When 'Midnight's Children' came out, people in the West tended to respond to the fantasy elements in the novel, to praise it in those terms. In India, people read it like a history book.

Salman Rushdie’s quote highlights the different ways that readers from the West and India responded to his novel Midnight’s Children. He notes that in the West, readers were often drawn to the fantasy elements of the novel, which include magical realism, supernatural occurrences, and a fantastical narrative style. These elements were appreciated as part of the book’s imaginative world, leading to praise in terms of its creativity and fictional prowess.

On the other hand, Rushdie points out that readers in India had a different approach. They read Midnight’s Children more like a history book, seeing it as a reflection of their own country's historical and political realities. The novel, which intertwines the fictional lives of its characters with the real-life events surrounding the Partition of India, the independence movement, and the evolution of the nation, resonated deeply with Indian readers who connected the events in the book to their own lived experiences and national history.

The quote emphasizes how cultural context can shape the interpretation of a literary work. For those in the West, the novel's fantastical nature made it more of an entertainment piece, while for Indians, it was a way to engage with the nation’s collective memory and identity. Rushdie’s exploration of these two perspectives reflects the complexity of storytelling and how literature can be viewed differently depending on a reader’s background and the historical context in which they engage with it.

The origin of this quote comes from Rushdie’s reflections on the reception of Midnight’s Children, a novel that blends historical events with fictional narratives. Published in 1981, the book won the Booker Prize and was lauded for its innovation, but its impact varied significantly depending on the cultural lens through which it was read. Rushdie’s comment here illustrates the diverse reactions to the novel and how it serves as a bridge between fantasy and reality, depending on the reader’s perspective.