Review: Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Memorable bedtime story targeted for an audience as large as a bull's-eye on the side of a barn. The book is catalogued for January but will be shipped to bookstores in early November for Thanksgiving sales. Few readers will not find some tie between this story of a silenced father-storyteller and Rushdie's death sentence from the Ayatollah Khomeini--but it's a tie not stressed by the author. Perhaps the brightest aspect of the book is its bubbling good humor and witty dialogue, and then its often superb writing: ""There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name. It stood by a mournful sea full of glumfish, which were so miserable to eat that they made people belch with melancholy even though the skies were blue."" (Alifbay, the glossary here tells us, comes from the Hindustani word for ""alphabet."") The story: In the town of K, the Shah of Blah, Rashid Khalifa, a renowned storyteller and the father of Haroun, is deserted by his wife exactly at 11:00 a.m. and loses his power to tell stories. Haroun too loses the power to concentrate longer than 11 minutes. What's more, he insults his father's stories, calling them untrue, but then feels deep guilt for adding to his father's despair. In a P2C2E (a Process Too Complicated To Explain), it seems that most of Rashid's problems are part of the Great Story Sea becoming polluted and the Supplier of Story Water shutting down Rashid's supply. As a Water Genie explains to Haroun: ""The gentleman no longer requires the service; has discontinued narrative activities, thrown in the towel, packed it in. He has cancelled his subscription: Hence my presence, for purposes of Disconnection."" Which is the typical tumbling Rushdie jumpcat spoken by all and by Miss Blabbermouth, otherwise known as the Princess Batcheat Chattergy (batcheat= ""baat-cheet"" or chitchat), held prisoner in the Citadel of Chup, a castle built entirely of black ice. Parted from Rashid, Haroun on his own fights Khattum-Shud, who shuts down stories, and purifies the story waters in the Ocean of the Stream of Stories. A strong winner, though the storyline fades in and out of the prose--a fault that may pass unnoticed if the book's not read in one sitting.

I am only 10 and my friends and I had done a play named the "Sea of Stories". later on when the day of realese on 12/11/2011, I found out it was from Salman Rushdei's book "Haroun and the Sea of Stories. A very nice and book that makes me imagine I am Haroun.

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

Rushdie, returns to his own familiar terrain with this book,the genre he has made utterly his own, Magic Realism. But this time it is not only a father writing a post-modern fairy tale for his son ... Read full review

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

Having read Salman Rushdie's memoir, Joseph Anton, last year, It's was impossible for me to not think about the circumstances in which this novel was written while I was reading it. He started writing ... Read full review

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

"My father has definitely not given up. You can't cut off his Story Water supply." "Orders," said Iff. "All queries to be taken up with the Grand Comptroller." "Grand Comptroller of what?" Haroun ...

Review: Haroun and the Sea of Stories

This book, Haroun and the sea of stories by Salman Rushdie, deserves some appreciation. It is light, upbeat and quite hilarious- perfect for 'children' (or absolutely ANYONE who likes to go on ... Read full review

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

A nice, light fantasy who's style reminded me quite a bit of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust." The story of the son of a storyteller who's lost his gift and how they get it back isn't ground breaking... but ... Read full review

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

I've wanted to read this book for years, but now that I finally did I could not feel the magic. Maybe I'm too grown up for this fantasy, but no that's not correct because I recently read Grimm ... Read full review

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

This was a book given to me by my Head of School so I knew it was sure to be an engaging and memorable read. If you once knew that Rushdie was in hiding because of a fatwah and only read this ... Read full review

Review: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

Halfway through my journey into this book, the author spoke at my school. I'll confess that I only read this book because it was made available to me due to Salman Rushdie's visit to my school, but it ... Read full review