Lion? Check. Witch? Check. Wardrobe? Coat Check.
Written: Feb 20 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fantasy, British.
Cons: Rather fast-paced for me.
The Bottom Line: It would not top my list of children's book recommendations, but if the list was sufficiently long, it might end up on it near the bottom.
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| Jellyn's Full Review: C. S. Lewis and Michael Shepherd - The Lion, the W... |
I'm not sure what to think about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.
I read it once as a kid, and then I saw the movie, and I only finally reread it a few days ago. I don't remember particularly liking it as a kid. I'm pretty sure I didn't read the whole series, even though it was available to me. So overall I was rather 'Eh' about reading it again. Something finally motivated me to give it a try though. Maybe it was the previews for the second Narnia movie.
I'll try to stick with my impressions of it now, as an adult.
But first...
A Short Plot Summary
Four siblings, two girls and two boys, are sent to the country to escape the bombing during the war. Which is really the part I find most interesting, but the background information is only given in something like one paragraph. As was common, the kids go live with a stranger. The professor lives in this huge old house, by himself except for the staff. So the kids get to rattle about the place and enjoy the outdoors as well.
On a rainy day, Lucy, the youngest girl, finds her way into an old wardrobe full of fur coats. But at the back of the wardrobe is the entrance to another world. She has trouble convincing the others of this. They think she's lying, or possibly even going a little crazy. But eventually they all wind up on the other side of the wardrobe.
It's eternal winter in Narnia, but Christmas never comes. You can see how that could be some kids' worst nightmare. It's all due to the White Witch. The four children get caught up in things, because they're part of a prophecy that says if they sit on the four thrones, the White Witch's reign is over. The White Witch gets Edmund, the youngest boy, on her side by feeding him enchanted Turkish delight. So a lot of the book is actually about him coming to grips with betraying his family.
And a plot summary wouldn't be complete without mention of Aslan, a lion and the leader of the 'good' side. Though to say too much more about him would be to spoil the story!
Thoughts
This reads more like a children's book than I was really expecting. I've been used to Harry Potter and reading lots of Young Adult (YA) books, so to find something seemingly so simplistic was a bit of a surprise. As an adult, I certainly wanted more. There were a lot of characters and a lot of plot, but it all went by in rather a rush. I think I would've enjoyed it more, had more time been spent. Which almost makes an argument for the movie, oddly enough. For me, the movie seems to have a slower pace.
The book is slightly sexist, which I will forgive because of the time it was written. However, I think people should be aware of it and perhaps discuss it with any children reading it. Or if you're not into discussing books, then provide them with something modern and not sexist to counterbalance it.
So, I would recommend this book to kids, as it's a fantasy story and kids certainly need to be reading more fantasy and science fiction. On the other hand, I would not recommend Narnia as a steady diet. Actually, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events might be a great counterbalance to it.
Series Weirdness
Apparently there's a published order you can read the books in, or an internal chronological order you can read them in. Depending on the publisher and edition you get, they could be in either order, or perhaps even some other order altogether. I've decided to go with published order.. if I can entirely figure out which order that is.
See you for book 2!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Jellyn
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Location: New Hampshire
Reviews written: 210
Trusted by: 47 members
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