of India’s unique oriental history. With this he doesn’t merely write a story, but rather proceeds to reconcile a heady clash of colours and ideas into a startling pattern that (despite the magical realism) seem to mimic the oftentimes absurd flow of life itself. Even though I would like to call this a novel about the ‘birth’ of Pakistan, it is also the story of India’s greatest loss. ‘Midnight’s Children’ is riddled with themes of abandonment, prejudice and unusual circumstances. It addresses the cultural abortion and geographical divorce of a nation in a most astonishing way. Within the midst of the civil war is Saleem, our narrator, who is quite literally beginning to crack under the weight of his extraordinary life.

You see, Saleem is not an ordinary mortal. He is a changeling and moreover one of the most prolific and talented members of the secret ‘Midnight’s Children’ society. Born on the stroke of midnight, on the very moment of Pakistan’s birth, Saleem was hailed by all as the golden child, the lucky one, the ‘little piece of moon’ that would grace the flag of his brand new motherland.

“I have been a swallower of lives; and to know me, just the one of me, you’ll have to swallow the lot as well.”

Therefore twinned twice as he is (once through religion, and again through the hour of his birth) Saleem begins a personal history that is far from personal and reveals how painfully he remains yoked to the same tempestuous fate as these two enemy nations. But as the story goes on, we learn of how other more ancient personal histories often return to seek their own terrible vengeance. For if Saleem knows one thing about this life that shouldn’t even BE his own, it is that blessings and curses, once uttered, carry on like an arrow obsessed until they find and meet their target. Anthing that stands in the way is pierced. And Saleem, this thief of fate and destiny with his dark twins and superhuman powers is the luckless crucible in which history chooses to shape its’ weird alchemy.

“Why, alone of all the more-than-five-hundred-million, should I have to bear the burden of history?”

It is extremely difficult to talk about ‘Midnight’s Children’ without going into detail. The story is so full of twists and turns that as a reviewer I feel scared to let anything slip. One thing I’d hate to do is spoil any of the plot developments that so delighted me when I read it. But there is one thing I can talk about. The very IDEA of the story that took Rushdie almost 10 years to get down on paper that is so ambitious that just thinking about it makes me dizzy. Where does one start telling the story of countries? And not only this, how does one go about ‘twinning’ a country with humans? There is also the task of harnessing a mind-boggling range of cross-cultural mythological and religious symbolism. The real question I would like to ask Rushdie is ‘where and when do you decide to not draw inspiration and call it enough?’

The writing of stories is a labyrinthine process, we can get lost in the intricacies of the art if we are not careful. Yet Rushdie has a very firm grip on his narrative, introducing this multi-faceted, many-headed Hydra a morsel at a time. In fact, he worked this frustration of ‘where to begin’ into the first chapters of the story, as we see Saleem bemoaning the how he must begin his personal history from his grandfather, as it is here that we find the real ‘roots’ to his birth.

“I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I’m gone which would not have happened if I had not come.”

Anyone with a liking of magical realism will love reading ‘Midnight’s Children’. The cast is full and varied. My favourite has to be the Brass Monkey, who Rushdie admitted was based on his own sister who was affectionately called so. As expected with Indian literature, the settings are handsomely portrayed and are vibrant with colour and movement. Although there are many characters that come and go, I found it easy to follow. This was my first book from Rushdie, and I found it pleasantly surprising. My advice to newcomers is do not be put off by the thickness of the book nor the hype surrounding its’ author. Give it a try and you will definitely like it.

View all my reviews

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Midnight’s Children Readalong | Part 3 Discussions

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1001 book list, midnights children, readalong, salman rushdie

Reading ‘Midnight’s Children’ has been quite an experience, and I’m both glad and sad that it’s over. This is the final set of questions that wraps up this modern literary classic and I would like to thank JoV at Bibliojunkie for hosting this readalong, the insightful questions she posed and for all the people who joined in.

I can say that best part of this has been answering the questions. It’s forced me to take a really good look at what I’m actually reading. Interpretation is what gives a book its flavour. Discovering that you have your own spin on something also sheds light on what kind of reader you are (and subsequently, what kind of WRITER you might be if you put your mind to it). So I took the opportunity to look at some of Rushdie’s more elaborate motifs/ use of language as a way to develop myself as a writer. This was why it probably took me so long to finish the thing! 

Below are some of the discussion questions (pages 350 – 500) and my responses to them. Click here for part 1 and here for part 2 of the discussions.

Question 1: What is the role of the 1001 children?

At first glance this question had me a bit stumped. I think the number 1001′ comes with its own special meaning; the most obvious being the ‘1001 Nights’, the legendary Arabic story-within-a-story that winds and rewinds around itself to create a continuous narrative. Therefore the children could be just this; people who signify stories, and who come to culminate and echo inside Saleem’s mind, or the ‘Midnight Conference’ as it’s known. At first, Saleem converses with his fellow brethren within the fictional realm of the psyche. The children are really nothing more than voices who are telling their own stories. It is only later, when that secret agora is permanently destroyed that Saleem actually meets some of the midnight children in reality.

Each child has his/ her dark gift bestowed by the powers of midnight and each is like a prophet in their own right, a little living god/ goddess. Rushdie uses a lot of religious symbolism, often juxtaposing Islam (Monotheism) and Hinduism (Polytheism). At the beginning we are introduced to Aadam Sinai, whose faith in Islam is suddenly tarnished when he accidentally hits his nose on the ground during prayers. This foreshadows the breaking of the country into two pieces (Pakistan and India). People of different faith who have managed to live together for centuries suddenly feel an urge to separate. This nationwide feeling or obligation to choose sides grows like a cancer in the population. The most affected by this are probably the mothers, whose as of yet unborn babies are suffused with this unbearable sense of divide and the ‘yoke of destiny’, as Saleem puts it.

In a sense, the country undergoes a caesarean section of sorts. There is a cutting and a taking out. A certain set of people are forced to leave their homes and make a life elsewhere. While birth is the creation of life, it can also be an expulsion of it. What was in the womb, or ‘mother India’ is expelled, and the moment of expulsion when ‘both hands meet’ is the creation and expulsion of the children. It is in effect the cancer made manifest. The ‘1001 children’ also personify the common hatred of the two communities. In effect they are quite literally born out of the synchronised birth/ death of a nation. These magical imps are each a vessel of foreboding and prophecy. Saleem’s often inadvertant hand in political scheme of things (pepperpots) indicates this. The rounding up and systematic castration of the midnight’s children also shows that anyone who understands the real reason of the breaking up of India, knows that the children are a gross representation of the many-headed gods/ beliefs/ ideologies that made the break possible in the first place.

Question 2: Why did the author give so many characters two names?

At the heart of the story we have a country who is hacked in two and given a different identity. The hopes and misgivings that such a divide causes is questioned by the thought that midnight might bring the two nations a fresh/ different set of values. When this is so, Rushdie probably went one step further and mirrored this in his characters. The notion of midnight is one of change or magical transformation. The idea that things morph during this particular moment into something else is also thwarted, as many people expected the land to undergo some sort of magical transformation and become better, more fertile and lucky for its inhabitants. The only transformation that midnight had was on the people themselves. This also goes for what became Pakistan, or ‘land of the clean’ as it was so hopefully named.

There is also the fact that a person is born with a given name. That name may have set values or expectations that come with it. Saleem is constantly called ‘little-piece-of-the-moon’ by his mother and is faced with the  tremendous expectations of his family. But as a person grows and begins to ‘become’ the person they are, they may change names to suit their evolving identity.

Problems with Colloquialisms? Here’s the Solution… | Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

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colloquialism, Indian literature, midnights children, salman rushdie, translation

When I began reading Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ back in November, I knew I was in for a bit of a culture shock and braced myself for the slew of foreign words that often pepper Eastern narratives. Personally, I don’t mind the odd foreign word that pops up every now and then. In fact it’s great to learn a few words in a different language and it adds colour and texture to the text. And anyway, if I don’t know the word I can usually suss it out through the context of the sentence.

Also reading Rushdie wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be, and the words he did throw out were all somewhat familiar (despite variations in spellings), but I only realised how inaccessible the book could be for an audience with no knowledge of basic Arabic. One fellow blogger in particular Adam (roofbeamreader) pointed this out to me. I have since looked on the internet for some kind of source (apart from free translation websites) and discovered a really cool glossary someone created specifically for ‘Midnight’s Children’.

Anyone wanting to read this book, but is concerned they might be alienated by the language will be able to look up the meanings from here. In fact, it might be a good idea to print it off and have it with you while you read.

Here are some of my favourite words from the book and their meanings:

Bombay-duck/bombil

A type of salt-water fish

Chapat

a slap. This is real Bombay slang

Funtoosh

Finished, disappear, excellent, etc..

Rakshasa

goblin, demon, evil spirit

Shiv-lingam

Shiva is one of the gods in the Hindu trinity (Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva), in the divine division of labor Shiva is sometimes the destroyer, sometimes the creator. A Shiv-lingam is black rock representing Shiva’s penis, worshiped as the source of his creativity.

 

Wallah

is almost like the word “smith” as used in English last-names. It can sometimes be appended to one’s last name to reflect the hereditary profession, in common parlance it simply means “one who is engaged in”.

Midnight’s Children Read-Along | Part Two Discussions…

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Indian literature, midnights children, readalong, salman rushdie

I have finally arrived at Part 2 of the read-along discussions and can’t wait to write up my views on what I have experienced so far. As you may be aware, the read along has actually ended, but I will continue to post the next two discussion points as and when I come to them. If you are interested in this read-along and other people’s views about the book, then you can find this hosted over at Bibliojunkie by JoV.

Without much ado, I will go onto the questions.

Question 1: What did Methwold represent? Why did he specify that nothing be changed in his houses?

Methwold and his estate didn’t strike me as important at first, but it was only when he finally left the Sinai family and the country altogether, that I realised how crucial he was as a character. In the story, Rushdie makes a big to-do about how Methwold’s great-great grandfather was the pioneer of modern Bombay, and how he had a hand in making it the bustling city that it is now. This puts a lot of emphasis on the notion of ‘hereditary origins’ at a time when India is slowly changing hands and returning back to its’ native people. This also goes nicely with highlighting Saleem’s extensive back story. When Saleem recalls the rapidly changing geography of the region and the colonial influences that suffused throughout Bombay; it made me think about how history sometimes leaves marks in places that are often impossible to get rid of. And sure enough Rushdie went further with this notion by downsizing it to Methwold and his estate.

The estate is an almost chess-sized version of the ‘real’ battle between the Indian population and it’s invaders. The natives are represented by the Sinai’s and the other families who come to live on the estate. The British colonists are embodied by a single man; Methwold (apt because he quite literally inherits the role!), and the estate comes to symbolise an India that has been split up, isolated into ‘pockets’ of foreignness and given an identity and history alien to itself (major parallel here with Saleem, as he was switched at birth and therefore lead a life that was theoretically not his own.) The game of conqueror and conquered is played out through 
psychological methods. Methwold’s odd request that nothing be changed in the houses is his way of getting his new tenants to get used to the British way of life. The cocktail hour remains as one of the lasting effects of this psychological warfare of a colonist determined to inoculate the ways of Britannia, even when he is in the last steps of the so-called ‘handover’ of power.

In Saleem’s case, Methwold has two separate meanings. Firstly, he is undeniably his biological father. Secondly, he is also a mirror that refracts and reflects what Methwold is doing to the Sinai’s back onto Methwold himself. As Methwold (colonist and conqueror) leaves behind the last bitter seeds of his revenge as he attempts to bastardise the cultural beliefs and traditions of the native population; Methwold leaves behind a son who is quite literally a bastard (unbeknownst to him) which grows up in the intense atmosphere of Indian customs. Rushdie adds a touch of poetic justice to the whole situation, as he ironically depicts Methwold’s line continuing in the form of Saleem, but without a trace of the English heritage that runs through his veins. For me, this reminds me of the symbol of the Ouroboros; the snake that bites its own tail. Methwold is snake-like as he feeds his unassuming venom into the future inhabitants of the estate. But it is his own son who destroys what is most dear to him; a sense of Britishness. Saleem, with all his knowledge of the past and his ability to see into other people’s minds embraces his ‘cuckoo-child’ existence. Taken from his real parents and planted into the arms of another, Saleem accepts his adoptive Kashmiri relatives with complete ease and in turn bites the tail of Methwold as an act of divine revenge.

Therefore, the estate is almost certainly a battle ground for ethnic identity,  a scaled-down version of the games played on India and her people.  

Question 2: At the very heart of Midnight’s Children is an act of deception: Mary Pereira switches the birth-tags of the infants Saleem and Shiva. The ancestors of whom Saleem tells us at length are not his biological relations; and yet he continues to speak of them as his forebears. What effect does this have on you, the reader? How easy is it to absorb such a paradox?

The paradox for me came as a bit of a shock. Switching babies at birth is quite an old literary device and regardless of how many times I’ve heard it being used in stories; this time it did give me quite a jolt! In fact I went back and read the page two times to make sure I understood what was going on but it’s quite a powerful twist to the tale. I suppose what Rushdie is telling us through the character of Saleem is that it is not our blood that dictates our future or indeed our ethnicity. The ‘nurture’ part of our upbringing, whether it be with our biological parents or not, plays a big part in how we identify ourselves. Saleem being a ‘midnight’s child’ has powers that enable him to look into the past through other people’s memories. He talks of how events outside him, even before his conception, heralded his coming. He seems to believe that he is the ‘fated’ child of the Sinai’s, which promotes a much stronger sense of belonging.

End of questions! Wow, it has been a real roller-coaster ride for me reading this book. I have learned so much and it just keeps getting better and weirder. Can’t wait for part three discussions. I wonder what’ll happen next!

Wondrous Words Wednesday (8/12) | Getting Radicarian with Rushdie

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meme, midnights children, salman rushdie, wondrous words wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by BermudaOnion at Bermudaonion’s Weblog where we get to share new words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Anyone can join in!

First things first, I am extremely proud of myself right now, as I have finally been able to use my adopted word for the first time in a meaningful way (points above to title). Second things second, my ‘radicarian’ ways have now been directed towards  Salman Rushdie’s wonderfully exotic prose  as I’m having the greatest pleasure of reading ‘Midnight’s Children’ right now. My vocabulary is benefitting enormously from his colourful language. Here are my finds so far:

1. Fustian 
   a. A coarse sturdy cloth made of cotton and flax.
   b. Any of several thick twilled cotton fabrics, such as corduroy, having a short nap.
   c. Pretentious speech or writing; pompous language.
2. Eccrine
   a. Relating to an eccrine gland or its secretion, especially sweat.
   b. Exocrine.
3. Apocrine
   a. (of exocrine glands) producing a secretion in which part of the secreting cell is released with the secretion; “mother’s milk is one apocrine secretion”
4. Piscine
   Of, relating to, or characteristic of a fish or fishes.
5. Declension
   1. Linguistics
   a. In certain languages, the inflection of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in categories such as case, number, and gender.
   b. A class of words of one language with the same or a similar system of inflections, such as the first declension in Latin.
   2. A descending slope; a descent.

My favourite is ‘piscine’. Reminds me of the French lessons we used to take back in school. If you’ve come across any odd words today, please share!

Midnight’s Children Read-Along | Part One Discussions…

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Indian literature, magical realism, midnights children, readalong, salman rushdie

I know I’m a bit late jumping on the bandwagon, but I heard about this read-along and couldn’t help joining in. If you are interested, you can find this hosted over at Bibliojunkie by JoV. I’ve been dying to read one of Rushdie’s books for the longest time, but his reputation as a brainy, intelligent type did kind of put me off. I was afraid I might not completely understand his writing! But surprise, surprise, I have been really enjoying this one. It’s been a while since I’ve read any magical realism and I find I haven’t gotten lost in it yet. But a little less about me and more about the read-along, and an overview of the book itself.

How The Readalong Works: The read-along is split into three parts or ‘weeks’. Part one covers ‘Book 1’ of the novel, which is roughly from pages 1-150. Each week we get a set of questions about the section we’ve read. Each member posts their thoughts on their blogs to share with other reader. That’s it! Very simple. But because I was late getting the book I will be posting my responses as and when I finish the sections in my own time.

Synopsis of ‘Midnight’s Children’: Saleem Sinai, the protagonist and narrator of this extraordinary story, is not an ordinary person. His birth (the exact moment of India’s liberation, as it happens) caused something of a warp in time, making him one of the 1001 children to be linked inextricably to world history. Imagine if the ‘Book of Life’ had been expelled from heaven and landed on earth in 1001 fragments, each fragment to have suffused itself in a child being born at that exact moment. That’s what it would be like: an elite collective of ‘midnight’s children’ who are connected to each other and to the fate of the world. 

This is Saleem’s destiny; to carry within him the burden of India’s painful re-birth. However these children of fate do not live long, and at thirty-something Saleem is already seeing signs that history, is literally, pulling him apart. Therefore exhausted and spent, Saleem’s only desire now is to write down the endless lives and worlds that have come and gone inside him any way he can. What ensues is a convoluted narrative of multiple stories that break off and resume their course elsewhere, and memories that capture the essence and nuance of people, places and events in India’s history.

1. Saleem describes himself as ‘handcuffed to history’. What do you think that this means, and do you think that this is true of him?

In the story Saleem has a very distinct reason to call himself ‘handcuffed’ to history. As the synopsis says, he is one of the many children who are magically connected. But I think Rushdie has created Saleem’s unique destiny as a way of saying that all people are handcuffed to their own personal histories, whether they be familial, cultural, religious or otherwise. I am reminded of Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”  When we are born, we enter part of an ongoing story or ‘play’ that other actors or people are taking part in. I’m not a fan of the notion that we live a preordained life, but I can’t help thinking some things might be set. For instance our family history is something we can’t change. This is evident when Saleem chooses to write about his life. In order to do it properly, he decides to go back as far as his great-grandfather to begin his own personal history, as if to say that he already existed in some form or other in his ancestors.

The notion of being linked to the history of a country is far more potent. We don’t think about it very much, but all our lives pretty much depend on the decisions made by the countries we live in, or those more powerful ones surrounding us. The India under British rule that is portrayed in Book 1 draws many parallels with today’s Afghanistan and Iraq. I do not know for certain yet, but I anticipate Rushdie might link the other 1001 children to countries that have been split in two through the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy of Imperialist forces like China – Hong Kong, North – South Korea, Northern Ireland – The Republic of Ireland and Inner -Outer Mongolia. Even if this isn’t the case, it certainly makes it a very interesting concept.   

2. Unlike many novels, Midnight’s Children is not written using a linear narrative. Why do you think that Rushdie uses this technique, and do you think that it is successful?

The concept of ‘Midnight’s Children’ is quite unique and complex. There are many characters and historical events that collide together to form a colourful confusion. And it is only natural that this confusion be represented by a non-linear narrative. Rushdie notes that it took him many years to write the story, and I think the broken storyline is an effective way for Rushdie to evoke the nature of time, the way it passes outside us and within us and how we capture time in memories that are, in effect, incomplete and flawed in themselves. We may make memories through sight, sound or even scent (noses are very important in Saleem’s story… he has amazing olfactory senses that warn him when he is in trouble!), so the fabric and cadence of these memories may change.

I think it’s also Rushdie’s way of saying stories do not have to be told in a linear way. We don’t think in a linear way, so why should stories go in a straight line? When we encounter Saleem, he is writing an autobiography after all, and our lives are full of alleyways and multiple roads that we may have travelled at any one time. Our life history may even contain dead-ends and booby-traps. Instead of going the way of ‘stream of consciousness’ which would have rendered this novel completely unreadable, I think Rushdie chose a more ‘friendly’ version, and made his story fragments bigger and therefore more coherent for his readers. Instead of having three separate memories flowing into one another in a single sentence a la Woolf or Joyce, memories are divided distinctly into paragraphs so we at least know the next one will be a jump to somewhere else. Part of the alienation of SoC is the fact that the story switches without indication. Rushdie has taken great care to make sure this doesn’t happen too often with his readers.

These are some of the questions put to us for the readalong. If you’ve read the book, what would be your response to them?

June Audiobook Month | Celebrating the Spoken Word!

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audiobook, eva rice, june, liz jensen, lost art of keeping secrets, midnights children, salman rushdie, the rapture

I’ve resisted it for a while but after seeing so many rave reviews of how great audiobooks are, I’ve decided to take the plunge and indulge in a few great titles that I’ve been meaning to read for a while now. Today my little pile of audiobooks have arrived in the post and I’m really excited!

Here are the titles I’ll be listening to this June:

1. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

  

Synopsis: Saleem Sinai was born at midnight, the midnight of India’s independence, and found himself mysteriously ‘handcuffed to history’ by the 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.

Recommended by: This was recommended to me by Brenna, and I’m really excited to be getting the chance to ‘listen’ to Rushdie’s work for the first time. I’ve not read Rushdie before, so this will be an experience that will either leave me loving or hating him.

 _____________________________________

2. Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice

Synopsis: Set in 1950s London, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope, the wide- eyed daughter of a legendary beauty, Talitha, who lost her husband to the war. Penelope, with her mother and brother, struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral home—while postwar London spins toward the next decade’s cultural revolution.

Penelope wants nothing more than to fall in love, and when her new best friend, Charlotte, a free spirit in the young society set, drags Penelope into London with all of its grand parties, she sets in motion great change for them all. Charlotte’s mysterious and attractive brother Harry uses Penelope to make his American ex-girlfriend jealous, with unforeseen consequences, and a dashing, wealthy American movie producer arrives with what might be the key to Penelope’s— and her family’s—future happiness.

Recommended by: Nobody… I just felt like throwing in a bit oc chick lit to balance out the heavy books I’ve been reading lately. And look! What a gorgeous cover! I have a feeling this will be a surprise good read.

_______________________________________

3. The Rapture by Liz Jensen

Synopsis: In a merciless summer of biblical heat and destructive winds, Gabrielle Fox’s main concern is a personal one: to rebuild her career as a psychologist after a shattering car accident. But when she is assigned Bethany Krall, one of the most dangerous teenagers in the country, she begins to fear she has made a terrible mistake. Raised on a diet of evangelistic hellfire, Bethany is violent, delusional, cruelly intuitive and insistent that she can foresee natural disasters – a claim which Gabrielle interprets as a symptom of doomsday delusion. But when catastrophes begin to occur on the very dates Bethany has predicted, and a brilliant, gentle physicist enters the equation, the apocalyptic puzzle intensifies and the stakes multiply. Is the self-proclaimed Nostradamus of the psych ward the ultimate manipulator, or could she be the harbinger of imminent global cataclysm on a scale never seen before? And what can love mean in ‘interesting times’?

Recommended by: My local librarian, Chris. He said it was a fabulous read. Again, I’m not familiar with Jensen’s work but I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book.

So, that rounds off my audiobook’s for this month. If you have an audiobook list, or discovered one that everyone needs to listen to, I’d love to know about it. Stay tuned for the reviews!