Wherein I become a total Fundie

[aeditimi]

So my thoughts on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.

First, I can't believe this, but it's true: I've finally found a series of books that I would recommend people not read for religious reasons. I don't mean like Narnia and Left Behind, which are Christian

Comments

[plasticity]

wow, thank you. I was beginning to feel like I was the only one who couldn't get past Pullman's beat-you-over-the-head anti-religion Agenda to see the story everyone else raves over. I read the books my freshman year of college, knowing nothing about them other than they were highly recommended; and this was before I was really committed to my faith, and I still found them distastefully mean-spirited.

I don't have a problem with antiestablishment tales; but I think the thing that did really get me was that the whole thing (mostly the third book, of course) just reeked of that Agenda, like it wasn't in service to the story but instead came first,. Like Pullman filled in the story framework only after he decided to kill God. So I felt it was a bit deceptive, wrapped up in a fantasy story of a young girl, and it really did just leave a bad taste in my mouth. It's nice to not feel so alone in that.

[aeditimi]

ditto!

I threw my assessment out there, not really knowing if people would agree or not, but just really being uncomfortable with the way the plot developed and how it was written overall. I feel a little wierd and prudish for not liking it, but I think-- I hope-- that my concerns are valid and not a gut reaction to having someone insult my faith tradition (god knows that happens often enough that I should be pretty numb to it by now!). Your affirmation helps me think that maybe there's more to my concern than just channeling Falwell.

[spokenonlyonce]

I'm glad you posted this. I saw the movie and I remember literally cocking my head to one side at some of the names of people/groups (Gobblers? Gyptians? seriously?!?) I decided within the first 20 minutes of the movie that it was based on bad writing. Even so, after seeing it I began thinking I "should" read the books since they seemed so popular... but I have enough reading to do for school on top of all the other pleasure reading I want to get done, and your post has given me permission to go ahead and give these books a pass.

[spokenonlyonce]

oh, and I was also deeply disappointed at the lack of development of character in a movie as well. I mean, the idea of daemons--wow! That's actually an intriguing and unique idea. You could develop a whole plot exploring what life with a daemon would be like--the qualities of that relationship, questions about autonomy and selfhood that it raises, etc... but here we get this complete non-treatment of it, where it barely even mattered to the plot line (as portrayed in the movie). Talk about disappointment!

[aeditimi]

I haven't seen the movie yet. But the daemons figured prominently in the book, especailly at a point in the third book, when Lyra must choose whether or not to be separated from her daemon (the only point in the entire series that earned an emotional reaction from me). Yeah, the writing is pretty bad and the plot and character development are both weak.