The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (#2) by C. S Lewis

10 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Classic, Junior Fiction, Narnia Chronicles Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: March 5th 2002 (originally 16 October 1950)
Goodreads badgePublisher: HarperTrophy
Pages: 206
Format: Book
Genre: Junior Fiction/ Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

Narnia…a land frozen in eternal winter..a country waiting to be set free.

Four adventurers step through a wardrobe door and into the land of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change…and a great sacrifice.

Note: There is a spoiler at the end of this review. I apologise but I needed to have a rant.

I am hoping I am not the only person in the world who never noticed the heavy, over the top and obvious Christian themes in this book. It wasn’t until I studied it at Uni that I noticed the religion in this book. I knew the story as a kid and I loved it but I guess not being religious I didn’t see the signs, I dunno. Either way I loved this book. I always wanted to know Aslan because I loved lions and I liked that he was never tame and had that wild part of him.

It is a very British book, everyone is so proper and behaves properly despite walking into a magic wardrobe and finding a snow filled world and talking animals. The eldest takes charge, the youngest is dismissed as being young and foolish, all very believable. I do like how the children soon learn their lesson and realise it isn’t about age and share the duty and think logically.

The characters are very sweet and well developed. There is an entire world of Narnia that I was unaware of as this was the first book I had read of the series originally. Reading it again you realise how much was being led into this book and how everything came to be, who the Witch was and what her role in Narnia is. I think you should read them in order, and it is a shame most people think this is the first book, but it does very well establishing itself and Narnia despite being the second book. Mr Tumnus and the Beavers, all the creatures welcome strangers into their world working under this prophecy and greater power. I was glad that it was Edmund who initially messed everything up, he was also such a brat and if it was a girl the cries of Eve and the apple would be too great. Even though this book was not necessarily about that, there was enough Samson and Delilah, crucifixes and good vs evil for one little book.

Like I said I did not know this was a religious themed text. When I was researching I was amazed at how Lewis had managed to disguise everything and create new situations that worked whether you knew the content or not. Aslan and the White Witch, the stone table, all of that worked on its own level without being confusing as a symbol of something else. What was also great was the fact that there were good dwarves and bad dwarves, good giants and bad. There was not bad animals and good animals, just animals who chose a side. You see the impact of being in Narnia has on the children, they grow stronger and are less childlike, I guess this helps in the accepting and motivation to fight. Tied in with general curiosity I guess it can take you a long way.

I was being very good and not ruining the ending but I think/hope people know the story because I need a rant. What always, always has annoyed me about this book is how accepting the children are at the end when they return to the real world. After spending what seems like forty years or so in Narnia, completely having forgotten the real world, they stumble across that blasted lamp post and just walk into the wardrobe. They are flung into the old house once more and seem perfectly calm and content having left the Narnian world behind, no explanation of where they went and no way to return. So quickly they forget that Narnia carries on without them and could people perhaps wonder where they have gone, apparently not a concern. But yep, just something that always bothered me, and just quietly, it is referenced later on about how they just vanished one day. I’m sure deep in Narnia there was mass panic, threats of war and suspicion over where their murdered bodies were buried. Or perhaps the Narnians accepted they were gone and didn’t need them anymore. Who knows.

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

06 Feb 2013 2 Comments

by Amy in 3 Stars, General Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: May 1st 1996
Goodreads badgePublisher: Puffin
Pages: 272
Format: Book
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Fiction
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

The old wood-carver Geppetto decides to make a wonderful puppet which can dance and turn somersaults, but by chance he chooses an unusual piece of wood — and the finished puppet can talk and misbehave like the liveliest child. But Pinocchio is brave and inquisitive as well as naughty, and after some hair-raising adventures, he earns his heart’s desire.

Rule one: Never judge a book by its movie; especially if it was turned into one by Disney.

There is nothing adorable and heartfelt about Pinocchio in this book, you spend a lot of the time being annoyed at him for being an insolent little cow, and he certainly gets what he deserves. In the beginning Pinocchio is very well knowledge for someone who has never been to school, seen the world, and is only a day old; yet he uses this knowledge well in his circumstances. As the book goes on he gets gradually more tolerable in nature but it does take awhile. He does a lot of complaining and whinging which gets old, and there are quite a few moments where he recaps his adventures in full detail, right down to the conversations. I can’t say I have ever seen that before, but if we look at him as a child then I supposes he must fill in his whole story to the person, it is through his dialogue after all.

Each chapter gives you a couple of lines summary, which personally I think is unfair. With a story like Pinocchio where chapters can end on cliff hangers and in the middle of a scene, I think having the conclusion told to you before you even begin is a bit pointless. Where is the surprise that he runs into Assassins if we knew they were coming?

There is a morbid nature to a lot of events in this novel, nothing too extreme but it is very blunt. I think the fact the Pinocchio is a puppet is supposed to take away the shock of what happens to him and what he does, but the intent and the actual actions are certainly violent. There are multiple cruelties done to him and others, and his life is threatened in serious ways as well. While Collodi is not detailed in what he writes, he doesn’t hide anything either.

The writing appears to direct the story towards a younger reader, especially with the constant rehashing about good behaviour in young boys and the importance of going to school. There is a sense Collodi is talking to the readers as an oral tale rather than one written, but despite the tone, he does not talk down to the readers either. Collodi follows the story and excludes the unimportant events in the narrative. There are big time jumps varying from a day to a year with only a sentence explaining time has changed. And I am quite convinced that the existence, non existence and size of Pinocchio’s ears changes as the story deems fit.

Since we can’t ignore it, I will say that this book takes things a lot further than the film, a bit darker but still along the same lines. There are familiar faces and scenarios, but there are some vast differences that change the tone completely through quite a lot of the book. You do not always feel a lot of sympathy for Pinocchio in this I must say. You start off on the wrong foot with him when he is made, and even though you see him struggle you get more annoyed each time he fails.

The book reads very much like a succession of moral tale after moral tale, the exception being Pinocchio is so misguided and distracted he keeps messing up and never learning. There are moments where you get tired of his inability to stay on track but I suppose it teaches the lesson and shows you may not get the right way the first go but don’t give up, all those lessons for the children reading.

Overall it was a good book and you do see him change and become a better person, but I think all the times he fails makes this seem less real. You are supposed to see how he has grown but I don’t think it has been written in the correct way that makes you actually believe it. Because Collodi brushes over a lot and writes in simple terms it seems like a shallow remorse in my eyes but I see that it is supposed to have been the major turning point considering where we came from.

The Shipping News by Annie E. Proulx

25 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, General Tags: , , , , ,

Published: June 1 1994
Goodreads badgePublisher: Scribner
Pages: 352
Format: Book
Genre: Fiction
★ – 1 star

When Quoyle’s two-timing wife meets her just desserts, he retreats with his two daughters to his ancestral home on the starkly beautiful Newfoundland coast, where a rich cast of local characters and family members all play a part in Quoyle’s struggle to reclaim his life. As Quoyle confronts his private demons — and the unpredictable forces of nature and society — he begins to see the possibility of love without pain or misery.

I know it probably is not wise to bring to mood down so early on into this endeavour, but I feel after the five star and highly praised books we need to even it out a little. I often find myself reading books that people define as a ‘classic’. That horrid little term which, to quote the other annoyingly quoted man Mark Twain, ‘is something that everybody wants to have read but nobody wants to read’. But I have indeed read some of these classics, one such being The Shipping News, something which according to Amazon Books,  “shows why Annie Proulx is recognised as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today”. Yeah no. I had to first read this book for my Extension English class in 2005 and much to the annoyance of my teacher it took me six months to finish it. I just did not like this book. I couldn’t get into it, I didn’t like any of the characters or the narrative whatsoever. Then of course we had to watch the film with Kevin Spacey, and I apologise to Mr Spacey because now every time I see him in a film I think back to this horrid movie and it makes me dislike him. Very bad I know.

There wasn’t anything in there that I hated especially about it, it was just that it bored me to tears and I simply dreaded picking it up again. I think I only smiled once through the whole thing and that was because one chapter opened up with a joke which was a little bad but very clever at the same time. Other than that I have no idea why people love this. I have seen reviews that talk about the beauty of Newfoundland and the intense character of Quoyle, but to me it is irrelevant. I don’t care how much Proulx describes the wonderful location, the fact we have to read about Quoyle’s drab life in Newfoundland is enough to cancel out any beautiful imagery. It is certainly a love or hate book I have discovered. I have come across a few of these. They somehow manage to divide people into five star ratings or one, maybe two.

There is so much in this book that could have made it intriguing: Quoyle’s wife Petal and all her issues, the fact Quoyle must raise his daughters after his sea change from New York, even the mystery surrounding Quoyle’s ancestral history in the town isn’t strong enough to actually make you interested or care. Instead we watch this man slowly sinking and no matter how hard he fights he barely stays above water. Even when things start going well for him the mood does not change, we may as well be back at square one where everything crumbles around him.

As the years pass and people still talk about this book I wondered if whether my age had anything to do my interpretation of reading this story. Was it the fact I was 17 and had this book thrust upon me for the sake of study? I would like to say no because I can recall so many other books that we had to study at school that I adored, even the strange science one On Giants’ Shoulders by Melvyn Bragg . I loved that book. So based on that, I stand by my argument that this book was simply  slow and dull and by having the long and dull movie thrust upon me as well did not make me appreciate the book any more.

As a character Quoyle annoyed me, his life seems to be a continual monotone of nothing, but what was worse was that so was his personality. Away from narrative, the way Proulx had written this story was disagreeable as well. I understood the connection and significance of the ropes and knot references but the way her sentences flowed and were constructed just got up my nose. I know books don’t suit everyone so I understand people out there loved it, but just for those people who see it being raved about and then hate it yourself, you are not alone and are not one of the weird people who “don’t understand the classics”. I hope you take that away with you because remember, one day there will be a book you adore and no one else will understand why. Remind them of this moment.

A shorter version of this review was originally posted on goodreads

The Tale of Despereaux by Katie DiCamillo

24 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, General, Junior Fiction Tags: , , ,

Published: September 9th 2008
Goodreads badgePublisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 272
Format: Book
Genre: Junior Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★   ★ – 5 stars

Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other’s lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out. 

I was not expecting this story. I knew the name but I didn’t know why, and I had read another of DiCamillo’s books (Because of Winn-Dixie) so I gave her a go. This is the story of a very little mouse called Desperaux, as well as a rat born into darkness and a girl with a simple, impossible wish. These three along with a castle of characters is the start of a heartfelt but sometimes saddening tale.

The beginning sets you up in a very odd way around Desperaux and his family, and introduces us to the mouse world in an old castle. But then just as you get settled DiCamillo changes our focus elsewhere and we see the start of another story. This continues through the story and it is really clever. It shows the different lives of everyone involved and how one small action can cause such a big reaction.

There are simple realities and small brutalities but nothing over the top, unless you think too much about it. But DiCamillo doesn’t make you pity any one too much. She offers small things that balance out the bad and takes a characters own pity away so you lessen your own, and what these characters offer, especially those in the wrong, provide small glimmers of forgiveness.

This is a great read, it shows how understanding can be a powerful force but also how desperation can create terrible consequences.

I am borrowing this image from Grammarly.com because I think this needs to become a constant in a lot of reviews.

 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

24 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, General, Junior Fiction Tags: , , ,

Published: April 1st 2007
Goodreads badgePublisher: Scholastic
Pages: 525
Format: Book
Genre: Junior Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★   ★ – 5 stars

Half sketches create a story in pictures too, relevant history. Real last-century French pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès collected mechanical robot-like automata, and, impoverished, worked at a toy booth in a Paris railway station. Here, orphan Hugo fixes his late father’s automata, and meets Méliès through his god-daughter Isabelle.

There are not enough ways and words I can use to tell you all how much I adored this book. It is absolutely spectacular. Do not let the 525 pages frighten you off. It is a fairly quick read, the writing takes up little space on the page and a lot of the story is told in stunning black and white sketches.

This is the story of Hugo Cabret, a young boy living in the walls of a train station who discovers a secret. I will not ruin anything else and I will hint at nothing. This book is touching and heart warming, it is I’m assuming fiction wrapped in an element of reality because a lot of what is mentioned is very true, but the surrounding story is not.

Selznick’s characters are wonderful, even when they appear not to be. They play their parts very well and they are as real and believable as any living person. The actions of this young boy, the adults in the station, everyone who we see in this book you understand completely even before you realise why you do. Children are children and adults try their best at being adults. Secrets and hidden information do not make these characters less real. As soon as Selznick introduces a character you somehow manage to see their entire selves in the small space they are given. Anything else revealed after that only adds more and makes the story even greater and more moving.

What this story does is it draws you into this world, you see everything so clearly even without the help of the pictures. The part truth it tells makes it sorrowful at times but remarkable and fascinating at the same time. Anything based on true stories always makes me that much more involved emotionally because the events were real and did manage to change or impact someone’s life, but even these truths mixed with fiction is enough to get caught up and teary eyed at what Selznick is trying to portray.

Yes I know there was a movie, but read this book, if not first then read it after. They are so close so you won’t have to choose which one was better but this book offers just as much as the movie does if not more. There are pictures, there is writing, there are sketches and photographs, it is everything. What Selznick does is he uses these pictures to tell the story. As I say, don’t be scared of the 525 pages. There are one hundred and fifty eight different pictures and twenty six thousand and fifty nine words and every single one tells this story. Don’t ask me how I know, read the book and you’ll find out.

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