What are the advantages and disadvantages of self-reflexive and non-linear historical account or narration of Saleem Sinai in Midnight's Children?

I would say that one of the most unique elements to
Saleem's narration is that it is fragmented and not coherent.  This is similar to the
manner in which India was partitioned and what resulted after the British left.  The
advantages of Saleem's method of narration is that it does not provide a sense of
totality and a sense of completeness.  In creating a narration in this manner, Rushdie
is able to bring out some of his post- modern themes concerning identity in the modern
setting.  A natural disadvantage of this is that those who strive for unity and harmony
in the narrative will be disappointed.  Yet, within this lies Rushdie's pure strength. 
In attempting to bring out the idea that modernity brings with it a sense of incomplete
and a sense of fragmented, Saleem's narration, the voice of the modern India, is
developed in this manner.  This is only enhanced by the idea of the errors in the
narrative.  The mistakes that Saleem commits in his retelling of India is something that
reflects how history, in general, is filtered through individual bias and subjectivity. 
In this, the modern setting lies, where information is present, but truth in the
totalizing sense is not.