Midnight's Children

By: Salman Rushdie

Narrated by: Lyndam Gregory

Man Booker Prize Winner, 1981

Salman Rushdie holds the literary world in awe with a jaw-dropping catalog of critically acclaimed novels that have made him one of the world's most celebrated authors. Winner of the prestigious Booker of Bookers, Midnight's Children tells the story of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke of India's independence.

©1981 Salman Rushdie (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Burgeons with life, with exuberance and fantasy . . . Rushdie is a writer of courage, impressive strength, and sheer stylistic brilliance.” (The Washington Post Book World)

“A marvelous epic . . . Rushdie’s prose snaps into playback and flash-forward . . . stopping on images, vistas, and characters of unforgettable presence. Their range is as rich as India herself.” (Newsweek)

“Extraordinary . . . one of the most important [novels] to come out of the English-speaking world in this generation.” (The New York Review of Books)

great book, poor narration

The reader overplayed it. I think he was trying to add to the humor in the story and in so doing, killed the funny. Subtlety is a key in these performances. I wish they would have had Simon Vance do it, or Simon Prebble or .... well anyway.
The story itself is funny and touching and provocatve. Historical fiction at its best, telling the story of the times with a wide vision, and at the same time not loosing the thred of a human, personal story. And of course, there's a bit of magic, a bit of destiny... good stuff. I would download it again if they released another performance. Maybe they will get Grimus out soon? I hope.

Twin Births of India and the Nose

Though Midnight's Children won the Booker of Bookers, this text is less engaging and, I believe, less successful than The Satanic Verses. While MC tells the story of one particularly magical child, Saleem Sinai, who is writing this story for the purpose of telling his young child, who perhaps retains some magical qualities of his parents. The story is also the narrative of India and Pakistan, and the tensions that have existed since their twin births. While the story of Saleem Sinai takes many turns, the narrative takes its most significant turn when Rushdie unleashes a scathing critique of Indiria Ghandi's leadership during "The Emergency." Rushdie, as he explains in the Preface, was sued for libel over one particular sentence that Ghandi found offensive, regarding her relationship with her son and her role in her husband's demise. While Rushdie removed the offending sentence, this incident proves that his takedown of Ghandi was, in fact, accurate over her power grab. This book demonstrates the necessity of literature, both in how narrative allows for someone to make sense of events and the power of literature as social critique. For anyone interested in serious literature, this book should be engaged with for both the pleasure of literature and the power of literature.

The history of India in one mans face

Where does Midnight's Children rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have listened to a lot of books, it is among the best.

What did you like best about this story?

I learned the story of India from the revolution on through an amazing story that allows you be a part of that history. The rhythym and timing of storytelling is amazing.

What about Lyndam Gregory’s performance did you like?

Awesome! The indian accent and the rolling voice was like music. I laughed many times as well and every other emotion.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Every emothion is felt reading this book.

Any additional comments?

Enjoy!

Great Performance

Lyndam Gregory is pitch perfect in his reading. He total inhabits the many characters presented in the novel.

Beautifully narrated

Beautifully narrated. The voice is so engaging, it just takes you to the land of midnights children.

The narration was the best!

First and foremost, I am a Midwest white woman and trying to differentiate Indian names on audio proved difficult for me. This book followed listening to A House For Mr. Biswas - both interesting and enlightening, but challenging in very different ways. Thank goodness for Google and Wikipedia in lieu of a college course. Those 2 entities will help make sense of this complicated novel (which can't be pigeonholed into any one genre). It certainly piqued my interest in what exactly went down with India's Independence, followed by Partition, etc.

From the beginning, when someone's tears are described as diamonds, I was entranced. The narrator was arguably one of the best I've heard, capturing the lilt and expression of Indian English, while expressing the words into life in a way we seldom get to hear outside of good theatre. He was marvelous!

So many great/ good things about this story, but I have to admit to having to slog through sections that related more to the history. I love history and I believe a reading in print would have been easier, but this narration is so good, I stand by this audio book for one of your readings. I'm 67, so I'll be moving on to another of The Modern Library's list of the Best English Novels of the 20th Century (this is ranked as #90).

The State as a projection of Man

The State as a projection of Man

As his sophomore novel #salmanrushdie attempted to tell the children complicated story of #indiaindependence through #midnightschildren . The story is narrated from the main character's perspective in an autobiographical approach of #saleemsinai who had the unique historical quirk of being born at the stroke of midnight precisely when #india became an independent state and the first thirty years as #pakistan and #bangladesh undergo their own independence wars. Born to a middle class Indian family in #bombay , the story travels across from #kashmir where Saleem's grandparents were born to #agra , #newdelhi , #lahore as his parents followed the lead of many #muslim Indians and relocated to #pakistan to escape the #hindu majority of India.

Salman Rushdie employs #magicalrealism which particularly makes sense with the religious and mythological aspects that pervade Indian culture. At the same time, the book details many well documented historical events of the time. Rusdie's debut novel is generally dismissed though it applied many similar devices. This second novel, however, gave him the fame and recognition previously missed, selling million copies in the just the #unitedkingdom alone. it also earned him the #1981 #bookerprize and landed him at #90 on the #modernlibrarytop100novels which is how it landed on my reading list. It can be a bit difficult to discern one character from another in some of the secondary characters but part of the fun is his frequent literary allusions peppered throughout this very long novel. Rushdie also gave very vivid descriptions of the varied and unique regions that make up the #subcontinent , many on yet another list of mine.
#readtheworldchallenge #globalreadingchallenge #englishliterature #indianliterature #readtheworld

magic realism, but a slow listen

The story reminded me of the "magic realism" of One Hundred Years of Solitude. If you enjoy that type of writing, you will enjoy this. The book takes place in India. The main character's life parallel's India's growth as an independent nation, including struggles with Pakistan. There were parts of the book that were fast-paced and extremely engaging, but I found there were also parts that my attention lagged during. I felt that was due to the book itself, not to the narrator.

a magical story about what's his name

I did not give the story three stars because I didn't enjoy it. I gave it three stars because I would need to be a genius, and probably an Indian Historian, to be able to understand it all.

I did like the book though, and for many reasons. The most important being that Salman Rushdie can turn words inside out and upside down and form them into something beautiful that you've never seen before. This book made me feel like what I imagine it would feel like to be in India. The smells, the traffic , the poor people hanging onto buses and trains. He doesn't make things picturesque. He makes things real. Not only the good, but the bad as well. The narrator of the story, Saleem Sinai, doesn't hold back from telling us how things really are. He tells us about his snot, accidentally seeing his mother's woohoo, fighting on the wrong side of things and falling in love with his sister. He is the kind of narrator that most of us are. He forgets things, backtracks, skips ahead, gets muddled. But through it all you learn about his whole family and history, and how the history of India is a part of everything. My favorite character is the grandmother, Reverend Mother. She is absurd, and yet, somehow quite likable. Every time she said "what's his name" it made me smile.

I found Midnight's Children easier to understand than The Satanic Verses. Even though it doesn't flow in chronological order, and the story is often interrupted by Padma, it is not as fantastical or as dreamlike as SV. But there are some similar themes in both books. Rushdie seems to be fond of the good/evil, God/Satan dynamic. Also, reality and non-reality play an equal part.

If you like books that push you, that expand you, that make you question things and look at the world in new ways, then you will like this book. It's not easy, but it is worth it.

Long-winded, but worth it!

I had this suggested to me by my Indian-American girlfriend as her favorite book, so I figured it worth a listen. It's hard to really summarize a 24 hour listen, but I found it to be quite enjoyable. At times the asides can get a bit tiresome, and I wasn't a huge fan of his decision to speak directly to the reader as his character (as the author himself, for all intents). It reminded me a bit of opera in its reiteration of important specifics, but I think this actually helped to keep the reader oriented and able to understand the massive, highly detailed story. It is certainly not a light listen in terms of attention (not a good transition from modern spy novels, for example), but due to the occasional backtracking and repetition it allows the listener's focus to be able to drift if just for 30 seconds or a minute. All said, it is quite the epic in terms of the time frame and characters covered, not withstanding the direct and/or allegorical discussions of the young modern India and Pakistan and the struggles of becoming an autonomous state after longstanding imperial rule. But Rushdie does manage to keep it interesting with clever language, wit, and charm. Overall it is certainly a commitment to even listen to this book, but if you give it your attention (and maybe wikipedia some things to help you with context both in terms of location and time!), I think you will find it an engaging, smart, and highly enjoyable piece of historical fiction.