About this title: Salman Rushdie won the Booker Prize for this novel, which follows the lives of children born on August 15, 1947, the day India became an independent nation. The book is simultaneously the story of one boy's coming of age, a chronicle of the growing pains of the new nation, and a family drama, all told in a magical-realist style that manages to be ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Acceptable. EXCELLENT value for money and ready for dispatch. Delivery usually within 3/5 days. Our reputation is built on our Speedy Delivery Service and our Customer Service Team. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780099578512ISBN:0099578514
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Good. Page colour-Slightly discoloured in accordance with book age. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780099466772ISBN:0099466775
Description: Good. This book is in GOOD overall condition. It shows signs of having been read and has general light wear to the cover, spine and pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Acceptable. The pages of this book show discolouration due to age/shelf-life. A reading copy. Our books are dispatched from Bridgend, South Wales. Your Satisfaction Guarenteed. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780099578512ISBN:0099578514
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Paperback, ex-library, with usual stamps and markings, in fair all round condition, suitable as a study copy. pp., 400grams, ISBN: 0330267140. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage, London
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Good. Good soft cover. Booker prize winning novel about the children born in the first hour of Indian independence, and the special powers they had. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Good. Page colour-Slightly discoloured in accordance with book age. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780099578512ISBN:0099578514
Description: Good. This book is in GOOD overall condition. It shows signs of having been read and has general light wear to the cover, spine and pages. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780140132700ISBN:0140132708
Description: Fair. Paperback, larger format, a good reading copy. Cover image is a stock image and may vary. Your book will be securely packed and promptly dispatched from our UK warehouse. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780330267144ISBN:0330267140
Description: Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Pictorial paperback, previous owners name/date to endpapers tan to pages, in good condition. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780099511892ISBN:0099511894
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: VINTAGE Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780099535096ISBN:0099535092
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 672 pages. Born at the stroke of midnight on august 15, 1947, at the precise moment of india's independence, the infant saleem sinai is celebrated in the press and welcomed by prime minister nehru himself. but, this coincidence of birth has consequences saleem is not prepared for: telepathic powers connect him with 1, 000 other 'midnight's children'. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: VINTAGE
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780099578512ISBN:0099578514
Description: Published by Vintage in 1998. Paperback. Number of pages: 672. Condition: Good. Used book but in Good Condition for sensible price. Corners bumped. Spine creased. Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
"This book was REALLY hard to get through. I kept stopping and starting. It reads like magical realism and is about the birth of independent India. The life story of the main character parallels that of the new republic. lots of cool details about kashmir, india and pakistan. I liked the historical references a lot even if the story was a bit hard to follow. Feels like I need to read it twice or something."
"I read this book while I was traveling through India, which made it infinitely relevant to me. It is written as an allegory about the time of India independence from the British in 1947 and the birth of a boy named Saleem Sinai at the exact same time as the birth of the new nation. The book links the two together and tells of things happening to Saleem in order to tell what was happening to India.
Not only does the book talk about historic events and political maneuverings, but it also talks about the smaller changes that were happening at an individual level. How the British left their mark, the role of religion for the Indian people, the magical things that seem to happen in India, marriages, changing identity when your name is changed, children's responsibility to the family, etc.
Not knowing much about India and Pakistan, this book taught me a lot. But it's also a masterpiece of a story. It is unbelievable how Rushdie has tied it all together. Definitely worth a read.
A random aside, after being in India and experiencing the "sacred cows", the following was one of my favorite passages:
"On Cornwallis Road it was a warm night. An insomniac cow, idly chewing a Red and White cigarette packet, strolled by a bundled street-sleeper, which meant he would wake in the morning, because a cow will ignore a sleeping man unless he's about to die. Then it nuzzles at him thoughtfully. Sacred cows eat anything.""
"The winner of the Booker of Booker Awards (voted the best Booker award winner from the last 25 years) this book is considered Rushdie's masterpiece. Following the life of a boy who was born on the stroke of midnight on the day India formally gained its independence from Great Britain, the boy's life and the growth of the new nation twist and turn together through 31 years. In sort of a Forrest Gump type plot line (or perhaps Forrest Gump has a Midnight's Children type plot line) major events in the life on the main character and major events in the evolution and devolution of his country occur at the same times and often are caused by each other. Rushdie tells us that to 'understand one life you must swallow the world' and the details, side stories, strange links made between seemingly independent events make you realize exactly what this statement means. Truly a masterpiece that gives a voice to India as a country brimming with contradictions, full of life, and growing and redefining itself at every step. There is no doubt in my mind that this book is as good as it gets, it is certainly one of the finest books written in the 20th Century."
"I have mixed feelings about this, and the whole project is so huge that I don't know what to say -- the closest analogue is probably "One Hundred Years of Solitude", and I definitely liked it better than that. It's a big national epic, and so on, and it has all sorts of crazy magical happenings. "The Tin Drum" is the same -- any novel with pretensions to "epic" status in the twentieth century has to resort to magic, I guess, because "realism" defines itself consciously against the very project of a national epic. Anyway, this is a sprawling novel that takes hundreds of pages to get into. It's worth it, though -- the last act is very powerful, and Rushdie is a phenomenal writer throughout. The book is also smarter than it's hackneyed "allegorical" status might imply -- both the author, and Saleem, know and do not know that the idea is simple-minded, and that's part of the tragedy. Whereas Grass and Marquez kind of want us to say, "Huh!" about their character's historical/ontological status, Rushdie wants us to feel pity and discover that maybe we all live ironic allegories. Lastly: I couldn't help hating him for his courtship of Padma (this sentence holds true both for Saleem, the main character, and for Rushdie himself)."
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