Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
216 pages
Published 1990
Read February 7
Rating: ★★★½ out of 5
Not only is my first experience with Rushdie a children's book, I kinda like Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland books -- which owe an obvious debt to Sea of Stories -- better. Awkward.
The DNA of Valente's Fairyland seemingly derives from Rushdie's Kahani, with frankly not that much new arising in between. Both are founded on wordplay and the metafictional conceit of the source of stories. Valente throws together every folkloric creature she ever learned about, without much worry over consistency or cohesion, while Rushdie has an obvious point to make about fundamentalism, fanaticism, and how they work to silence and control storytelling. (Hmmm, I wonder why Rushdie would be concerned about that. I wonder why the Chupwala "idol" bears a faint resemblance to the Kaaba. Hmmm....) I'd give Rushdie the edge over Valente when it comes to playful use of language, but Valente's characters tend to be more vivid, and her metafictional digressions more satisfying.
Which is not to suggest that Haroun is inadequate. It's really quite charming, especially in the first half. Once Haroun actually gets to Gup City, though, the Guppees become more annoying than endearing, and the course of Haroun's adventure becomes so predictable I could have guessed it in my sleep.
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