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Title: The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3) by Philip Pullman ISBN: 0-679-87926-9 Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (670 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: The sound of glass breaking
Comment: I have read the trilogy, and was shocked at the disparity between the adventure story and the events unfolding in the background. Although Pullman is a talented author, his contempt for religion and people of faith is pretty clear -- Unless he wrote the entire series "out of character", which I doubt. He may correct me if I am wrong.
Many fantasy writers have tackled (or ignored) religion in their works, but few have attacked a system of belief as directly as Pullman does in these novels.
It isn't hard to recognize bigotry when you see it. Bigots generally treat the object of their scorn as one-dimensional, stereotyped, less-than human individuals. Hitler painted the Jews that way, and Pro-Slavery Americans did the same in the 1800's. Pullman makes a point of painting everything having to do with God, religion, and religious persons --- as evil. If Pullman had a cause to speak of, I'd call it propoganda. Stereotyping and name calling is not a hallmark of great literature, whether you agree with someone's opinion or not.
I don't think it's "courageous", as some have put it, to directly insult the deeply held beliefs of others. It's a cowardly little story, and his defenders should think carefully about what they are saying. For example, if I wrote a wonderful fantasy book that painted Dr. Martin Luther King (or Abraham Lincoln, or Gloria Steinham) as an evil, manipulative, rapist/wife beater/etc., how would people take it? I doubt many would praise me for my "courage" -- regardless of what the rest of the book is about.
People in this country are free to read and write whatever they wish, thank God. Religion is an easy target, and there will always be those who rush in to spit on the beliefs of others, especially if those beliefs do not agree with theirs. By villifying religion in the manner Pullman does, he commits the same "sins" he chastises "the Church" for. If Pullman lives in a glass house, "The Amber Spyglass" is a pretty large stone.
Rating: 2
Summary: Well, maybe I had it coming...
Comment: As a child, I remember reading The Chronicles of Narnia, adoring them, and then feeling cheated when I was old enough to realize that C.S. Lewis was really talking about Christ and Christianity (I was raised as an Ethical Humanist). Eventually I got over it and learned to love the books again, as well as the books of Madeleine L'Engle and other Christian writers.
But as an adult who has since become a Christian AND a scientist, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over my disappointment with the Amber Spyglass. I read the first two books and loved them, and was very interested to see how Pullman would resolve the theological puzzles he had set up in The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife. When I read that one of Lyra's names was "Aeshaster" (excuse the spelling), I wondered if Pullman was alluding to 'Easter', and planning to link Lyra with God's love and desire to wipe away sin, turning her into a Christ figure.
Instead, Amber Spyglass resonates with deep disappointment in Christianity and especially Catholicism. We are served up God as a dying angel and the Church as a mix of murderers, pedophilic priests, and inquisitors. Christ, unsurprisingly, is nowhere to be found. After all, a loving Christ who gave his life to bring people closer to God and free them from sin and death would not fit into Pullman's assessment of the Church as being interested only in obliterating every good feeling and impulse. Nor is it spirituality and the supernatural that are on trial here, it is the Christian Church, period. Pullman gives a loving or at least balanced treatment of shamanism, witches and Tibetan Buddhism, for instance. I don't object to Pullman listing the abuses of the Christian Church, past or present. I think that's a worthy subject. But in writing this kind of one-sided portrayal, Pullman is at best attacking a straw man, and at worst , is offensive and deeply misleading. Even C.S. Lewis's treatment of the Calormenes in the Narnian Chronicles, which has justly come under fire for tones of racism, is more positive and balanced than this stuff (and Lewis was writing fifty years ago, after all).
Perhaps it's ironic that, although Pullman casts Lyra in the role of Eve, she ends up becoming a Christ figure after all. She travels to the land of the dead to redeem a life and rises again, which no one in that world has done before. Like Christ, she desperately wants to provide comfort to all souls, even ones as difficult to love as the Harpies. And again, at the very end of the book, she makes a great sacrifice for the world because of her great love. There are even overtones of this in Asriel and Marisa Coulter's decision to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their daughter, all in the name of love. If children and adults can recognize Christ or Christian themes in these roles, then that gives me a little comfort.
I'm giving this two stars, because the storytelling is still excellent, although this seems like the weakest of the three books.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Amber Spy Glass
Comment: "' My child! My daughter! Where is she? What have you done? My Lyra- you'd do better to tear the fibers from my heart- she was safe with me, safe, and now where is she? `" Think of two children, about thirteen years old, having to do a task that is full of danger, surprises, and unexpected mysteries. Lyra and Will, the two children, don't even know how big and important their task is. They have to enter the world of the dead and try to help the dead ghosts to get out so they can live a happier after live. Their path is always hidden from them, and if they fail, the world fails with them. Will they make it or will they fail? In this excerpt above Lyra's mother notices that her daughter got kidnapped and someone is planning to kill her. What will happen next, or will Lyra get killed is the big question now!
I think this book is amazing. It is intriguing from the first sentence on. I couldn't put it down. Each chapter let me hang so I wanted to read on and on. Sometimes it felled like I was actually in the book. Lyra is such a brave character. I don't know how she does it, but she is so brave in the scariest situations. One time when she was about to fall of a cliff she kept a clear mind and rescued herself with that. I could never ever do that.
If you like entering different worlds, and not knowing what's next, this is the best book for you to read. This fantasy lets you enter so many different worlds that you will not be able to choose which one you like most. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone from the age of 11 years on and up. I also recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of fantasy, and has a lot of imagination. Reading the first and second book of the Dark Materials trilogy first would maybe help to understand this one better.
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Title: The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman ISBN: 0345413350 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 30 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Ruby in the Smoke (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 1) by Philip Pullman ISBN: 0394895894 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 12 November, 1988 List Price(USD): $5.50 |
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Title: Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman ISBN: 0375828192 Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 2) by Philip Pullman ISBN: 0394825993 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 23 September, 1989 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Tiger in the Well (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 3) by Philip Pullman ISBN: 0679826718 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 18 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $5.50 |
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