fanw (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fanw) wrote,@ 2004-09-03 09:39:00 |
|
[Review] Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
I had already had Salman Rushdie on my list to read when this particular book came to my attention. It was on a "best fiction" list, so I took it in hand.
The book is written lightly. How do I describe... it contains the buffoonery, the bad rhymes, the repetition of tales written for quite small kids, say, under 10 years old. Thus, it's at a younger age than Harry Potter or the His Dark Materials series. And yet Rushdie throws in brief glimpses of darkness: the cult of silence whose followers sew their mouths shut, the suicide bomber who shows up before the Prince. These seemed out of place. That is, I enjoy the grotesqueness of Roald Dahl's stories, where the horror is just in how unfair everything is and how cruel people can be. I even enjoy the horror of Barry's Captain Hook being chased by a crocodile. But the rest of Haroun was so light, so almost Seussian, that I felt the incongrous jump to sewn lips was merely nightmare-ish. The type of horror did not mesh with the rest of the story, and it was merely thrown aside rather than an integral part of the storyline.
Occasionally, there were brief glimpses of a more appealing style.
The story was an interesting one, and I enjoyed the eastern flavor, the Genies, the Shah of Blah, etc. If the child main character had been more appealing, I might have liked it more. This book seemed to be Salman Rushdie's appeal to his children to value story-telling and a pretty transparent paean to free speech. Hmm, I don't mean to be quite so down on it. There were certainly good parts and it was a quick read, but this book is easily surpassed by the His Dark Materials series, and never once touched me as Peter Pan did. Overall, a book to add to the "good children's stories" list, but by no means the best, and certainly not worthy of its place on the 100 Greatest Novels list.
I had already had Salman Rushdie on my list to read when this particular book came to my attention. It was on a "best fiction" list, so I took it in hand.
The book is written lightly. How do I describe... it contains the buffoonery, the bad rhymes, the repetition of tales written for quite small kids, say, under 10 years old. Thus, it's at a younger age than Harry Potter or the His Dark Materials series. And yet Rushdie throws in brief glimpses of darkness: the cult of silence whose followers sew their mouths shut, the suicide bomber who shows up before the Prince. These seemed out of place. That is, I enjoy the grotesqueness of Roald Dahl's stories, where the horror is just in how unfair everything is and how cruel people can be. I even enjoy the horror of Barry's Captain Hook being chased by a crocodile. But the rest of Haroun was so light, so almost Seussian, that I felt the incongrous jump to sewn lips was merely nightmare-ish. The type of horror did not mesh with the rest of the story, and it was merely thrown aside rather than an integral part of the storyline.
Occasionally, there were brief glimpses of a more appealing style.
There was a wrestling match at the ticket window instead of a queue, because everyone wanted to be first; and as most people were carrying chickens or children or other bulky items, the result was a free-for-all out of which feathers and toys and dislodged hats kept flying.Because of such amusing turns of phrase, I will go ahead and read another Rushdie, perhaps Midnight's Children, to give him another chance.
The story was an interesting one, and I enjoyed the eastern flavor, the Genies, the Shah of Blah, etc. If the child main character had been more appealing, I might have liked it more. This book seemed to be Salman Rushdie's appeal to his children to value story-telling and a pretty transparent paean to free speech. Hmm, I don't mean to be quite so down on it. There were certainly good parts and it was a quick read, but this book is easily surpassed by the His Dark Materials series, and never once touched me as Peter Pan did. Overall, a book to add to the "good children's stories" list, but by no means the best, and certainly not worthy of its place on the 100 Greatest Novels list.
