“Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie

This was a really quick read! The book is fun for both kids and adults, so the story is full of quirky characters and the plot really clips along. It makes for a fun time; I finished this in a weekend.

Haroun lives with his mother and father, his father Rashid is known for his storytelling. His mother gets unhappy though and Rashid doesn’t notice, and one day she runs off with a horrible boring guy who hates stories. Rashid is depressed, Haroun feels that he is to blame since he asked his dad “what good are made up stories?” in the aftermath. Eventually Rashid gets on stage and can only say “ack” meaning that their livelihood is in danger. Haroun goes with Rashid to tell stories to support some politician, and the night before his performance in a fit of anger Rashid says that he is done with stories. Haroun then surprises a Water Genie who is there to turn his storytelling magic off, and Haroun steals his tool and persuades him to take him to the great Walrus at the head of Processes Too Complicated Too Explain and reverse this for this father.

They fly to the City of Gab (which is on another moon) on a bird and learn that the waters of the Sea of Stories are being poisoned and the princess has been captured. From there it is war with the inhabitants of the city that is always in darkness for the ocean and the princess. They are not in agreement for what the priority is though, the inhabitants want the ocean clean and the prince wants the princess back. So they split up, Haroun and some new friends head off to spy on what is being done to the ocean. They are immediately captured, but they figure out the plan is to plug the spring of stories and manage to dismantle that. The key is that these inhabitants have managed to detach their shadows, Haroun uses a wish and Wishwater to turn the moon so that they are in the sun and the shadows all melt. Meanwhile the others fought for the princess and won since the inhabitants of the dark city hate their leader. Haroun decides as thanks for his efforts he wants a happy ending, and when they get back Rashid tells the story of “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” and they find his mother has returned.

The summary really doesn’t do this book justice, there are so many quirky things and silly wordplay that would just take too long to explain here but make for good reading. It also feels a little like Alice in Wonderland, there are multiple characters from Haroun’s life that reappear in Gab. Additionally, there are clear influences from India here, Rushdie provides some explanation to the character names at the end that highlight this the most clearly.

All in all, a good fun read that makes you think a little, not too much, about stories and how useful they are. They aren’t real, but why should that make them unimportant?