Tolog Review: Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Haroun and the Sea of Stories
by Salman Rushdie
reviewed by Hailey Ramos

The fantasy novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie follows young Haroun Khalifa on his adventure through the fantastical moon of Kahani to recover his father’s extraordinary story-telling skills and save the Sea of Stories, source of all tales. In “the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name,” (15) Haroun lives with his father Rashid, well-known for his vivid stories, and his mother, until she runs off with the family’s upstairs neighbor, causing Rashid immense heartbreak. Angry at his father’s pathetic state, Haroun “[loses] his temper and [shouts]: ‘What’s the point of it? What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?’” (22) Soon after, Haroun’s father loses his ability to tell stories in the middle of speaking for a political campaign, which Haroun blames himself for, due to lashing out on his father prior to the event. Haroun meets Iff the Water Genie, responsible for supplying water from the Sea of Stories, which he learns once supplied his father with his endless stream of vivid stories. Haroun travels with Iff atop Butt the Hoopoe bird to speak to Iff’s superior, wanting to inquire about his father’s newfound lack of stories. They travel to Earth’s mythical moon Kahani to the Kingdom of Gup, where Haroun learns the Sea of Stories is being poisoned by Khattam-Shud, the ruler of the shadowy people of the Kingdom of Chup. Alongside his friends Iff, Butt, and story-gardener Mali, Haroun ventures to Chup in order to save the sea.

Salman Rushdie, author of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, uses colorful and quirky language that brings poetry to mind. Rushdie especially uses repetition of words and sounds, which can even be found in the story’s first line: “There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name” (15). In this example, the author uses consonance to convey a poetry-like air. The story itself is completely fantastical and surreal, taking readers to fictional places such as the planet’s second unknown moon and introducing peculiar characters like jabbering fish and shadow warriors. Since the story begins in a world similar to ours, then incorporates magical elements into it, the novel can be considered of the genre magic realism, a genre that showcases a magically altered version of reality.