Why read Haroun and the Sea of Stories?

Book cover of Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Book description

A captivating fantasy novel for readers of all ages, by the author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses

"This is, simply put, a book for anyone who loves a good story. It's also a work of literary genius." -Stephen King

Set in an exotic Eastern landscape peopled by magicians…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked Haroun and the Sea of Stories as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A. David Redish

Author

In 1989, Salman Rushdie he had to go into hiding because of the fatwa against his life. In trying to explain this decision to his young son, Rushdie spins a magical tale of a storyteller who decides to stop telling stories.

The hero, Haroun, always wondered where his father's stories came from. His father always said “I drink from the ocean of stories. They install a spigot in the wall for me to drink from.” (Yeah, right.) Until, on that one fateful day, Haroun catches the water genie uninstalling the spigot.

On his way to save the ocean of stories,…

From A.'s list on across the boundary of poetry, science, and society.

Gita Ralleigh

Author

I had long been a fan of Salman Rushdie, known as a magic realism author for adults, but only read his children’s book Haroun and the Sea of Stories after I began writing for children myself.

Set in the land of Alifbay, in a nameless city of factories in which ‘sadness was actually manufactured, packaged and sent all over the world’ we follow the adventures of Haroun, whose father Rashid the storyteller loses his gift. Haroun must journey to the earth’s second moon, Kahani (story in Hindi/Urdu) and drink from the Ocean of Stories to restore it.

This endlessly inventive…

From Gita's list on magic realism chosen by a children’s author.

Zena Shapter

Author

A work of magical realism, Haroun and the Sea of Stories captured my imagination through Rushdie’s exquisite dreamlike storytelling, which begins in a city so sad and ruinous that it has forgotten its name.

I especially loved Haroun’s perilous journey through the Sea of Stories, all to restore balance to his world and save it from itself.

In my own SFF stories, I also love to intoxicate readers with adventurous worlds of lush imagination – filled perhaps with giant ants or enormous carnivorous trees – while also reflecting real-world problems, as Rushdie had done with Haroun.

Sometimes, home is never…

From Zena's list on ‘it’ll be better when I get there’ SFF YA.

If you love Haroun and the Sea of Stories...

Haroon Khalid

Author

There is the genre of magical realism and then there is Salman Rushdie’s magical realism. Salman takes the ordinariness of reality and transforms it into magic, beautifully using his language. Haroun and the sea of stories is my favourite work of the author in which he uses language, to create a wonderful world of magic. I particularly enjoyed this work because it opened up a whole world of possibilities for me, showing me how to use language in a creative way, in which multiple meanings can be created. Reality and magic beautifully come together in this amazing book!

From Haroon's list on merging genres and writing styles.