Rating: 
Summary: Readable but stuffy
Review: This book is so obviously influenced at parts by Gunter Grass, it could have been called "The Silver Spittoon." Actually I think this title would match the book about as well as "Midnight's Children" does; the midnight's children don't really have parts in this book. They are place-fillers, like so many plot contrivances and characters in the novel. Rushdie likes to tell things more than he likes to show them, at least here. ---So this is also supposed to be like Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. Well let me tell you, take Gabriel Garcia Marquez or even Isabel Allende any day over "Midnight's Children." These are gifted authors in the reader-grabbing sector, even through translation. Their stories can contain historical stuff without feeling stuffy and dull.Not that the novel feels too stuffy. Just a little awkward in the historical sections. "Midnight's Children" feels as if the author wrote down on a piece of paper hundreds of incidents and ideas and then stringed them together. I don't mean to be too mean to Mr. Rushdie, he seems like a horrorshow chelloveck, only he needs to lighten up a little! :-) Some parts of this book are funny, but none gutburstingly so. Perhaps I expect too much. Perhaps I make it a habit. Is that always bad? Perhaps one of the reasons that his book doesn't work is because it tries a balancing act that needs a vibrant and even slightly cruel character (like Gunter Grass's "Tin Drum" which had a weird, vivacious Oskar in the role). Saleem is appallingly half-minted. And yes some of the other characters do interesting things, but they are not really *people*. They are not even successful oddities. I would have loved some sort of a Hollywoodish (Bollywoodish?) showdown between Saleem and the Widow--- or Saleem and Shiva--- Saleem and *somebody*. Carefully done. Done lively and well. I would have liked one scene that really stood out, at least one scene. Sometimes I get the feeling Rushdie either holds himself back too much or has very little to tell.
Rating: 
Summary: The Mystery of Life
Review: At the surface, Midnight's Children is a novel of the Indian subcontinent. The characters and events tend to run parallel to the history of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the modern era. Defining the book as such is both entirely accurate and breathtakingly false, for Midnight's Children is also a novel of the mysteries of life, with an emphasis on mystery. Rather than approach the book as a brilliant deconstruction of the politics of the subcontinent-which it does, or as an indictment of rigid religiosity-which it is, Midnight's Children should be read for a pure enthusiasm for life, distilled into book form. The novel is both tragedy and comedy and, in its embrace of the fantastic, the ineffable, the magical, it transcends all the modern fiction that remains mired in dour realism. Rushdie is a fine-perhaps great-writer working at his peak here. Don't be put off by its surface plot (although I find India compelling). Pick up this book, read it for its life and humanity and joie de vivre.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read - don't read the Editorial reviews yet!
Review: I came to the US Amazon site to have read of the editorial reviews having just finished this wonderful book. I was interested to see what had been written. However, I wanted to warn anyone about to buy this book to be careful before reading the editorial reviews above since they basically give away the whole plot.
I very much agree with the reviewer from Aukland New Zealand. This book has so many things to recommend it. It is a fabulous story first of all but also set against the backdrop of Indian culture and politics. I found it fascinating, engaging and informative.
It is certainly one of the best books I have ever read and I would highly recommend it. I preferred it to Grimus - his first novel
Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece of Vulgarity
Review: The only book I have hated this intensely is James Joyce Ulysses. Midnight's Children is overwrought, and filled will unappealing characters behaving badly. Feces run through this book. At one point, the narrator describes a man defecating into his own hand and proudly proclaiming the length of this fecal masterpiece. The beauty of the language is mired in filth.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Imagery!
Review: Wonderful Imagery!
Rushdie creates a wonderful panorama and guides us through post-1947 nehru's india toward indira's new india as his characters move across the length and breadth of india, associating themselves with history, witnessing its events, and occasionally being a part of them. From the old Kashmir with the silent dal lake to the massacre at Jallianwalbagh, From the Streets and Forts of Delhi to the language riots of Bombay, From the military coups in pakistan, along the mysterious rann of kutch to the Mangroves of the Sunderbans, the story keeps turning while showing you all the nuances, sentiments, and personalities of the indian subcontinent. The characters are brilliantly depicted in rich variety and grab the readers attention immediately. It's not a history book but it presents history with stunning images in rushdie's wonderful hinglish. A wonderful read!
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Worst Book Ever
Review: This is the worst book I have ever read. First of all, the magical realism does NOT work for Rushdie, especially in this historical novel. Secondly, the narrative is horrible-it's disjointed and choppy and goes all over the place. Thirdly, Rushdie loses the whole book once Saleem Sinai enters the jungle; unitl that point, the novel is actually decent. The whole jungle part needs to be edited out. Rushdie really loses it when he has Indira Gandhi castrate the Midnight's Children; when the castration happens, the book loses all credibility whatsoever. Unless you absolutely loathe someone, I would not recommend this book to them.
Rating:
Summary: Temper that over-praise
Review: This is a good book. I can confess I had nothing else to read at the time I tried to make it through the whole of this laborious text, but I think I would have made the attempt otherwise. Rushdie has craft, he has originality, and he has character-development. In other words, his technical skills are without significant flaw. But, in light of all the positive reviews that have been given to this book, I find myself compelled to focus on it's negatives. It lacks focus. I think this is always a flaw with character-driven novels, a carefully structured plot really drives an intellectual spike through the whole story, and I sincerely hope this post-war trend towards character-driven literature is but a fad (put in a word to God for me to straighten this out). Furthermore, the characters are rich and well-crafted, but I'm very glad that they're on the page and not in my living room. I don't really like them nor would I ever want to know any them. And this sort of leads to this certain hopelessness over the whole of the book. Because there is neither commendable or happy character in the book it speaks of Rushdie's view on people, and on life. I've no one to look up to in the book (I confess I do have such people in life). One could say Rushdie is merely describing what he sees as going on in India through this time of post-Independence, but I would respond that this is another weakness of the novel. Nothing of it engages the world in which it is set, in order to put some sort of example (an idol one might say) to look up to as a goal of goodness, an individual ideal with which I can say to myself, "that is what I shall become. That is what is missing in my life!" I've said too much, when I could've simply put it that I think that book is devoid of philosophy. In other words, Rushdie has nothing to think about life or India. He just describes it. If you want to admire good craft and good stories, buy it. If you want fodder for thought, don't. That about sums it up.
Rating:
Summary: A web of words knitted carefully for utter wastage of time.
Review: When I saw the lavish reviews thrown by well known critics of The Times, NYTimes, Observer, etc, I didn't mind wasting my pocket money on this book. What I got in return for my wastage of my pocket money and two days, was utter wastage of my time, when Gunter Grass, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, V.S. Naipaul and Sir John Milton are awaiting me in my shelf.
The book is merely so-so.To write a critique of it I must divide it into two fragments to review it. Or in the terms of Salman Rushdie, let us view it in two fragments through the perforated sheet.
To judge Salman Rushdie's talent as a storyteller, we must judge the story and the way in which it is written
The story, I must admit, is quite well thought and the descriptive talent of the author is revealed here. It is thrilling, which, before Midnight's Children, only Clancy and Ludlum could provide.
But then, it is written in toasted english. Rushdie, like a spectre, is swaying, his context changing faster than the climaxes in which the events are set. He is trying to make an Indian version of the English Language and he has'nt quite succeded in it. English has been baked roasted and mixed with Indian spices, with chilly in excess which has compelled me to spit out the dish altogether. Indian words have been used for the international audiences to celebrate. Rushdie through his novel, has failed in achieving his aim, laying the bricks as the foundation for a massive Indian Literary Castle in a forest where India is not drawn on the map.
But, I admit again, despite a fantasy filled story, Salman Rushdie, unlike Rowling, has succeded in making his novel a literary masterpiece in some intellectual sense.
Rating:
Summary: a must read!
Review: I could go on for a long time about this book. I have read a lot of books but this one is probaly the best post war book, and for sure on of the best books ever written.
Rating:
Summary: A good read but a diffcult one
Review: Ok I've re-read this book eight times, since the age of fourteen. I think that's why it took me till the sixth time to realize the book was about India, from Independence upto the 1970s. 'Midnight's Children' refers to that generations of Indians which lived right after independence, i.e. 1947. So-called because it was at midnight, 15th August 1947 that India(and Pakistan + the about-to-be Bangladesh) were born out of British India. It tells the story of Saleem Sinai who was born on Midnight, Independence day, and whose life is tied to that of his country's. Along with Saleem, another son was born almost at the same time: Shiva. These two represent the two different sides of India that are so familiar: Saleem represented the affluent, British-educated cosmopolitan and tolerant India. Shiva, represented the hungry-starving dog-eat-dog India, and how those two grew up together, separated, yet tied together. Plus all the hopes and dreams which were associated with the formation of this new India, the "tryst with Destiny" e.t.c. With the actual history of India as the backdrop. Saleem was one of many 'Midnight's Children', another name for India's democracy, and parliament. The book basically shows what the two estranged siblings - India and Pakistan/Bangladesh or Saleem/Shiva go thru from Independence onwards i.e. the two big Indo-Pak wars, the Pak military coups, how Indira Gandhi neutered them (she declared a National Emergency, martial Law, and institued disabling Socialist policies, the effect of which are still being felt). The book is written very well, but some of the Indian references will go over non-Indian readers' heads. Also, the state of India as Rushdie describes it is correct for the late 70s and early 80s, and has no bearing on the India of the 90s onwards. I think it's time to write a novel on Midnight's Grand-children, to the see the striking changes they are making on their nation. This book is only for people who have a significant interest in India. Not for the casual reader, and not a book to read for anybody who wants the most up-to-date story on India. Unfortunately there isn't a novel on that as of now.
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