I finally finished off Pullman's The Amber Spyglass. It ended up being quite difficult because I found myself enjoying it less and less as it wore on. As I mentioned, I enjoyed the first book quite a bit and the second one wasn't all that bad either. But I didn't particularly care for the third book. It was just as well written as the previous two, but I really didn't care for the handling of the subject.
It's pretty easy to make religion a bad guy. It's harder to do it convincingly or well - if you're audience is religious. Which I am. And while I realize this is young adult literature, that really means that you're arguments had better work. Kids are less forgiving than adults. And Pullman's ultimate goals just don't work for me. Mostly because I don't view God the way he does and so, while I can follow the story he's telling, it really isn't compelling for me and fails to engage me on any real level. And worse, the alternative he's pushing isn't all that appealing either.
I get pretty annoyed when people try to imply that it's impossible to be intelligent and spiritual at the same time. Contact was a big offender and while at the end it tried to reconcile that disparity, it still makes my teeth grind.
Anyway, what this really boils down to is that Pullman's work isn't going to change any minds on either side of the fence and it may not be all that entertaining a diversion. So there you go.
No comments:
Post a Comment