Smoked Salman (Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie)

Name: Pulsebeat

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Product:	Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Date:	24/05/02 (939 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Merry, Go, Round

Disadvantages: ...and Round, ...and Round, Around

Errrm....well, what do I think about the 'Booker of Bookers' (i.e. the best novel that has won the Booker prize) 'Midnight's Children'? I have to admit that I was simultaneously, confused, entertained, enlightened, bored, and disappointed. Everyone has been telling me for years that I must read Salman Rushdie's masterpiece claiming that it is one of the best books of all time. Perhaps it is, but for me it wasn't. Anyway let's get on with the story.

To cut a very long, complicated and amazing story short, 'Midnight's Children' is the story of the life of Saleem Sinai. And the story of India as well. Saleem is born exactly at the stroke of midnight on the eve of India's Independence from British colonialism, and subsequently his life becomes inseparably intwined with the history of the country. All the children born in this hour gain magical powers, and are called the Midnight's Children somewhat unsurprisingly. Among the children are Parvati the Witch who has complete command of sorcery, a girl so beautiful that whoever sees her is blinded, a child who can change gender etc. Saleem's own power is not discovered until later in life when he realises that he can inhabit the minds of people, but this power is soon lost and replaced by an amazingly enhanced sense of smell.

However, for the most part, all of this is an irrelevancy to the main theme of the novel, which seems to be the individual's relationship with the world around him or her. Rushdie, explores how all of us interact with the world around us, and see ourselves simultaneously, as having our histories formed by society, and also projecting our own imagination onto the world, and carving out our own version of it.

In the novel, Rushdie attempts to use the imagination to carve out some form of reality. He is convinced that the 'real' world is as unconvincing as our own fantasies, because it is essentially made up of
everybody else's fantasies. Therefore, the novel tries to find a balance between the fantastical and the factual. The supernatural events of the novel (such as the magic powers of the children) sit next to a plain account of the events in the history of India such as the Indo-China war. Thus, what we have, is a strange but compelling version of 'reality' whereby the personal engagement with the world, and that world's engagement with us, become totally inseparable. Saleem, for example is convinced that the purpose of the war in the novel is to wipe out his family, it is though he believes that he is the focus of history. However, he is constantly recapitualing the events of the novel, and explaining the events and people who have brought him to where he is. Therefore, what we have, is a an attempt to find our place in the world, a stable reality that is suitable for both the individual and the rest of the world as well, and Rushdie believes that this can only be achieved through the imagination. It is though the novel is a map of the imagination, and a map of relaity and a map of the world all at once, and an exploration of how they all form, and are formed by each other.

Sorry if that's all a bit boring and incomprehensible, but I needed to explain it in order to justify my main gripe with the novel. This criticism rests around the fact that, for all the book's amazing and intricate textures, its vibrant exhibition of the imagination, and its multi-layered narratives, it left me emotionally cold. It is as though the book is one big cerebral encyclopaedia rather than something that connects with you (or at least me personally) on an emotional level. Undoubtedly, the writing itself is exquisite and draws the reader in with its ingenuity, but it just doesn't have that effect where you are desperate to know what happens next because you are so deeply concerned for the characters involved. At times when reading 'Midnight's Ch
ildren', I could just imagine Salman Rushdie sitting back with a smug grin on that hairy face of his, thinking how clever he is.

Having just said that, the architecture of the book is quite simply stunning. Saleem's story weaves through history, anticipating the future, and recounting and the past as he goes, in order to create a space for RIGHT NOW. It appears to be the case, that the ugly narrator's main objective in the novel is to mould the events of the past in order to justify his present and clear way for the future. Thus, whilst we are inclined to take his every word for gospel, at one point he admits that he misinforms the reader with regards to the historical truth, somewhat inadvertenly, but also to suit his needs. Therefore, if we can't trust the narrator and his version of history, who can we trust. What is history? Is it real? Just because it is written down, must we accept it as reality, or are there countless different historical 'realities'? All of this makes you think indeed, but it doesn't make you FEEL. But perhaps that wasn't Rushdie's aim in the novel.

There have also been several accusations that this novel is parasitic upon Indian culture. Some people believe that Rushdie is getting his material by applying his Westernised views to the land of his birthplace, and hence looking at it from a position of assumed superiority. I have to be honest, I did get that sense slightly. It is though he is belittling those steeped in tradition (fair enough in my view, but not exactly P.C.), and objective beliefs in history and religion. Something that got him in a whole lot of shit with the 'Satanic Verses'.

I'm rating this book, as I experienced it. I quite happily admit that it deserves 10/10, but for me it just gets 6/10.

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