Point of View

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a story within a story, ostensibly told in the first person by an unnamed narrator who asserts himself three times. The first time is at the beginning of the novel, claiming to have heard about a certain sad town that has forgotten its name. The story then moves forward chronologically in the third-person omniscient for a long while. The adolescent protagonist Haroun Khalifa is spirited away to an invisible moon on the brink of warfare. In time, his father also arrives, but they are quickly divided by the needs to spy on the enemy in one area and to confront him in another. The book follows Haroun through his wondrous victory over Khattam-Shud at the Dark Ship.

At this point, the nameless narrator addresses readers, saying he must summarize the events taking place simultaneously on the other side of...