Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Okay, so I’m on a bit of a Salman Rushdie kick. I swear the next book will be by someone else (I’m actually really excited to get back to that next book, and I look forward to this insane semester being over so I can finally finish it).

Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Utterly delightful.

It is a children’s novel, written by Rushdie immediately after Satanic Verses while he was hiding during the fatwa. He had promised his son a children’s book, and it was an excellent medium to discuss what was going on in his life at the time.

Haroun, our hero, is a boy who lives in “a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name.” His father, Rashid, is a storyteller, the Shah of Blah. Unfortunately, something terrible happens to him and he loses his Gift of the Gab—Haroun believes this is his fault and sets off on a journey to try and restore his father’s Gift of the Gab. During his journey he discovers the importance and power of words and speech, as well as the power of stories. The question, “What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” is asked repeatedly throughout the novel, and by the end Haroun finds the answer.

True to form, Rushdie’s writing is phenomenal. As it is a story about stories and language, he uses some excellent word plays (one of my favorites is when Haroun meets the Plentimaw Fishes in the Sea of Stories) and often repeats an idea many times in various familiar idioms. He also explores the importance of free speech very deeply, and even though it is a light-hearted children’s novel, it is clearly filled with adult themes.

I loved this book. It made me laugh; it made me happy. It sometimes felt like The Phantom Tollbooth, which is an excellent one as well. It reminded me yet again how amazing and important the power of language is. It is a wonderful story.

Five stars, definitely.