Interesting.....

[ellybelle]

After all the fuss that's been made about  The Golden Compass, I just had to check it out (esp. since the trilogy was on sale at Costco for $12 -- that's about 1.4 cents a page!).

It's been an enjoyable read so far... I've gotten through about 100 pages.  From what I can see, it's more of a critique on theocracy...what happens when church and

Comments

[amagpa]

I ordered the trilogy right away, too, and had the same response. Since my mom's initial email, though, I haven't heard any buzz about the movie at all, so maybe the controversy will just fizzle out?

[ellybelle]

I say something on one of the morning programs where someone from the Catholic church was speaking out against it. There was also a mother saying that we shouldn't be exposing our children to such "atheist" thought.

Heck, I remember reading the C.S. Lewis Narnia stories in school and being clueless about their religious undertones.

[ellybelle]

"saw" something -- and this was last week. Thank goodness we DON'T live in a theocracy, where the book could be banned and the author imprisoned as a heretic, you know? Or a teacher jailed for naming a teddy bear......

[grassyslough]

I don't usually talk on LJ about religious stuff, but there's a blog, written by a pastor from my denomination, that I read from time to time. And I really liked his post on the book/movie. You can read the post here, but the gist is, he really liked the first book but couldn't bring himself to finish the trilogy. The movie is likely to be "cleaned up" a bit to ensure widespread appeal, although The Times (of London) only gave the movie 2 stars out of 5. So if other critics also pan it, the controversy may just fizzle away on that account.

[olliemom]

I might like to read it one of these days. But it'll be pretty low on the looong list of books I've been wanting to read for the past five years.

I can't help but remember all the conservative Christians going nuts over Harry Potter and I expect the campaign about this book will be just about as effective. I'm not sure, but I *think* J.K. Rowling managed to survive the PR blitz.

[blessed02]

I've never even heard of this

Is it like the genre of "What would've happened if the Nazis had won WW2" books?

[carolc]

It's just a sophisticated children's fantasy where the "world" has a lot of parallels to ours, but is definitely not the same. I remember thinking it could be read as mildly anti-Catholic (not in a "Catholics have horns" way, but in a "Wow, you're notsobig on the greater Catholics church, huh?" way), but never felt it was blanket atheist or anti-religion. I think the vast majority of kids would NEVER get the undertones.

[ellybelle]

Yep... I mean, they use real names or psuedo-names, in a "parallel universe" sort of way, but there are a lot of other differences (for example, everyone has an animal "daemon"-- like a "familiar" that's a cross between a pet and soulmate).

And if I recall, the pope was named "John Calvin" -- so I don't think it was singling out the Catholic church per se.

[carolc]

Funny, because I've been rereading the series this week--I'm fresh out of library books and am excited for the movie. I'm almost finished with the first one and have yet to see anything I'd call atheist or generically God-hating, but I remember that the later books are more explicit about the religion theme.

I have to warn you--I think the series ends with a major unsatisfying thud.

[ellybelle]

Oh crud on the thud. But I haven't seen anything atheist or anti-God either...

Still, I'm enjoying it more than Harry Potter... or, heck, even more than "A Thousand Secret Suns" (and I couldn't put "The Kite Runner" down)

Of course, maybe it's just a sign of my intellectual regression these days.....

[carolc]

I prefer this series to Harry Potter, actually. I'm way more excited about the movie (but worried it'll suck, too). I think Nicole Kidman will be fantastic as Mrs. Coulter.