Revisit Narnia
Published May 29, 2003
Fairly recently, when my oldest daughter brought home her Scholastic Book Order form from school, I took a peek. Usually, the teacher gives them a chance to look over the order form and circle or highlight the ones they want. Inevitably, there are many circled items so we sit down and narrow down the choices she's made to two or three books. This time, I glanced at the order form and my heart swooned. There was an item that was circled which immediately brought me back to her age (she's nine, in third grade). It was the boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia. I distinctly remembered reading and loving these books.
I yelped and showed my wife, who didn't get it, saying "Oh, I've never read those, they were a BOY thing, weren't they?"
Of course not! They were some of my favorite and fondest remembered reading in those early childhood years. Although my daughter wanted to eliminate them in favor of a few other books she had selected, I made an exception and ordered them for her. I convinced Erin that she wanted to read them with my daughter and share the experience. Although I normally reserve something that nostalgic for myself, I want them to share that experience and hopefully revel in it as I did as a child. She agreed and as soon as my daughter and I are done reading the book we're in the middle of, they will read these special books together.
When they arrived, a few weeks ago, I immediately opened them and began re-reading them. For me, at least, the experience hasn't paled in the least. As a matter of fact, it has grown. I enjoyed reading these special books so much that I was hardly able to put them down. I read them straight through, one after the other.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Narnia stories, they are based in an imaginary "other world" created by and maintained by Aslan, the magical lion. In each book, a few children from our world are magically transported one way or another to Narnia. In each case, the children have wonderful, magical adventures and save Narnia from whatever danger is threatening it in that particular story.
I truly believe that these are books which should be read multiple times throughout life. With each reading, you discover new and different aspects of the stories. In the Amazon.com book review, it says "The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, is one of the very few sets of books that should be read three times: in childhood, early adulthood, and late in life." I couldn't agree with more.
If you haven't read The Narnia Chronicles, I highly recommend that you do as soon as possible. If you have read them, isn't it time to revist Narnia? Especially if you have children to share them with, I would recommend a re-reading. These are truly books that can be enjoyed repeatedly and passed on through the generations.
Aslan awaits....
- Revisit Narnia
- Published: May 29, 2003
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- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Children, Books: Fantasy, Books: SF
- Writer: Jim Schwab
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I loved the Narnia books. They stand a repeated reading. Yes, the theology is heavy-handed. But then, you can get past it to see the theme of temptation and redemption independent of Christianity.
For an adult, they are a very quick read. For a child, they are so beautifully written, not too long, so they let the child experience the joy of literacy.
Michael (#1) Actually, American publisher now screw the series up by publishing it in chronological order, too. However, I've been reading them to my kids in the order in which they were written and published originally, the only correct way to read them. :)
Of course, I also enjoy the SF trilogy, so that tells you from what different bases we're coming!
I had a set as a kid, and I read them repeatedly until the covers came off. My wife bought me a set relatively recently, and I've read The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe to my kids already. Once I finish The Secret Garden, I'll start again with Narnia. Good stuff, even if a touch heavy-handed. Fortunately, the theology is actually bad in some places (IM!HO), so it's easy for me to tell my kids not to worry so much about the parallels. :)
To be fair, chronological is Lewis' preferred order as well, but I still insist on starting with the book with which I started. After that I guess I'll go with chrono, backing up for Magician's Nephew and going from there. Since they're all published that way now, I can even remember the "right" way! :)
I thought it was rotten what he did to Susan in the last book. Never got over that.
We're definitely on different pages on the SF series. I found it at around age 14. I was an SF reader and I'd liked Narnia when I was younger. Bought all three and read them all, but never picked them up again. What did you like about them?
I have always generally enjoyed books with a langorous approach to plotting and memorable characters. I'll never forget the Janet Reno-like character Ransom deal with. Also, I was very much taken with the Golden Age of SF stuff, and Random traveling through space in a box really felt like that to me.
I've read them once again since, and still I was taken with them. I guess it's something like how I feel about Atlast Shrugged - I can find faults with the skill of the author, but the story is compelling for its parallels.
Does that make sense? It's early, maybe I'm not expressing myself well.
I liked Perelandra the best of the SF trilogy. Plenty of heady stuff, as well as some action, and as ever, Lewis' overarticulate descriptions of environment. It was an awesome book.
Out of the SIlent Planet sucked though. I couldn't make it through. Earth is too boring, I guess.
I also thought "Out of the Silent Planet" was poor, kind of thrown together, however enjoyed the Narnia series, but my favorite work from Lewis was "The Screwtape Papers"....Pure, unadulterated genius.
"Man's conquest of Nature turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature's conquest of Man" - C S LEWIS
i have long been an advocate of the narnia series. The only book I haven't enjoyed as much as the rest was The Last Battle.
I liked the books. But there was something that kept itching me nearly all the way. It is, in its own *innocent* way, so very hostile to Islamic civilization in its golden ages. It is not unnatural, many writer do it all the time, but to expect such a thing from a good writer and cosidering that I liked the characters, underlined meanings and storyline this was most annoying and I feel sorry that ppl with such high talent are also somtimes blinded with falsehoods and narrow-mindedness
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I liked these stories, too. I recommend reading them in the british (chronological) order instead of the american published order--Magician's nephew first.
However, it is not unalloyed pleasure. The theology is pretty heavy-handed, so much so that I noticed it at age 10. It's not a Spencerian alegory or a Piers Anthony series, but it's a bit heavy. The early stories are better than the later ones. Much better. The Horse and His Boy has some troublesome moments and The Last Battle really bothered me. Bought 7, liked 5. That's not bad, all things considered.
Another personal note: Don't let your enthusiasm for Narnia convince you that
Out of the Silent Planetmight be worthwhile. It's really awful.