Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is the last contemporary work we're reading for the South Asian Literature class (it's Bhagavad Gita after this), and is the third of Rushdie's novels that I've read. Leaping straight to the conclusion here: like the other two, this book left me pleased, but not enthralled. It does not make me want to read another work of his, but it certainly didn't make me averse to doing so.
Like The Satanic Verses, this is a complex satire. It is immersed in the modern historical events of South Asia, and part of the problem is that I caught most of the drift, but probably not all. After all, living here in America, I know a lot about the history, but I haven't lived in it. There are undoubtedly cultural references that didn't quite hit home, as well.
A risk of absurdist satire, as this often is, can be that the reader won't really engage, because these characters can't really be "people." I had that distancing problem, once the magical realism elements fully kicked in.
The premise of the story is fairly brilliant, and sustains the book even when the premise falters. The narrator is born at the precise moment of Indian Independence, and is therefore inextricably linked to the life of that country. This metaphor, that he is India, is frequently apt and revealing. But just as often something happens to him, or he exhibits a trait, or makes a choice, and one is left asking, "How is that the same as India??"
Independence was a magical moment for India, and this is reflected in the children born during the first hour of that Independence. They all have magical capabilities, and the closer they were born to the actual moment, the more magical. Hence, the longer Independence lasted, the less magical it became.
One cleverness of the structure is that the protagonist is Muslim, and his main antagonist is a character named "Shiva" who is prone to destruction, so you would be inclined to guess that this represents Islam vs. Hindu; but actually Saleem (the narrator) exhibits clear indications of being Vishnu, the Preserver. And he has touches of Mohammed, and of Jesus, and of Buddha. It goes on.
I recommend the book. It's a Booker Prize winner, it's historically and culturally interesting, it's very carefully and intriguingly structured, it's frequently hilarious. But I would have you put Ambai or Desai or definitely Roy first.
CBsIP: Life of the Empress Josephine, anonymous (Cecil B. Hartley?)
The Complete Illustrated History of the Aztec & Maya, Charles Phillips
Year's Best SF 17, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds.
Mr. Lincoln's Army, Bruce Catton
Treehorn's Treasure, Florence Parry Heide
Like The Satanic Verses, this is a complex satire. It is immersed in the modern historical events of South Asia, and part of the problem is that I caught most of the drift, but probably not all. After all, living here in America, I know a lot about the history, but I haven't lived in it. There are undoubtedly cultural references that didn't quite hit home, as well.
A risk of absurdist satire, as this often is, can be that the reader won't really engage, because these characters can't really be "people." I had that distancing problem, once the magical realism elements fully kicked in.
The premise of the story is fairly brilliant, and sustains the book even when the premise falters. The narrator is born at the precise moment of Indian Independence, and is therefore inextricably linked to the life of that country. This metaphor, that he is India, is frequently apt and revealing. But just as often something happens to him, or he exhibits a trait, or makes a choice, and one is left asking, "How is that the same as India??"
Independence was a magical moment for India, and this is reflected in the children born during the first hour of that Independence. They all have magical capabilities, and the closer they were born to the actual moment, the more magical. Hence, the longer Independence lasted, the less magical it became.
One cleverness of the structure is that the protagonist is Muslim, and his main antagonist is a character named "Shiva" who is prone to destruction, so you would be inclined to guess that this represents Islam vs. Hindu; but actually Saleem (the narrator) exhibits clear indications of being Vishnu, the Preserver. And he has touches of Mohammed, and of Jesus, and of Buddha. It goes on.
I recommend the book. It's a Booker Prize winner, it's historically and culturally interesting, it's very carefully and intriguingly structured, it's frequently hilarious. But I would have you put Ambai or Desai or definitely Roy first.
CBsIP: Life of the Empress Josephine, anonymous (Cecil B. Hartley?)
The Complete Illustrated History of the Aztec & Maya, Charles Phillips
Year's Best SF 17, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds.
Mr. Lincoln's Army, Bruce Catton
Treehorn's Treasure, Florence Parry Heide