What Do I Read Next?
- The novel's fantastic elements evoke comparisons to Günter Grass's The Tin Drum, published in 1959. This book narrates the lead-up to the Nazi era in Germany through a boy who wills himself to remain perpetually young.
- Midnight's Children is often likened to Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. Márquez weaves extraordinary stories into the history of a fictional South American town, Macondo. This novel is considered a prime example of "magical realism," a genre frequently associated with Rushdie's work.
- Indian author Rohinton Mistry wrote A Fine Balance in 1995. The novel is set during Indira Gandhi's state of emergency in India from 1974 to 1975, addressing issues such as crackdowns on journalists, political repression, and forced sterilizations, themes also explored in Rushdie's novel. It is available from Vintage International.
- Sadaat Hasan Manto, a renowned Urdu writer, often centers his works on the partition of India on August 15, 1947. His story "A Question of Honor" exemplifies his style and perspective. This story can be found in Kingdom's End and Other Stories, published by Verso Press in 1987.
- Taslima Nasreen's novel Homecoming—Phera tells the story of a woman forced to leave her homeland of Mymensingha during the partition, only to return years later to a changed country. This book was published by Srishti in 2005.
- Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown revolves around a U.S. counterterrorism expert who is assassinated by his chauffeur. Random House published this novel in 2005.
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