Exactly how steamy is this story?
NC-17
Nope. No kids. Not even with their parents. Nuh-uh. Not in here.
First of all, this book is constantly talking about sex. We see Saleem's mom fondling his dad's testicles, Saleem attempting to get it on with his sister, Saleem attempting to get it on with his aunt, nudity behind perforated sheets, and numerous other mentions of people's inability or ability to have an erection. There are also hundreds of thousands of rapes.
Add to that the incredibly violent second and third sections of the novel, where Saleem's whole family is killed and he talks to a pyramid made out of the barely alive body parts of his childhood friends, and you can see why this could give a kid nightmares for weeks.
So yeah. No kids allowed.