Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990) by Salman Rushdie – Literary Potpourri

I’m back today with another buddy-read post with Emma @WordsandPeace. This month, we’ve taken a break from our Tove Jansson reads to explore a different title, author Salman Rushdie’s children’s novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990). As always, we will be posting our discussion in four parts, one and three here on this blog, and two and four on Emma’s page.

Opening Thoughts:

Emma: So far, I have read three books by Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses, through a buddyread with another blogger, Quichotte, one of his latest novels, and even nonfiction, with a collection of essays: Languages of Truth.

Starting Haroun and the Sea of Stories, his middle-grade magical realism novel, I am delighted to meet again such a talented storyteller.
There are so many layers to this book, I trust buddyreading it with Mallika will help me go deeper.

Mallika: So happy to be reading this together, Emma. For me, this is the first time reading Rushdie as I’ve been intimidated to approach his titles. Starting with his children’s read seemed a good option. But clearly, which I hadn’t realised when starting, this is no ordinary children’s novel. Unlike what I was expecting, an Arabian-Nights-inspired adventure/fantasy, this has turned out so different in its setting, story, and themes, though it is in a sense an Arabian-Nights-inspired fantasy. But as you say, Emma, with so many layers, wordplay, a critique of society, and of attempts at supressing voices and stories.

Chapter 1: The Shah of Blah

Emma: Actually the title of the very first chapter highlights right away the humor present in this book, through the use of words and sounds.

Another aspect of humor and creativity jumps at you in the second line: what could you find in “the saddest of cities”? Of course “a mournful sea full of glumfish”, a hilarious combo between glumpy and fish.
Later on in this chapter, there’s a funny play with pussy-collar-jee for psychology!

Mallika: Very glad you highlighted these humorous aspects Emma, in all the melancholy and glumness that appears later in the chapter, I’d almost forgotten. But you are right, so much humour in here too!

Emma: However, besides this humor, the atmosphere is indeed gloomy: this sad city is full of black smoke, from factories manufacturing sadness. Which I find to be an interesting image about pollution for instance – and we’ll find a lot here about the environment and what we people have been doing to it.  Had not idea really what this book was about, and I’m happily surprised by this unexpected dimension.
And it’s going to go even deeper, the pollution and stifling of the Sea of Stories begin caused by forces opposed to creativity and free expression. Which makes this novel just as much for adults as for younger readers.

Mallika: This aspect struck me more strongly than the humour. There is so much darkness and sadness here in this world: factories not only poisoning the atmosphere with their black smoke but manufacturing sadness. Not too far removed from our real world in a way because these and the commerce and industry are built on encouraging isolation and sadness since these will promote buying as the only way of finding happiness.

Emma: We quickly meet our young hero, Haroun, 12, the child of the famous storyteller Rashid Khalifa. They are both cheerful and happy, thanks to Rashid’s stories.

He was so good at it that even animals listened to him.

I enjoyed how here and there fantasy elements are used.
The list of things that would pop out in his stories is hilarious: “…fat aunts, mustachioed gangsters in yellow check pants…”.
Of course, success brings jealousy, so Rashid is nicknamed the Shah of Blah by his rivals.

Mallika: Haroun and Rashid (incidentally I only realised later from the glossary how both names are from the Arabian Nights) are the only ones amidst this sad place who are happy and bring happiness to others. Their home too is happy, but sadly falls under a shadow soon.

Emma: And Rashid was very mysterious when Haroun tried to understand where his stories were coming from, just answering, “from the great Story Sea”, with an invisible tap and Water Genies. With the need for a subscription.

Mallika: Yes, I was wondering what this was meant to be: an actual fantasy element or a riddle of some sort. Of course, we find out in a little while.

Emma: Then one day, Soraya, Haroun’s mother, stopped singing, and everything started going wrong.

“Luck has a way of running out without the slightest warming.”

Haroun gets very upset and rebels against his father and his “stories that aren’t even true.”
These words contribute to Rashid’s crisis, and suddenly he runs out of stories to tell.
A horrible situation for a storyteller, especially in a time of political campaign, where the various candidates would invite Rashid at their rallies to tell stories and win them more votes.
Haroun feels so bad that he knows he has to do something for his dad, to put things right.

Mallika: So true, that. Things can change into the complete reverse of what they are in a matter of seconds. Others are understandably jealous of Rashid’s talents and qualities. But as to Soraya and Haroun being unable to understand the true value of Rashid’s stories, one wonders. Perhaps it is what is projected in the world as valuable and what is projected as worthless that informs these opinions—also it seems people catch on to negativity and criticism far more easily rather than applying themselves to see the positive in things.

Politicians and their goons also entering the scene. A dangerous situation for Rashid to be losing his powers in.

I was also intrigued by Rashid’s observation that there’s more to Haroun than the eye can see and that was why he never had brothers and sisters: I wondered about this very much. But it will be time before we get the answers. I liked that Rashid preferred ‘longer, twistier answers’ over straight, simple ones.

Chapter 2: The Mail Coach

Emma: Hilarious messages about speeders:
“All the dangerous overtakers
End up safe at undertaker’s” is my favorite.
There’s also
“If from speed you get your thrill
Take precaution – make your will’”

Mallika: These were so much fun. I had a good laugh. I liked the second one you quoted especially: make your will. I also remember something from real life to the effect that speeders love god a lot. That’s why they’re in a real hurry to meet him!

Emma: The crowd waiting for a bus, with animals and bulky items, and the collection of sounds (crash, wham, spattoosh) makes me think of pictures of buses in India or Africa, I hope it’s not just a cliché.
And in this book, Rushdies does play a lot with sounds.
With many efforts, Haroun manages to reserve seats for his dad and himself in the Mail Coach going to the Dull Lake, through the tunnel, which was supposed to offer a gorgeous view.
Because Mr Butt wants to arrive there before sunset for the best of views, he drives super super fast, creating the first major danger for our protagonists.

Mallika: I liked these lines too:

A figure of speech is a shifty thing, it can be twisted or it can be straight.

Need’s a funny fish. It makes people untruthful.

Mr Butt was an interesting character, his speeding on the one side quite disturbing but the fact that he’s actually doing this to ensure that Haroun sees his sunset is kind of nice too. Shows that he has a heart. So much so that he’s skipping picking up and dropping the mail for it. That was fun too-the place names so few that many have the same ones causing much confusion in delivering the mail!

Emma: During a conversation, Rashid tells his son about Khattam-Shud, the arch-enemy of all stories, the prince of silence and the foe of speech.
Being French, I had a good laugh when they arrived at Kosh-Mar, “a word from the ancient tongue of Franj” (a combo between cauchemar, nightmare in French, and cache-mer, which means ‘hides the sea’).
There, they have to take a boat in the shape of a swan to go further.

Mallika: I love how many layers are appearing with Koch-mar; there’s the French that you point out and the Valley of K is clearly a reference to Kashmir, which was quite troubled during that period too. In its local context, it also means land desiccated from water!

Here the politician also stood out, such an oily kind, flattering on the face and threatening underneath. Sincere talk but an insincere smile. And Haroun is so perceptive when he realises why someone like Buttoo would need so much security if people actually liked him.

Chapter 3: The Dull Lake

Emma: In this new part of their journey, they encounter gloomy mist and a moody atmosphere that changes with people’s minds.
Haroun starts discovering that stories can be real, and more than just plain stories.
“He knew what he knew: that the real world was full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.”

Mallika: The ‘Dull’ lake here is a play on the Dal lake in Kashmir. And probably the problems there a the time is what brings in the smell of unhappiness, sadness and gloom. Yes you’re right about Haroun starting to realise the reality of stories and magic—yet we see also that he must get over many of his limitations in this process.

Emma: The houseboat was called Arabian Nights Plus One, one of many references to other stories.
During the trip, Haroun finds out his dad is so despairing that decides to give up and go into retirement and cancel his subscription to the source of stories. 

Mallika: This is an element I very much enjoyed. Spotting all the different references. The houseboat interestingly has only one shelf of real book amidst all the fake ones, but at least there are some real ones.

Emma: Haroun and his dad switch beds, hoping to find better sleep, so when the Water Genie Iff comes to visit Rashid, he ends up in Haroun’s room.
The Water Genie is in the bathroom, he has come to close the story tap! But surprised by Haroun, he drops his precious tool, the Disconnector.
Haroun tries to convince him that no, he hasn’t retired. But queries need to be taken to Walrus,  the Grand Comptroller. So Haroun forces Iff to take him to the Walrus.
We are in for quite a trip!

Mallika: I liked the introduction of the Water Genie: onion head, aubergines for legs. This reminded me of an Enid Blyton story from the Five FindOuters where the youngest girl Bets describes a person associated with the case they’re investigating as a Blue Lady with a Yellow nose which the other, older ones laugh at as a ‘story’. Only one of them realises that she’s referring to a blue dress and fake nose. So here are the turban and harem pants.

All the answers lie in Gup City (the city of gossip/made-up things or stories as one of the meanings of Gup is) in the planet Kahani (the word meaning story). And this is the place that makes stories extra special.

It was fun how Haroun uses a bit of blackmail against the water genie. But he has to help his father! As you say, an interesting journey does lies ahead!

Don’t forget to check the second part of our discussion on Emma’s page tomorrow.