From the Bookshelf of Into the Forest

Haroun and the Sea of Stories
by
Start date
November 15, 2014
Finish date
January 14, 2015

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What Members Thought

L.S. Popovich
I'm surprised that Viking listed this as a children's literature. There's nothing risque in it of course, and it is structured a little like Alice in Wonderland, but I think it will appeal to both children and adults with its playful style and malleable language. There are a lot of puns, rhymes and plentiful wordplay.

Rushdie is ceaselessly inventive, and his stories within stories are both traditionally complex, and compulsively readable. I quite like the central symbol of the source for all the
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Melanti
Absolutely beautiful story!

I was a bit wary of reading it since I didn’t care for Rushdie’s Luka and the Fire of Life which is akin in that they’re both YA/children’s books and were both written for one of his sons. But Haroun is a lot deeper than Luka, and a lot more enjoyable.

On the surface, it’s a fun quest story about Haroun trying to get his father’s storytelling talent back. On a deeper level, there’s all sorts of metaphor about free speech; about how if speech is truly free, it MUST inc
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Julia
I finally finished it! Hurrah! Hurray! It took me ten days to read this 210 page children’s book. I loathed it up until the last two chapters, then it was not loathsome merely meh, hence the two stars. I cleaned my house rather than read this book. I didn’t care for the characters, all the characterization was used up in their names: Princess Batcheat was batsh@t. This magical realism could have been a much better novel were it fantasy. (Which makes me want to read more magical realism. Is it al ...more
Sonny
Jan 10, 2019 rated it it was amazing
Outstanding story about stories! I loved the concept of a sea of stories with a wellspring where all stories originate. Rushdie's use of language was actually one of the main characters. I will visit this one again. ...more
Mekenzie Larsen
Dec 31, 2008 marked it as to-read
Laura
Nov 14, 2010 marked it as to-read
Shelves: fairy-tales
Cassie
Dec 30, 2010 marked it as to-read
Anatha
Apr 19, 2011 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: want
Kirsten
Sep 21, 2011 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Sol González
Oct 19, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: fantasía, 2010
Reem
Mar 21, 2012 marked it as to-read
Jill
Jun 01, 2012 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: to-read-fantasy
Michaela
Feb 09, 2014 marked it as to-read
Neverdust
Oct 21, 2014 marked it as to-read
Sophie
Nov 02, 2014 marked it as to-read
Fiona
Nov 11, 2014 marked it as to-read
Shelves: fantasy, fairy-tales
Anki
Nov 19, 2014 marked it as to-read-wishlist
Beth
Feb 21, 2015 marked it as retelling-fairy-tales
Molly Ringle
Oct 23, 2015 marked it as to-read
Kyle
Jan 04, 2016 marked it as to-read
Katy
Jan 20, 2016 marked it as physical_to-read_stack
Shelves: forest_2016
Carrie
Jun 13, 2017 marked it as to-read
Lois Young
Jan 03, 2018 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: favorites
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