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Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a cute... novel? YA read? Fairytale? Fantasy? It's interesting in parts (especially the beginning- which just like the beginning in Midnight's Children- is very engaging) , but it is not very gripping all through.

It's very much for younger kids. Look at this: "The Pages of Gup, now that they had talked through everything so fully, fought hard,remained united, supported each other when required to do so, and in general looked like a force with a common purpose." Alright alright Book so basically it's United We Stand. I guess Salman Rushdie did write it for his little son. I can imagine a dad reading this out to his children and it's very sweet but this side of the book does not offer me much. My kicks I got from phrases like "The Shah of Blah" and some paragraphs like the"A city so... sad that it had forgotten its name" one.

Also, I missed my generic monsters. Where were the dwarves and the Gandalfs and the fire breathing dragons? Independent and unusually written stories are the piece de resistance of any library so I'm not sure what didn't work for me. It felt like there was very little holding some characters (like Iff and Butt) together. Their names obviously have that idiomatic reference but but but why? (Heh, sorry for that.)What is the necessity for making that connection? Iff is a genie and Butt a mechanical talking bird. It's a bit of a headache reading things that feel pointlessly clever which is a pity seeing how the book is only 211 pages.

A bright colourful novel for children; I wish it had been either shorter or more substantial.

It is one of the best books written in magic realism and one of the best written by Rushdie. It is deliberately composed as a book for children but it reflects on much deeper issues. Democracy and tyranny, for example.

Hi all. I am new to the site. I just read Salman Rushdie's latest book Two Years eight months and twenty eight days. Rushdie's new noel is a work of magical realism and it transplants readers to the world of djinns -- the Peristan or Fairyland. as the title suggests it is a period of war between the two worlds -- one of men and the other of djinns. it starts with the beautiful princess of djinns who calls herself Duniya falling in love with a philosopher Ibn Rushd and eventually with mankind which leads her to fight her own kind. Duniya faces the wrath of the dark djinns who are out there to destroy the world. in the process she finds out the family that she had with her human husband and helps them rediscover the element of magic in their selves. Like most of Rushdie's works, it is a fascinating book giving us glimpses of a fantasy world.

I need someone very persuasive to get me into any kind of Rushdie book. Something about him as a celebrity irks me, but then this was based on one room com film from aeons ago. Perhaps I should turn a new leaf.

Rushdie is definitely not a celebrity.

Well, a friend of mine denounced him as pompous.. But I do respect his many achievements. Just not my cup of tea.