December 7, 2014
I've been meaning to read something by Rushdie for a while now. He's one of the most acclaimed authors of our time, and this is probably his best known work. It not only won the Booker, but has been declared to be one of the (maybe even the) best novel it's ever been given to. And yet...I don't quite know what to make of it.
The story of Saleem Sinai and the family that raised him is bloated with symbolism, mixing the fantastical with the human and tragic. Throughout the text, Saleem's reliability as a narrator is questioned. He, who at 31 believes that he is cracking beneath his skin and that his bones are on the verge of disintegration, is writing his version of his life story. He acknowledges many times that while certain elements (his ability to read minds as a child, and to smell emotions and danger as a young adult) seem unbelievable, but over and over he defends his story as being, uh, almost totally true. As he writes, his girlfriend Padma listens as he reads the work aloud to her, expressing her opinions and disbelief at intervals.
Saleem went through a lot in his relatively short life. He (and his counterpart and nemesis Shiva) were both born on midnight exactly on August 15, 1947: the very moment that the Indian Subcontinent became free of British rule. This auspicious time of birth led to Saleem, Shiva, and hundreds of others throughout India proper to gain fantastic powers. Saleem is able to unite them all with his psychic abilities, until the snot is drained out of his giant nose. At that point, his psychic sense of smell kicks in. You see, when Mac and Charlie wanted to write their movie, they were inspired by more than one India-born cultural icon.
Here's my thinking about Saleem's life story: there's a lot that's true and a lot that's fabricated, but he believes in it all. Perhaps he almost says this very thing at some point. See, he became famous for being born at midnight on Independence, because he was born at the stroke of midnight to wealthy parents, while Shiva was poor. Saleem and Shiva were switched at birth by Mary Pereira...maybe. Because Saleem acknowledges that that could be untrue, to justify his later love for his "sister" Jamilla. Anyway, baby Saleem's face is seen in newspapers all over the country, and he gets a letter from the Prime Minister. Great things are expected of him, simply because of when he was born. So, I feel that Saleem gave significance to the time of his birth, and in his traumatized mind (the details of the story that are "true" would traumatize anyone) he believes it.
This novel is very complex, and as I sit here attempting to judge it and dissect it, the more I can appreciate what Rushdie put together here. The truth is that, even with the powers that Saleem gave himself, his life never really fulfilled any purpose. Rather than having a hand in deciding the fate of his country, his "twin sister," the turmoil of the new nations on the Subcontinent decided his. In an "autobiography" of questionable truthfulness, that's the most true part of it. Saleem wants to be important...who doesn't? He wants his life to have significance, and he was built up with more expectations for it than most other kids. In the end, he acknowledges his truth: you really can't be what-all you want.
This book gave yet another perspective of life in India (also Pakistan) after Independence. Damn, people really did not like Indira Gandhi, and this book and others that I've read this year have given me some good reasons for why that would be the case. And there was a lot of warring going on; between the new nations on the Subcontinent (and of course, Western nations throwing in support for their favs), plus China threatening. Bombings in Pakistan killed most of Saleem's family, and his famous sister is eventually bumped off by the Pakistani government. It was interesting to get some further perspective on the forming and growing pains of these nations. I briefly taught a course on Asian history last year to my middle school students, but the course materials only briefly touched on Independence and its aftermath in India. Just one valuable thing about this book is its perspective on this time.
While this is a unique, well-written, and well-constructed story, I do have to agree with one Goodreads reviewer who described Saleem as being alienating. I think I know what this person meant. Saleem, if viewed in the context of being traumatized and mentally ill, is pitiable, but his desperation to find meaning in his life, while very human and relatable, is maybe...too desperate? Plus, an unreliable narrator in such a long story can be frustrating. Overall I would say that this is an important novel, and I'd recommend it to others, but I certainly wouldn't call it the very best book of our time. I do, however, fully intend to read more Rushdie, and soon.
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