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Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: his best
Review: This book is sort of the Arabian Nights + Princess Bride, with a little Alice in Wonderland thrown into the mix. When Rashid, a storyteller known as the Shah of Blah, loses the ability to tell stories, his son Haroun sets out to find out what has happened. With the help of Iff the Water Genie and a cast of colorful characters he finds out that forces of Darkness are polluting the Sea of Stories.

It's all a thinly veiled allegory for Islam trying to silence the author after his Satanic Verses was published, but it's deftly handled & often quite amusing. Rushdie does an especially nice job with word plays & puns & the book requires rereading & reading aloud to catch them all, which makes it a perfect book for adults to read to older kids.

GRADE: B

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Rushdie's most accessible book....
Review: A primer of Rushdie's writing style, which sometimes is hard to follow because of the dramatic changes of setting and language. This is an enchanting children's story, set in an exotic eastern landscape peopled by magician and talking animals, it's a story of a storyteller. Captivating for a number of reasons, the humour that will make you chuckle, the Swiftian satire that permeates beneath the surface; the beautiful imagery in which Rushdies immerses the readers. It inhabits me with the same imaginative space as Gulliver's Travel and the Arabian Nights

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A sea of enchantment
Review: Salman Rushdie is the crowned prince of words. The imagery and enchantment breathing through this book cannot be matched. The simple white pages cannot hide the brilliant words within.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining
Review: The Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva is one of the earliest collections of tales - preceding the Arabian Nights or Reynard the Fox etc. Kathasaritsagara is normally translated as "The Ocean of Story". Salman Rushdie plays on the ocean of story idea in Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

Haroun is the son of a storyteller, a storyteller (the Shah of Blah) who loses his ability to tell stories when his wife leaves him. Haroun himself is less impressed with stories questioning their usefulness when they are not even true. Accidentally intercepting the genie sent to shut off his father's story supply, Haroum becomes involved in the rescue of the ocean of stories.

Rushdie tells the tale with a great deal of humor - the mail bus driver who skips all the mail stops so that Haroun can see a magnificant view; abbreviations such as P2C2E for processes too complicated to explain; shadows that have detached from their substantial-being creating two separate lives, the substantial's and the shadow's. The result is an entertaining tale with a great deal of social and political implied commentary. Ultimately, however, there is a bit too much of the cute and clever. The book is worth reading, certain children will enjoy it immensely, but in a hundred years it will be known for being a minor work of Rushdie if Rushdie is still known.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Who likes a nap
Review: Lets see, in high school i prefer to read something that is real, not a fable from god knows when. I found this to be boring and childish. The first 2 pages say that the city the main character lives in is a sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad place with depression factories. That is not a joke or stretch of the imagination either. My suggestion, move along and dont look back, ever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: storytelling for all ages
Review: A wonderful children's tale. A political satire. A fable of freedom of expression. Wonderfully written. Extraordinary use of words.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: my favorite
Review: If you want a novel that deals with complex issues of freedom and equality in simple terms, select this. Rushdie is a master who intertwines allusions to other works while dealing with depth and beauty.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My favorite Rushdie novel
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend from Bombay who knew I was a Rushdie fan. In fact, she lent me her personal copy and was extremely upset when I didn't return it for several weeks. Although I have been assured that a better understanding of Hindu mythology improves reading of the book considerably, don't let that caviat stop you -- this is a wonderful story and it is marvelously written -- truely Rushdie at his best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The man is a GENIUS
Review: When you read Haroun and the sea of Stories, the thing you marvel at is Rushdie's imagination for starters, his wonderful wit, and the way he weaves words into a wondrous tapestry.....its a PROCESS TOO COMPLICATED TOO EXPLAIN :)

A brilliant story, an all time classic. You never wish for it to end..and when it does, and you close the book and drift off to sleep, the story picks up again in your dreams....After reading Haroun, you'll have the most relaxing night of sleep in a long time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Perfect Read
Review: This novel is one of the most delightful books I have ever read. I enjoyed its humor, creativity and beautifully crafted story-line from cover to cover. Rushdee has created a story of imagination and freedom from a time where he knew little. This story will open up every mind to the beauty of imagination and belief in small miracles.


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