philippos42 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
philippos42) wrote2014-03-20 07:35 pm
philippos42) wrote2014-03-20 07:35 pm
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Well, that was dumb
I finally finished re-reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the first time since...childhood, maybe? Years, in any case.
I got to the end, and said, "Well, that was dumb."
OK, maybe that was flavored by other dumb things I was reading mixed in at the same time. And there are good bits, of course. But I am struck by the fact that the last chapter is a hot mess. The Four as adults kind of don't make sense, their high-falutin' language is absurd, and the idea that none of them seem to remember where they came from--not any of the four?--yeah, it's a mess.
It goes with the whole thing being a mix of children's horror story and lunatic dream sequence, a feeling I was getting from early in the book.
I re-read this how many times as a kid? No wonder I was a bit mad as a youth.
Now, I am being a bit cruel. There's some stuff to like, there is, and a fair bit I'd forgotten--including stuff to like--such as some pretty smart stuff about Edmund, who starts as a bad older brother, but isn't actually evil. But it seems such a strange thin book now.
Oh, well. When I was little, I used to read books like this a lot. Frank Baum, Lloyd Alexander, and the like. And at some point I lost the tolerance for them. As a teen, I went pretty hard into more visual forms, like comics and television, although I still read some straight-up text things. Ten years or so ago, I officially gave up trying to read novels (sometimes I forget). I wondered for a long time if something was broken in me.
Now I feel less bad about how much I moved away from this sort of book into comics and the like. It wasn't really as much a step down as I feared. No, I'm not really one for big serious realistic works, even now. At least not the fiction kind. (I do appreciate non-fiction.) But I really did mature beyond a goofy child's level...eventually.
The title page says, "A story for children." Wow, what poor children we were, to be given stuff like this!
No, that's a bit too harsh. But, but, but, Mr Beaver carries a lot of the exposition, while being a bit confused and basically being less than credible. That's awkward in a children's book, isn't it?
(started March 20, finished March 27)
I got to the end, and said, "Well, that was dumb."
OK, maybe that was flavored by other dumb things I was reading mixed in at the same time. And there are good bits, of course. But I am struck by the fact that the last chapter is a hot mess. The Four as adults kind of don't make sense, their high-falutin' language is absurd, and the idea that none of them seem to remember where they came from--not any of the four?--yeah, it's a mess.
It goes with the whole thing being a mix of children's horror story and lunatic dream sequence, a feeling I was getting from early in the book.
I re-read this how many times as a kid? No wonder I was a bit mad as a youth.
Now, I am being a bit cruel. There's some stuff to like, there is, and a fair bit I'd forgotten--including stuff to like--such as some pretty smart stuff about Edmund, who starts as a bad older brother, but isn't actually evil. But it seems such a strange thin book now.
Oh, well. When I was little, I used to read books like this a lot. Frank Baum, Lloyd Alexander, and the like. And at some point I lost the tolerance for them. As a teen, I went pretty hard into more visual forms, like comics and television, although I still read some straight-up text things. Ten years or so ago, I officially gave up trying to read novels (sometimes I forget). I wondered for a long time if something was broken in me.
Now I feel less bad about how much I moved away from this sort of book into comics and the like. It wasn't really as much a step down as I feared. No, I'm not really one for big serious realistic works, even now. At least not the fiction kind. (I do appreciate non-fiction.) But I really did mature beyond a goofy child's level...eventually.
The title page says, "A story for children." Wow, what poor children we were, to be given stuff like this!
No, that's a bit too harsh. But, but, but, Mr Beaver carries a lot of the exposition, while being a bit confused and basically being less than credible. That's awkward in a children's book, isn't it?
(started March 20, finished March 27)