WAKE UP EVERYBODY! It's time to jump start this book group! Who has read the Golden Compass, anyone? I have... and I know Erin has... Katie is excused to go to school, Mary is excused to go to school, Carol told me herself that she has a lot of time to just sit on the couch while baby D is eating so one would think that she would have read the book :).So, I will commence with my review: I liked it. I am actually almost finished with the 3rd book right now. I really got drawn in to the fantasy world from the beginning and loved the originality and creativity of the author. I also thought the writing was well; there was a lot of imagery, descriptions, and metaphors that were intelligent and clever and obviously took some thought. I couldn't help but compare this book with another fantasy book that we all know and love: Harrius Potterus. Maybe it's because I've read them both recently, or they're the only fantasy books I've read since probably before my mission; I don't know what the reason is but I feel the need to draw comparisons.
Firstly: As far as fantasy worlds I think the authors are pretty even. Both worlds were surreal, exciting, and enticing.
Secondly: Writing style is two thumbs up for Compass and two thumbs down for Potter.
Thirdly: Overarching plot and depth of the composition is also two thumbs up for Compass and a neutral no thumbs for Potter. This is why: Inventing a world of witches and wizards is cool, but Rowling really doesn't go anywhere with it. The struggle with Lord Voldemort is just one battle (albeit a major one) within the world she has created. HOWEVER: Inventing a world by completely subverting biblical theology and human belief is awesome. I'm not saying that I agree completely with the premise of this series, but I also don't think that the author's intention was to proclaim his atheist beliefs. I believe he has taken the oldest of tropes and subverted it in a new and original way. That is what makes the series so genius! He plays upon religious sensibilities by mentioning and referring to biblical/apocryphal events, but he so turns the events that something new is created. For example in book 3 (forgive me because I'm just speaking about the series as a whole, not just the first book) we learn that their god was actually just the first angel and he lied to everyone who came after him by saying that he had created them. There's a grain of tradition, but he has so creatively turned it that he makes it into something different. Way to go imagination!! Notice, I didn't capitalize god because this god and this whole series is fiction. As the author subverted the tradition, it didn't really affect me because I was experiencing it within a fantasy world that he had created, the god he describes is in no way my God. Make sense?
That's enough typing for now. If anyone has read it or watched the movie, please comment and add more.
Oh yes, if anyone wants a bit of fun go here: http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/ and click on DAEMON. You can take a quiz to figure out what kind of Daemon you would have. I took it this morning and was disappointed to learn that my would be a chimpanzee. Wahhh... I wanted it to be a fox. Everyone knows that monkeys are disgusting and disease-ridden.
3 comments:
I'm a raven daemon.
I finished the first book but am still waiting for the other two from the library. It might be a while.
Excellent analysis Cathy. It pays to have a comp lit major in a book club! I'm going to finish the other two books and then hopefully I'll have a more substantial comment/analysis to offer.
Where is everybody?
I haven't read the book. My sister-in-law has them all at her house. I just keep forgetting to pick them up when I'm there. I will blame it on motherhood. It's true new moms are more forgetful.
I agree Cathy has some great points. Maybe I'll skip the book and watch the movie...but I don't think it's out yet.
I haven't read it, it got called back to the library before I got past the first page, sorry. I was busy reading Turnbull's account of the BaMbuti pygmies of the Ituri forest (part of the Congo).
I do have some friends who read the series and are huge sci-fi and fantasy novel fans. I talked to them about it and they agree that the world is interesting and the writing is fantastic. My one friend has very mixed feelings about the series though, because the author really pushed anti-christian or pro-atheist theories during the third book. In fact, his sister almost left the church over it during her teen years.
Consequently, I will be very interested to hear what you discover in the third book! Especially, as I am not likely to get there anytime in the near future.
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