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The Midnight’s Children Meander, Week 11

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This week it seemed like history and fiction were spinning faster and faster together in a tight grip, all I’m sure leading to a dizzying conclusion.

We also got another quick recap of much of what’s happened before, another mad dose of the rhythm Rushdie has been laying down throughout. Back and forth, back and forth — prophecy and recap and prophecy. DJ Rushdie on the 1s and 2s and 1s.

Also, am I the only one who thought that meeting a man who “resembled a large and bearded onion” was inevitable? I was like: finally!

One last thought: After Meandering through two faux memoirs in a row (See also: The Blind Assassin Meander) I’m wondering if the faux-memoir genre has some built-in limitations. It’s hard-wired to be an ego trip. There are no female characters who seem real in Midnight’s Children, but I’m not sure there’s anyone besides our faux memoirist who has three full dimensions.

Still, very glad to be finally reading this book after all these many years. And equally delighted to be headed toward…

…the last five-chip whopper: What say we meet at the back cover, where we may or may not find “peace.” As always, I believe deeply in you and your complicated-book-completion skills!

And this? This is the place for comments on really anything you’d like vis a vis Midnight’s Children.

Comments

23 responses to “The Midnight’s Children Meander, Week 11”

  1. So-Called Bill Avatar
    So-Called Bill

    I’d like to petition the court to retroactively classify this as a Deathmarch. This was no Meander, my friend.

    Reply
  2. Cecil Vortex Avatar
    Cecil Vortex

    MeanderMarch? JoyStroll? SallyForth? Work with me…
    -Cecil

    Reply
  3. So-Called Bill Avatar
    So-Called Bill

    I’d accept “Deathmeander.”

    Reply
  4. Cecil Vortex Avatar
    Cecil Vortex

    I knew that was coming. 🙂 But I gotta stick with something less grim. Battle Soul Meander!

    Reply
  5. So-Called Bill Avatar
    So-Called Bill

    Methmarch? Oh, wait…

    Reply
  6. Computilo Avatar
    Computilo

    Although So-Called Meander might also work, I’m on board with the Deathmarch designation. I think all that election texting has made our Cecil a bit more pickled in ye. old noggin Than usual and he’s not thinking straight. Meanders leave one rephreshed; deathmarches require recuperation.

    Reply
  7. Ute Avatar
    Ute

    Ending this here
    a) with a couple of images and snippets taken from the last 2 chapters of the book I really liked such as

    the interior moths of despair
    do we not get the leaders we deserve?
    we must live with the shadows of imperfection

    and b) with the confession that I finished the book months ago because I simply don’t do well with reading books in bits and pieces 😉
    Wondering if I’m the only one here having this issue?
    Or are there more like-minded people on our meandering tour who like to read their books in as close to one sitting as possible? Curious to find out…

    Thanks Cecil for organizing – would never have picked up MC or probably any book by SR if it hadn’t been for you!

    Reply
  8. Alyssa Avatar
    Alyssa

    Well, I read it! I can’t say I enjoyed it, exactly, but am oddly proud of the accomplishment. I think I’d get more out of it on a second read, though not sure when that’ll happen. It was good for me to abandon straight narrative for a while, twist the brain in some new directions. There’s still so much to untangle so I think I’ll spend some time reading about the book now, along with all of the continually wonderful commentary here.

    Reply
  9. Susan C Avatar
    Susan C

    I finished. Early. On Friday!
    Why do I feel like I only got 50%, maybe, of what was there to be gotten?
    Sentence by sentence, a joy, but impossible for me to keep track, even with recaps.
    I’m hoping one of you will illuminate *what it was all about*. (Does the period go inside or outside the asterisk?)
    Obviously there is a genius at work here, but maybe I was born at the wrong hour to really understand it all.
    I may very well read again (which I never do) and I thank you, Cecil, for leading the way, all mustaches, swagger-ticks, gimlet-eyes, medals and shoulderpips agleam.

    Reply
  10. Peaseblossom Avatar
    Peaseblossom

    I too am oddly proud to have finished this book. Although I relished (notice the pickle imagery, Cecil) SR’s use of language, reading this book was more of a deathmarch than a leisurely meander.

    Fun fact of the week: I am “nasally incompetent.”

    “Then, at last, the trail ceases meandering…” A fitting phrase in last leg of our journey.

    Reply
  11. Computilo Avatar
    Computilo

    Even the word “finished” seems to have multiple meanings for me. Can anyone truly finish this book? So many layers of revelation struck me as I trudged through the final pages. Why hadn’t I put two and two together and recognized that “the most charming man in the world” was in fact a bona fide snake charmer? There were so many instances like this for me. I think that the denseness of the prose was the challenge. So many layers to peel before glimpsing the truth of the message! Like my fellow meander folk, I’m glad to have crossed the finish line, but doubt I could travel this particular road again.

    Reply
  12. Willem Avatar
    Willem

    So dense, so multilayered! I enjoyed watching SR/Saleem weigh how to end it (pg 531), happily, with questions, with dreams…

    I also am glad to have “finished” the “more march than meander” journey. It was tough going, but I’m glad I did it and look forward to it thinking about this one for a while to come.

    Thanks, Cecil!

    Reply
  13. Jeff G Avatar
    Jeff G

    I did it! Very much enjoyed the last section, right up to the concluding paragraphs. And yeah, this is a difficult book, and I can say with no uncertainty that I never would have finished had it not been for this…uh, deathmeander. But I’m glad I did. Even knowing it would take at least a couple more readings–and a class or two in Indian history–to more fully appreciate it, what came through for me was Rushdie’s love of storytelling and his love of language. So many great, fun passages throughout. I loved the way he trained us to understand the meanings of things, of carrying forward his metaphors throughout the novel.

    But if there’s one big takeaway for me, it came near the end of the last chapter: You should never underestimate a spittoon.

    Glad to have been aboard, and hope to see y’all next time around. Thanks Cecil and thanks all for the meandering!

    Reply
  14. Cort Day Avatar
    Cort Day

    I do not know if there is a magnet associated with this endeavor, but if there were, might it be a miniature magnet of a giant nose???? Or something involving chutneys?

    The thing I ended up liking best was the aspect of the family chronicle told over generations. I liked the moment toward the end when Saleem sees himself reflected as ‘the young-old face of the dwarf in the mirror…’ and we see him too.

    This one wore out my boots!

    Cheers all, and I second the thanks for Cecil!

    Reply
  15. Noodle Avatar
    Noodle

    I’m often in the same fix as Ute. That has kept me, I fear, from reading more complex and challenging books because they are difficult to read all in one go. So…grateful for the MC whatchamacallit. That said, found the closing chapters so disheartening. Poor Children. And poor Padma!

    Reply
  16. pete Avatar
    pete

    Some questions. He was just 31 when it ended? Was the big turd in the final section really necessary? Do all Booker prize books end with a giant turd scene? Between that and the scalp incident the book left me with some images I wish I had never read/scene. Finally, i feel like he explained the book at the end but I am pretty I am missing a lot of the point, which is not a great feeling after investing the time to try and wrest the meaning out of the book. I am going to enjoy some Elmore Leonard now. My brain needs a little change of pace after this one.

    Reply
  17. Amanda Avatar
    Amanda

    Hahahaha – I read the book when I was a senior in high school and I’ve got to say the turd was one of the few details of the book that stayed with (haunted?) me through the years.

    On a related note, during this reading it struck me how the grasshopper green chutney in MC operates like Proust’s Madeline through a looking glass – a single bite of food unlocking and spurring a torrent of sensory/memory. The looking glass being that MC’s version of this trip down memory lane isn’t just lined with rose bushes, but the full, explosive (sometimes scatological) spectrum of all that person can see smell hear taste. So maybe the turd is necessary?!

    And speaking of DeathMeaders™, what about a march through In Search of Lost Time? At 4,000 pages, we’d probably be finishing it up around this time 2023…

    Reply
  18. So-Called Bill Avatar
    So-Called Bill

    Hoping to finish tonight or tomorrow. Will check in later.

    Reply
  19. Furiosa Avatar
    Furiosa

    I was going to suggest a DeathMeander through Roberto Bolano’s 2666, but that might be the DeathMeander of us all.

    While the final chapters were as downbeat as expected, I found joy in such passages as “We were led down a lush black carpet–midnight-black, black as lies, crow-black, anger-black, the black of ‘hai-yo, black man!’;; in short a dark rug” and the chutnefication of Saleem’s memories in jars, complete with an empty jar because there must always be a jar left empty for the future. It’s digressions and images like these that have made this book an engaging read for me even through the more difficult parts.

    As far as the giant turd, to borrow Saleem’s words about his efforts at accurate memoir, “We must live, I’m afraid, with the shadows of imperfection.”

    Until next time…

    Reply
  20. Cecil Vortex Avatar
    Cecil Vortex

    🙂 well, pickled, there’s no doubt. My brain is headed for that empty jar…

    Reply
  21. Cecil Vortex Avatar
    Cecil Vortex

    I also found this one exceptionally hard to read in bites. No such trouble with most MeanderMarches, but I think this might have been a richer experience as a binge….

    Reply
  22. Clort Avatar
    Clort

    I’d be up for that! At least in theory. I think? Maybe with a little bit of that so-called meth….

    Reply
  23. Clort Avatar
    Clort

    I would (seriously!) join any sort of march involving 2666. I read The Savage Detectives and have read a couple other shorter Bolano things and enjoyed them. I guess I should probably hedge and read a bit more about the book before committing, but I am lazy and I trust the Meander Process ™ to get us through it.

    Reply

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