Thursday 25 August 2016

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Book Title: Midnight's Children
Author: Salman Rushdie
Genres: 1001 Books, Literary Fiction
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥
Goodreads, Amazon UK
Goodreads Summary: 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.
What did I think?  I'm sorry, okay? I'm terribly sorry. I know this book won the Booker prize, and is essentially considered to be the best of all Booker prize winners, but I just couldn't grow to like it. The narration style is too tedious, and too dense for me to wade through, especially as a non native speaker.

Maybe things would be different if I'd pick this up in German, but then it wouldn't be Rushdie, would it?

The story is very interesting and the prose is beautiful, so it's definitely not the book but me. I tried really hard as well. It took me hours to finish, I even gave up at one point and put it back onto my shelf, but a group-read kept me going and here I am, apologizing. Who knows, maybe in 10 years...

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