Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

 

I had been intending to listen to this book for a while, but for unknown reasons, it never ended up in our local library system - while its sequel did. Fortunately, now that I have access to the Los Angeles library system, I was able to stream the audiobook. 

 

I have enjoyed reading Rushdie since my wife came home with a copy of The Satanic Verses as part of her project to get me reading again after a dry spell. (Small kids and other factors, and I got out of the habit. I am glad she did it.)

 

Not too long after that, I decided to start writing a bit about my reading, and thus this blog was born. So credit Salman Rushdie in part. (And also Isaac Bashivis Singer, the subject of the first of my posts…) 

 

I have also read another of Rushdie’s novels, the Booker winning, Midnight’s Children; and one of his essay collections, Languages of Truth. Both are excellent and highly recommended.

 

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a book for children - in fact, written for his own son. It is a story of a quest, an adventure - but also an allegory for politics (particularly in India) and censorship. It is filled with puns in multiple languages, allusions to literature, references to the various religious beliefs of India, and a decent bit about story theory. So, there is definitely a lot going on. 

 

The book does have a few flaws, in my opinion. The most major one is the lack of female characters. There are only a handful, and they are minor, with only one taking a truly active role in the events. (Another one is part of a male/female interconnected pair, so I don’t count her as a full character.) There are also times where the action drags a bit, where Rushdie follows a rabbit trail that probably wasn’t needed in a kids book. 

 

On the other hand, the story is good, and the allegory sticks with you. There are also so many easter eggs for the adults, which is fun. There is also a lot of imagination, and a world of magical realism that sounds pretty fun, actually. 

 

Keep your ears and eyes open, because there are references to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Arabian Nights, The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, Gogol, Kafka, and a few Indian writers and filmmakers I had never heard of.  

 

Haroun and his father Rashid (if you know, you know) live in a sad city that has forgotten its name. Things get worse when Haroun’s mother leaves Rashid for another man, one who is boring and prosaic as hell. 

 

Which is the problem. Rashid is a storyteller, a professional one at that, and the new guy thinks stories are silly and useless. When Haroun, in his pain at the loss of his mother, says something negative about stories, Rashid loses his ability to tell stories. 

 

In fact, it is so bad that the Water Genie has come to cut off the utilities, so to speak. Because stories are water from the Sea of Stories, a never-ending source of ideas. Fail to pay the bill, well, and…

 

So off Haroun is to fix the problem. Which means blackmailing Iff the Water Genie, flying on Butt the Mechanical Hoopoe, and trying to get an audience with the Walrus (who is served by the Egg Men, of course.) And, an army of “pages” - literal like Lewis Carroll might have written them, malevolent detached shadows, a silly ass of a prince, an unattractive princess who cannot carry a tune yet sings all the time, and a Story Gardener.

 

It’s fun stuff. A world of Magical Realism, and the central idea that stories and imagination are what makes us human. 

 

There are also some great recurring ideas. For example, everything that is mysterious - technology, magic, whatever you want to call it - is described using a quick shorthand: P2C2E. (“Process too complicated to explain.”) I mean, isn’t that a perfect term for advanced technology, or for magic, which are kind of the same if you don’t understand them? It also relieves Rushdie of the problem of making things plausible. No need to waste time on unsatisfying explanations - it’s just another P2C2E…

 

This book is also one of the very few where I recommend reading the afterward before you finish the story. In it, Rushdie explains the meanings of the names - most are Hindi or Urdu, and lead to really fun puns and wordplay…if you know. I at least had the advantage of having read a few books lately with untranslated words, so I had a leg up. But definitely cheat a bit and enjoy the wit. 

 

I wouldn’t say that the plot itself is anything spectacular. It is fairly standard for its genre, with few unexpected twists. But the point is more the imaginative details, and the overarching point of the need for stories and imagination - and why those are so threatening to autocrats and authoritarians. 

 

In that sense, the book - written after The Satanic Verses during the height of the fatwa and Rushdie’s need to live in hiding - resonates today. 

 

From the religious bigots seeking to shut down alternative viewpoints to the fascists running the government and threatening those who disagree, this is an eternal truth: nothing is more threatening to authoritarians than imagination and storytelling. 

 

As the villain, Khattam-Shud, explains, the world does not exist for fun. It exists to be controlled. People and everything else are there to perform duties, to serve power. Fun in the form of stories is anathema to that worldview, so he needs to poison the stories and shut off the flow. 

 

This is, as he finds out, harder in practice than in theory. See, humans are all about the stories, and are themselves the source. Just as, right now, Trump and his goons are finding out that humans don’t just roll over, they don’t act out of pure selfishness. We connect, we share our stories, we support each other. 

 

This is portrayed beautifully in the final battle, where the villains, separated from their shadows, end up fighting their shadows and each other. When selfishness and authoritarianism are the rule, you can’t trust anyone. Whereas those motivated by truth and humanity - held together by stories and empathy - are able to work together. 

 

Coming from an author who has literally put his life on the line in the service of truth, stories, and freedom, this book is optimistic and hopeful. Even in our own dark times, we can keep the stories alive, and create new ones for our own times. 

 

The audiobook was narrated by Neil Shah, who apparently has over 250 audiobook titles to his name, in a breathtaking variety of genres. His narration was excellent, with distinct voices, “accents” belonging to nowhere exactly on earth, and hilarious silly songs at appropriate moments. A true professional, and he added to the experience. 

 

If you are looking for a kids’ book that is a bit out of the ordinary, particularly as a gateway drug to the Rushdie experience, this is a good one. It’s not in the pantheon, but it was a worthy read.