Status Updates From Haroun et la Mer des histoires

Even though we don't know whether the happiness continued, I feel like they all deserved it. Overall, it was a lovely read with some great characters, very fast to get through and immersive and for once I didn't dread reading it and could read for ages at a time. I do love a good children's book, they are so comforting!

Ending with Haroun's mother coming back in the real world and everyone in the Sad city being happy for a while was really nice. I also liked the comparison between her lover and Khattam-Shud. I am also glad that Rashid was able to tell stories again and just as the people of Chup were freed, the people in the political party he spoke to were able to stand up against their oppressive leaders.

I think it was nice though as it made the whole thing feel more real when both him and Haroun woke up the next morning and remembered what had happened. I loved the end of the part in the other world as they all seemed happy and Haroun was rewarded when he thought he was going to have to fight his corner once again. It was so lovely how they all accepted him and were grateful for what he had done.

The contrast between Chup and Gup was crazy as Gup was filled with people constantly talking and Chup there were some people even sewing their mouths closed. The whole mission to save the Princess and the sea of stories was great and I loved the little team that formed between Haroun, Hoopoe and Iff. It was interesting how Rashid also ended up there as the adults are usually absent from the magical worlds.

I think the sea of stories and the whole thing being based around the ability to storytell was really interesting (especially as it was written while Rushdie was in hiding due to the problems his storytelling caused him). I found the world that Haroun went into so immersive and I could really picture everything that was happening.

This was the second children' book I have read for my english degree and honestly really enjoyed it! I had no idea about the whole controversy with Salman Rushdie until starting to study this as well. I didn't really have any idea what to expect going in apart from there being some sort of magical world for the character to go into.