Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Bought this not totally realizing it was a children's book - used book store, saw Rushdie's name, so I just got it. I'm not really in the demographic for it and haven't been for about 35 years or so. So I ended up making it my gym read - little sessions of 10 or 30 minutes on the recumbent bike spread out over a month, which is not the best way to read any book, but is more do-able with kid's material.

I think as a children's book it is probably really good. I would need to ask an actual 11 year old to be sure, but I think the characters are pretty funny. Story seems appropriate for that age group. Normally I don't feel conflicted between a personal review score and a score I would give it with other people in mind, but it seems like for me personally this is a 3 but for a kid it ought to be a 4. As an adult, the story is predictable, characters flat, but that's what you expect in a kid's story. I think it's a little complicated for 8 or below - maybe - I don't have kids, although I have coached A LOT of them, but that didn't involve talking about books, and I've substitute taught in elementary, which is sort of what I am basing my age rec off of. It seems in line with the books I would occasionally be asked to read aloud to 5th graders, although those books were generally Western and I would say a little simpler and slower in pace. You can still tell this was written by Rushdie. It has his fast paced wit and style. I think it would be great for getting kids into reading more imaginative stuff and exposing them a little to what a kids story might sound like in south asia.

Rather beautiful, very mesmerizing and downright melliferous. A truly marvelous book and an extremely creative story.

My first read by Salman Rushdie won't be my last. I went in soft for the #AuthoraMonth challenge on Litsy and did not come away disappointed. Children's story be damned; I loved it for reminding me of how important stories are in our lives. It made me feel triumphant for teaching my students about the archetypal story pattern of all our lives: The Hero's Quest and that every story is the same story told in infinite variations. Thank you, Mr. Rushdie.

The Writer Salman Rushdie’s novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories is an excellent short novel about the importance of storytelling. Rushdie is a skilled writer. In Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Rushdie has fun with the English language, Rushdie also includes many words from the Hindustani language of South Asia (Rushdie 1990 215-216). Many critics such as late writer Ursula La Guin view Rushdie as a “master fisherman” (La Guin 2008) from “the sea of stories” (La Guin 2008). I wondered if La Guin started her review of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Enchantress of Florence with a reference to Rushdie’s earlier novel, Haroun and the Stories of Stories. In Houran and the Sea Stories, Rushdie writes that the character of Haroun tells his ally General Kitab that Houran has “seen with my own eyes how beautiful the Ocean is, with its Story Streams in colors' (Rushdie 1990 137). In the novel, Haroun and the Sea, stories come from a Sea of Stories. This book is also about how storytelling can maybe bring people together (Rushdie 1990 191). The book also includes how a fable about how storytelling can improve the life of ordinary people (Rushdie 1990 206-207). Salman Rushdie’s novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories is an excellent novel about how storytelling can improve the life of people and society at large. Works Cited: La Guin, Ursula. Review of The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie. The Guardian (United Kingdom). March 28, 2008. The real uses of Enchantment | Books | The Guardian Rushdie, Salman. 2008. The Enchantress of Florence. New York: Penguin Random House, LLC. Kindle.

I don't know, I realize it's sort of for children but it really failed to engage me as much as other children's books. I feel like there was possibly supposed to be a deeper meaning about the importance of fiction/ freedom of speech but it wasn't super well-executed either.