Apparently I am in the minority in the opinion that this is mostly pretentious bullshit. Of course Salman Rushdie writes well. Anyone can see that he has an amazing ability with words and descriptions that describe situations and places to a T. But, but, but it so unbelievably boring to read this prodigious flow of words for almost 650 pages.
I guess I am just a troglodyte when it comes to "great" literature. This is not the first Booker winner I have read this year that I pretty much hated. At least the The Remains of the Day was short enough that I didn't get angry about the time I spent on reading. One reviewer on Goodreads said that Midnight's Children is like Rushdie is telling us a dream that goes on long past the time that the listener can even feign interest. I definitely agree since MC wanders around and abruptly changes scenes like dreams typically do.
I can't say that the entire book bored me. Book I almost made me give up, but it got better with Book II and Book III was better still. However, I was so irritated at the kind of lack of resolution to the end. I have never read any Rushdie novel before and if this is indicative of his writing, I never will again. Maybe if I had any real knowledge of Indian/Pakistani history (or any interest for that matter) this novel would have been a much different experience for me. Almost certainly so since I understand very few of the historical references. Oh well, I'll just have to make better picks for my reading in my personal troglodyte cave in the future.