Review of Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Written by Nicolaus T. ‘27
SYNOPSIS
Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a book about the titular protagonist Haroun, and his adventure through the strange and fantastical world of Kahini, all in the name to stop the evil Cultmaster Khattam-Shud. The book uses stories and light as a representation of good and silence and darkness as a representation of evil.
REVIEW
I think more negatively of this book than I think I should. The book is written by a talented and critically acclaimed author, it has an interesting concept with a good and easily understood moral, and it has a big cast of interesting characters. However, even though it’s got so much going for it and it’s very much set up for success, the book falls flat due to some problems that I could not ignore.
The first major problem I have with the book is that the writing is very strange and isn’t very good at subtly conveying ideas. You are either directly told what is happening or, more likely, you have no idea what is going on or how the logic of the world works in any way. I never felt as if I organically learned the information necessary to understand the story.
Another thing I didn’t like about the book is that every character felt only half-baked. The characters had potential to be incredibly interesting and complex. The genius storyteller father who lost his ability due to a broken heart, a Water-Genie who is very passionate about his work getting his way of life threatened by the corruption of the Sea of Stories, a young girl who thinks she has to conceal her identity in order to keep her livelihood. All these characters have the capabilities to be extremely interesting characters, but the book doesn’t use any time to develop them at all.
Overall I don’t think the book is that good. It could have been better if Rushdie gave it an extra hundred or so pages to help develop the characters. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, but I also wouldn’t stop anyone from reading it.
My final rating for the book is a 5/10.
Despite my thoughts on the book, my opinions are but the words of one man, so in order to get a better perspective on the book, I have interviewed two students who have read it.
Interview with Jeanette McClure
Question: How did you think the writing of the book affected the narrative? Was it well written? Did you understand what the book was trying to say?
Jeanette: I think at certain points, the book could be over descriptive or not descriptive enough. It may be a personal opinion, but I like it when books are more concise, and I think Rushdie tends to add too much descriptive detail. Some of the characters were way too two-dimensional and the end of the where Soraya comes back takes away the impact of the meaning.
Question: Would you recommend the book to someone else? Why?
Jeanette: I would recommend the book but I wouldn’t rate it too highly.
Question: On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate this book? 10 being Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, 1 being Lawrence Guterman’s Son of the Mask.
Jeanette: 7/10.
Interview with Kieran Brown
Question: How did you think the writing of the book affected the narrative? Was it well written? Did you understand what the book was trying to say?
Kieran: Yes, I understood what the book was going to say. The writing was confusing. Overall I did like the story.
Question: Would you recommend the book to someone else? Why?
Kieran: Yes, it’s an interesting read.
Question: On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate this book? 10 being Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, 1 being Lawrence Guterman’s Son of the Mask.
Kieran: 7/10.
