A beautifully worded book

By: udupa | May 14, 2003 12:08 AM 

Midnight’s Children is a work of fiction...but subtly undetached from the Indian Reality. Itz about a
thousand and one children who share their hour of birth with that of India...thus in a sense their 

life inexplicably linked to that of their siblings.

Two of these babies are born in the same Mumbai nursing home on the very stroke of midnight: a boy
born to wealth and a boy born to the streets. And, imitating our very own Bollywood, a nursemaid
switches babies: a street singer and a departing snobbish Englishman’s illegitimate child, Saleem, finds
himself in a well to do family of Muslims; and a baby born with a golden spoon, Shiva, by an illogical
nursemaid’s action is destined to streets. Incidentally Shiva and Saleem are fated to be mortal enemies
from the precise stroke of midnight. 

Saleem, the protaganist of the work, receives all the attention. His photo appears in the ’Times of India’
and the Prime Minister sends him a letter saying that his growth will be closely followed by the entire
country and his fate shall forever be entwined with that of his country ( Paradoxically, Saleem fights for
Pakistan in the 1971 war). Accidental events lead him to discover his special gift...the gift of
telepathy...through which he can enter other lives, experience their dreams and extract all secrets.
Unfortunately, the telepathy brings death, destruction and practically no happiness. He discovers his true
parentage...making him fear Shiva forever. The same gift of telepathy links him to the other 1000
midnight children and he finds that each of them is uniquely gifted...some can make a Time Travel as in
H.G.Well’s Time Machine...and one can change sex at will.

Saleem, a firm believer of causality ( though many an instance narcissitically so), feels that the midnight
children are indeed the hope of the nation and tries an informal sort of a midnight parliament also.
However, before this is realistically realised, digressions...each one significant in their own sense, envelop
him and the exquisite gifts of the children are never utilised towards the hope. When they do finally meet,
it is during Mrs. Gandhi’s Emergency.’ Because of the threat they pose to the Only True Succession, the
581 surviving midnight’s children are sterilized, and then treated to an even deadlier procedure: They are
sperectomized - drained of hope. 

Never have I read something as descriptive...though at times it tends to make the reader skip a few...it
helps in building up one’s own imagination of the characters. The language is different (pun, similies, wit,
poise, alliteration...you name it...you’ll find it) with split statements and repetitive words used to enhance
the vision....something that the author himself calls as ’mad prose pyrotechnics’.

There are a few false notes...more because itz beyond my understanding:

At the very heart of the novel is a deception...that of switching the babies..Saleem and Shiva. The
ancestors of Saleem aren’t really his. Then why does he have to keep talking about his ancestors?

Even after having read 550 pages of Saleem...I still do not feel his personality. Does he have one?
How is it possible to fall in love with one’s own sister with whom he has been for as long as a decade and
half? Though one could contest the brother-sister relationship with the nurse’s switching...did not Saleem
know this through his gift of telepathy as long as 6 years back?

In the process of construction and deconstruction of his writing, Saleem’s conclusion seems to be
pessimistic: we can never approach the truth and have to live within imperfection. Is the author drawing
our attention to the process of representation instead of the result?

Another look at life

By: Aviendha | Mar 12, 2004 05:28 AM 

This was the first book by Salman Rushdie that I read. I couldn’t put it down, and I instantly knew why
Mr. Rushdie is an award winning author. 

Midnight Children chronicals 

the life of Saleem Sinai, through a first person view point, a child born on the stroke of midnight. 

In tandem with his unusual birth, Saleem was gifted with special powers that children born near the
witching hour all seem to possess, and him, being born exactly on the stroke of midnight possesed the
power to read minds and telecommunicate over the nation with other children bnorn in the magical hour
thus starting what he called the MCC.

The story depicts his life, starting from his grandfather with the majestic nose in KAshmir to the crowded
MEthwold Estate, later as the war ravaged between Indai and Pakistan.

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This book has the power to make you feel. Saleem will take you through his amazement at finding his
new powers, through his frustration with his family, through the tiring endless wondering in the
Sunderbands and the war, through his listless none feeling years as the buddha and genereally through the
confusion of his life.

I do find the narration of the book a little messy at time because Salman Rushdie jumps around in the
chronological order of the story.. which adds to the authencity of Saleems existance, because, like an
individual retelling your life, you tend to focus on what was important and your mind do tend to creat
little blurps.
I find this way of writing created a bond between the reader and the character in the book, because you
started taking Saleem as a real person, telling you a real story of his life.

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All in all, it might take a little patience to read this book because the story tends to drag in some places. 

There are confusing moments because there’s so many peoplein the story that you might mix the
characters up and at one point go... err who was that again?

But give it a go, if you survive the journey with Saleem, you’ll close the book with something totally
new.. a bond with a fictional character

a superlative book of fantasy tuned to real life

By: managrawal | Apr 08, 2004 04:58 PM 

While without reading, one may think of Midnight’s children as only fantasy, it is a real life story seems
to have happened in many families of erstwhile INDIA withsome superlative fantasy 

linked with it. 

Most important part I find is every character, every single chapter is descriptive of something happening
on big Canvass of political, economical and social life of India in the span of 65 years in pre and post
independence era. This is written with superb intelligence and wit on part of Salman Rushdie. he is on top
while writing this invaluable peace of litterature. every part of story is depicting things happening in real
life.
 
Or we say the real life of UNDIVIDED INDIA is depicted thru a beautiful story embedded around a
higher middle class muslim family. Salman has written with great power of expression and with
intelligence, the mood in india, ups and downs, upsrisings, wars and peace time, independence, partition
and subsequent economic and political downfall of INDIA at times.

People may feel out of line while reading abt padma in start of chapter in first reading, but in subsequent
reading this turns out to be most interesting partof story expressing ideas of author by this medium.

Follow your heart...!

By: ashish13482 | Mar 03, 2010 04:55 PM 

Alchemist is the person who knows the art of Alchemy: “A chemical process of converting any substance
into gold.” I believe that if you know your dreams

and desires & if you have the courage of converting your dreams into reality then you can also become
Alchemist.

On this thought here is my feeble attempt to so summarize a great book:  

“ The Alchemist” by “Paulo Coelho”

    "The Alchemist", is an exciting novel that bursts with optimism; it is the kind of novel that tells you
that everything is possible as long as you really want it to happen. That may sound like an oversimplified
version of new-age philosophy and mysticism, but as Coelhostates "simple things are the most valuable
and only wise people appreciate them".
The novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening
to"the signs" the boy ventures in his personal journey of exploration and self-discovery, symbolically
searching for a hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt.

In his journey, Santiago sees the greatness of the world, and meets all kinds of exciting people like kings
and alchemists. However, by the end of the novel, he discovers that "treasure lies where your heart
belongs", and that the treasure was the journey itself, the discoveries he made, and the wisdom he
acquired.
 As the alchemist himself says, when he appears to Santiago in the form of an old king "when you really
want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". This is the core of
the novel’s philosophy and a motif that echoes behind Coelho’s writing all through "The Alchemist".

 He also suggests that those who do not have the courage to follow their “Personal Myth", are doomed to
a life of emptiness, misery, and unfulfillment. Fear of failure seems to be the greatest obstacle to
happiness. As the old crystal-seller tragically confesses: “I am afraid that great disappointment awaits me,
and so I prefer to dream". This is where Coelho really captures the drama of man, who sacrifices
fulfillment to conformity, who knows he can achieve greatness but denies to do so, and ends up living a
life of void.
   It is interesting to see that Coelho presents the person who denies to follow his dream as the person who
denies to see God, and that "every happy person carries God within him". However, only few people
choose to follow the road that has been made for them, and find God while searching for their destiny,
and their mission on earth.

Dreams, symbols, signs, and adventure follow the reader like echoes of ancient wise voices in "The
Alchemist", a novel that combines an atmosphere of medieval mysticism with the song of the desert. With
this symbolic masterpiece Coelho states that we should not avoid our destinies, and urges people to
follow their dreams, because to find our "Personal Myth" and our mission on Earth is the way to find
"God", meaning happiness, fulfillment, and the ultimate purpose of creation.

   "The Alchemist" is a novel that may appeal to everybody, because we can all identify with Santiago: all
of us have dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true. 
journey you will love to experience

By: sahilchdthakur123 | Sep 01, 2009 01:34 AM 

I think that Paulo wrote one of the best books for a person who wants to realize his destiny.now so many
people had read and reffered this book that not reading the book it felt like you dont you are nol

literate.

The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation.

Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian
pyramids. And so he’s off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.
Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers,who come in unassuming forms such as a camel
driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman’s books, Santiago first learns about the
alchemists--men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its
individual properties, and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually
meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy’s misguided
agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to
suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.
"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And
that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is
a second’s encounter with God and with eternity."

The Alchemist is written for all ages to read, enjoy and benefit from. It is especially enjoyable and useful
if you’re at a confused point in your life as it provides a sense of hope. It is constructed as a combination
of both an adventurous novel and a motivational tale made to inspire readers. The breath taking journey
Santiago experiences, is not entirely to entertain but to reveal a concealed message.

Overall The Alchemist itself is written in a brilliant manner where the reading the book you experience
Santiago’s journey as if it were your own.

the hand that wrote all... 

By: xNJx | Aug 20, 2009 01:18 PM 

It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary… only wise men are able to understand
them…

The book rested upon the desk, tempting me to lay my hands over it… I was in no 

mood to read a book since I never had the patience to do so. The book tempted me for a while… I was
left with no choice than to flip through the pages and got caught with a statement that said...

“When someone sees the same people every day, they wind up becoming a part of that person’s life. And
then they want the person to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become
angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his
or her own”…

How true… I was keen on reading few pages of this brilliant book, which, of course led me to a different
world… a world, full of… Magic… and this is the story of ‘The Alchemist’…

This is the only book that I have read in a very long time and this book is highly recommended for all
those who are looking out to inculcate the habit of reading…

*The Alchemist*

The story revolves around a shepherd boy named Santiago who finds pleasure in traveling as well as
spending time along with the people who he meets in the particular regions. He is a proud shepherd who
communicates with this sheep and slept under the sky, resting his head upon thick books that he always
wanted to read.

Paulo Coelho has succeeded in taking the story from an abandoned church in Spain to the Pyramids in
Egypt. It’s not the journey between the places that thrilled me, but the way he has narrated mentioning the
facts that we always knew about life, chipping it to grip our mind and hearts to be more cautious.
Because, as well all know when weare bound to dig treasures, it’s very important to know what the
treasure that we are yet to know is.

Have you watched the reality show where Susan Boyle mentioned that, she wanted to sing like Ellen
Page? She was laughed out over her ambition… But, have you, ever thought in your wildest dream that
she was going to take the audience for a heavenly ride? She believed in her dream and at the age of 46,
she was been poured down all the blessings from ‘that’ universe which she believed in…

Paulo Coelho’s down to earth writing skill got caught up with many people like me, who never believed
in the art of reading...

…that bridge

What’s the world’s greatest lie? Well, the clear cut picture that Paulo Coelho drew out from the story is
thought provoking, at the same time rambling. The fact is known to us through movies and daily
scriptures that you spent time on.

I have always believed in destiny… Whatever I have wished for, been provided to me by the universe,
and it is mentioned in the book that, the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

…and when I crossed the bridge along with Santiago who wandered to learn more about life and love, the
spirits blended together to transform a miracle…

In the End…
The Author talks about the story related with few quotes, which are more philosophical and made lot of
sense tome.

He had a dream to become a writer. He accomplished his dream. The message is very, very clear…

Firstly, it’s time for us to know what we want to do in our life…

Secondly, follow our dreams…

And, when we follow it kindheartedly… all the positive energies gather together to get what we have
dreamed for… the power of universe is eternal…

In the end, you get into a whole different world… a world of love, peace…

For all those who are looking out to read a book that an average reader could benefit from, then go for
it…because, I did enjoy a lot…

I’m still in their world… Until Santiago meets Fatima, I’ll be with him…