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Midnight's Children
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Midnight's Children (1981) (edit title/settings)

by Salman Rushdie (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Midnight's Children a book by Salman Rushdie deals with India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism. The story is told by its chief protagonist, Saleem Sinai, and is set in... read more

Summary edit see section history

Midnight's Children is Rushdie at his finest. The book is surrealist fiction that deals with the history of India from 1910 to the declaration of independence .

Midnight's Children won both the 1981 Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the same year. It was awarded... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Midnight's Children is Rushdie at his finest. The book is surrealist fiction that deals with the history of India from 1910 to the declaration of independence .

Midnight's Children won both the 1981 Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the same year. It was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Aadam's eyes are a clear blue, the astonishing blue of mountain sky, which has a habit of dripping into the pupils of Kashmiri men.”
  • “I have been a swallower of lives; and to know me, just the one of me, you’ll have to swallow the lot as well.”
  • “In the end, everyone can do without fathers.”
  • “We all owe death a life.”
    saleem sinai
  • “They have turned their back on us and now they claim that we are standing behind them.”
  • “Most of what matters in your life takes place in your absence.”
  • “Who and what am I? Answer: I am the sum of everything that happened before me, of everything I've been, seen and done, of everything done to me. I'm every thing and every being whose existence in the world have affected and were affected by my existence. I'm everything that will happen after I leave and everything that wouldn't have happened if I never came.<..>I repeat for the last time: you have to swallow the whole world.”
    Saleem Sinai
  • “There is only one thing that arouses animals more than pleasure, and that is pain.”
  • “I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked, because I discovered that they are the same as the weaknesses of the saintly.”
  • “We know things better through love than through knowledge.”
  • “If there is a third principle, its name is childhood. But it dies; or rather, it is murdered.”
  • “I withdrew from them into my secret world; fearing their hatred, I did not admit the possibility that their love was stronger <...>”
  • “'Mourn for the living,' I rebuke her gently. 'The dead have their camphor gardens.'”
    Saleem Sinai
  • “This is not what I had planned; but perhaps the story you finish is never the one you begin.”
  • “It happened that way because that's how it happened.”
Show all 15 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

I WAS BORN in the city of Bombay... once upon a time.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Book One
The Perforated Sheet
Mercurochrome
Hit-the-Spittoon
Under the Carpet
A Public Announcement
Many-Headed Monsters
Methwold
Tick-Tock

Book Two
The Fisherman's Pointing Finger
Snakes and Ladders
Accident in a Washing-chest
All-India Radio
Love in Bombay
My Tenth Birthday
At the Pioneer Cafe
Alpha and Omega
The Kolynos Kid
Commander Sabarmati's Baton
Revelations
Movements Performed by Pepperpots
Drainage and the Desert
Jamila Singer
How Saleem Achieved Purity

Book Three
The Buddha
In the Sunderbans
Sam and the Tiger
The Shadow of the Mosque
A Wedding
Midnight
Abracadabra

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 22 of 93 in Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List. (authoritative list)
This is book 90 of 93 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Board's List. (authoritative list)
This is book 100 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This book is in TIME Magazine Top 100 English-Language Novels. (community list)
This is book 25 of 97 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 69 of 95 in Telegraph Top 100 Books, 2008. (authoritative list)
This is book 392 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 177 of 213 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This book is in Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century. (publisher edition list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This is book 1981 of 47 in Booker Prize Winners. (authoritative list)
This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This is book 100 of 99 in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 41 of 100 in 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction. (authoritative list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 100 of 82 in BBC "Big Read" Top 100 Novels. (authoritative list)
This book is in KCPL Discussion Kit (Aug2010). (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Salman Rushdie (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Country: Great Britain
Publication Date: 1981
ISBN: 022401823X
Page Count: 446

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PR6068.U757 M5
  • Dewey: 823.914

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

   
  • The Tin Drum
  • The Master and Margarita

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