Comments on: Mini Reviews of The Weather Underground, The Good Earth movie, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html Because I say so Tue, 14 May 2013 23:20:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: biz http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13381 biz Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13381 Prince Caspian was good, A Horse and his boy was boring, The Silver Chair was entertaining. But Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite. Hands down.
The people who seek allegory in every volume of Narnia are missing the point. These books are entertaining and the world is immersive. Dawn Treader is a swashbucking adventure tale. Not for the fate of the world, but for some improbable quest.
Plus, I love Reepicheep.

]]> By: Shay http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13382 Shay Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13382 I really didn't enjoy reading “The Good Earth” novel, but maybe that's because I had to for school. I haven't seen the movie though.

]]> By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13383 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13383 Biz,

Reepicheep rocks. But the Dufflepuds are hilarious. :-)

Shay,

High school English has the ability to ruin any book. I was very lucky with my classes, getting a love of poetry [1] out of it, but my experience where books I know are taught is negative. Machiavelli's “The Prince” is warm and human, while Beowulf is amazingly fun, but in a school class both are cold, frozen, and dead.

(If the puritans ever seize, they could do little better than teach the oeuvre of Bunko Kanazawa. Or, for that matter, Aztec [2])

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/poetry/
[2] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/06/27/bookosphere_the_elements.html

]]> By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13384 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13384 I finished the sixth Narnia book, The Silver Chair.

Most of it was OK, but not all that great. I kept thinking “I would rather be reading 'The Horse and His Boy,” which struck me because

1) until The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy is the weakest Narnia book, but
2) imagery The Horse and His Boy is remains vivid. Average scenes in Horse stay with me as well as the very best scenes from other books, such as the Dufflepods (Voyage) or the feeding of the professor (Nephew)
3) Horse and His Boy is a lot like Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath [1]. Not necessarily plot wise, but in odyssey-in-arabesque-world wise. Strange.

However, the impact of The Silver Chair changes remarkably at the end. After seeing most of the surprises coming, one in particular was a shocker. The narration at the end is just hilarious, and the very end of the Silver Chair is even more moving than the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

So far I've read six of the books, and every one has been “good.” Next up: The Last Battle

[1] http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/thedreamquestofunknownkadath.htm

]]> By: biz http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13385 biz Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13385 What order did you read them in? I ask because they were written and published out of order, but the crazy version is the one I'm most familiar with.
Last Battle is pretty good. Some interesting suprises.

]]> By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13386 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13386 I read the Narnia books mostly in order, except I read LWW first because I had seen the movie, and was anxious to see what that book was really like. So, my order is

Lion, Witch, Warddrove (1st written, 2nd chronologically)
Magician's Newphew (6th w, 1st c)
The Horse and His Boy (5th w, 3rd c)
Prince Caspian (2nd w, 4th c)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (3rd w, 5th c)
The Silver Chair (4th w, 6th c)

Which leaves me with the Last Battle, the 7th written and the 7th chronologically.

A rather bitchy review of the Narnia movie gave away some of the Last Battle, which I'm bitter over.

]]> By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html/comment-page-1#comment-13387 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/01/14/mini-reviews-of-the-weather-underground-the-good-earth-movie-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html#comment-13387 I finished The Last Battle.

I have now finished all of the Narnia books. The Last Battle is extremely quick reading. It ties together everything that has come before, so the whole thing reads like a climax. In the context of the series, The Last Battle is the best of the series. (Though I'm still partial to the Voyage of the Dawn Treader as best stand-alone book.)

It's quiet inevitability reminds me of Aztec. So does its pathos. Indeed, looking back on the best books [1], Narnia shares with The Good Earth and Aztec (but not Zen or Atlas Shrugged) the ability to make me cry.

Narnia also can be hilarious. The subtly explained canine equivalent of the insult “bitch” is hilarious. I laughed very loudly.

I wonder if the charges of racism come from just reading the dwarves' dialogue. If so, the critics miss the point by a mile.

Narnia is highly, highly recommended.

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2005/06/27/bookosphere_the_elements.html

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