Haroun and the Sea of Stories

By: Salman Rushdie

Narrated by: Neil Shah

Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Discover Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie's classic fantasy novel.

Set in an exotic eastern landscape peopled by magicians and fantastic talking animals, Salman Rushdie's classic children's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories inhabits the same imaginative space as The Lord of the Rings, The Alchemist, and The Wizard of Oz. In this captivating work of fantasy from the author of Midnight's Children and The Enchantress of Florence, Haroun sets out on an adventure to restore the poisoned source of the sea of stories. On the way he encounters many foes, all intent on draining the sea of all its storytelling powers.

©1990 Salman Rushdie (P)2017 Recorded Books

Slight as story, obscure as allegory

Somewhere, someone is spilling poison into the sea of stories, threatening to ruin the way we narrate a full sense of ourselves. That’s a paraphrase of this sometimes magical book, but it’s also – necessarily – a reference to our own historical moment. I am reading this alongside Lee McIntyre’s Post-Truth and Kay Ryan’s Erratic Facts collection of poetry, very different works that all invite us to think about what it means to be shaped by the stories around us.

This is not a story of Trump’s America. On the surface, it’s an inventive children’s adventure, one full of terrific notions like the idea that all stories have their source in a bottomless sea, that it’s possible to have a sword fight with one’s shadow, or that there can be laminate-like jackets that keep you warm while weighing next to nothing.

As a children’s adventure it’s fun but slight. For all that we’re told that happy endings are rare in life and story, the apparent convention of the story argues that we’ll end up happy. There are hoops to jump through, but the bottom line is that this is for children and there is no way Rushdie would let them down.

Of course, as I well recall, this was the first thing Rushdie wrote after the staggering controversy of The Satanic Verses, the international best-seller that won him a death sentence from the Ayatollah Khomeini. That was a terrifying and inspiring time, and Rushdie became a symbol of the power of narrative in the West as a device for fighting the intolerance and fundamentalism of the East (and maybe within our own society too).

So I know – and I consulted a quick reader’s guide to reassure myself – that this is also a kind of allegory. Haroun and his father Rashid are more or less innocents who find themselves awash in story as various adversaries try to undermine them. It’s easy – maybe too easy – to see the worst of these villains as a kind of Khomeini figure, a smaller-in-person character intent on poisoning all stories at their root.

For all that temptation, though, for all the similar temptation to see this as something presaging the moment of Trump, I can’t make this story work for me as allegory overall. I simply don’t know the situation of early 1990s international Islam well enough, and I don’t know enough of the references. I spot the occasional 1001 Nights nod, but there are too many things that come to me as esoterica. (Rushdie acknowledges that when he gives a quick afterword on where his names come from.)

So, while I enjoyed the play of language and many of the particular inventions here, I couldn’t make it work as political allegory and I ultimately found it only satisfying as a tale of magic and adventure. I might have enjoyed this more in an annotated edition (or without a narrator who, excellent most of the time, brought in a variety of over-the-top Hannah-Barbara voices for some of the characters) but, bringing to it what I have, I found it only modestly satisfying.

Best performance ever

I loved the story on its own, but the performance was truly exceptional. Neil Shah made the book so entertaining. He has sort of ruined me for other narrators—he was that good. As a whole, this was one of my favorite audiobooks ever.

The Importance of Story

Beautiful use of language and description. An incredible journey like Wizard of Oz. A must read!

Outstanding surprise!

This was my first reading of anything by Salman Rushdie. I’m sorry I’ve kept myself from this pleasure until now!

I had no idea of his wit, the gems of humor, human nature observations, delightful turns of phrasing I would find on nearly every page! I found the stories-within-stories to be refreshing, thought provoking in their humor, irony and clever words choices. I loved the characters and, the narration was superb — one of the best of the hundreds of narrators I’ve now heard. I’ll read/listen to more of Rushdie and look for more narration by Neil Shah! Pure pleasure!

Fun Arabian Alice in Wonderland

This is a very fun story. It’s a sweet adventure story that moves swiftly and holds your attention. Suitable for the entire family with names that will make everyone giggle, especially the kiddos. I’ve been wanting to read Salman Rushdie for a long time and hadn’t gotten around to it. What a great imagination and flare for storytelling. I will definitely be reading another and soon.

Pretty good nice story

One of the better of the books I’ve had to read for school! glad they made me read it

Fun, Funny, and Thought Provoking

Purchased this book on impulse, because I like Rushdie's other writings. The book is lovely, unexpected, and whimsical. Highly recommended for fans of Alice in Wonderland, Chronicals of Narnia, Series of Unfortunate Events, or Harry Potter. This is one I will listen to again and again.

Fantastic

This book was absolutely delightful. I would recommend it to anyone. It is a wonderful version of good versus evil. And good wins!

Perfect Performance of Limited Story

This is a fun young adult story about a young man who goes on a fantastical adventure to save not just the dreamworld he gets sucked into, but also his own family unit along the way. I really liked the explanation of the names at the end; it enhanced my interpretation of the characters. The lighthearted nature of the narrative and the sense of humor reminded me of something C.S. Lewis might have written, especially when writing all the interesting places the siblings travel to in "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".

However, it just didn’t seem to have much to say other than the base story. I didn’t feel like there was any layers to the story, which extremely limits its demographic. I can’t see being properly studied in school or loved for generations to come.

If you already have a child who enjoys this story, however, then I HIGHLY recommend gifting them the narration by Neil Shah. All the voices are perfect!! Blabbermouth is my favorite part to this story, but I have read Toy Story fan fiction that is almost as good, so I wouldn’t list this as one of my favorite children’s tales of all time.

Fanciful and with glorious language

I've read the book half a dozen times over the span of twenty plus years. Loved every minute of this performance. Can't help being charmed by the story. Admire Mr. Rushdie's use of the language.

Have kept it on my device as well as in the cloud so I can re-listen to parts of it. Even random passages taken out of context are fun.