The Chronicles of Narnia--love, hate, indifferent?

[Anne in CA]

Is it really horrible that she started with the Magician's Nephew?

No, absolutely not. Our whole family read them all the way through about 15 years ago and we started with the Magician's Nephew and it made perfect sense. There are two sides to why people like or dislike the books which are equally correct. One side is that they are a unique story with a wide view of theology that is not limiting. The other side is that the view is too wide, so no one, liberal or conservative is truly happy, and they are not as clever as other similar fantasy books.

 

The Golden Compass was written in answer to these books and while the prose of the Golden Compass series is quite lovely, the series does not answer Narnia at all, or adequately address the ideas CS Lewis puts forth in Narnia. While The Golden Compass is the better story, IMO, it doesn't refute (in any way) the theology put forth in Narnia.  

[Cinder]

I like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

 

The rest of the books ? Meh. 

 

My girls, though...adored them. Absolutely insane for Narnia for a few year there. 

 

Almost the same here. We all loved LWW. And we all thought the rest of the books were meh. Actually the boys quit after Caspian but dd and I slogged through Horse before finally giving up. I've never finished the series though I know many who love love love it.

 

FWIW we read LWW first then Magician's Nephew, Caspian, and Horse. Maybe that's why we never made it through the series.

[J-rap]

I loved them.  I didn't know about them until I was an adult, and that's when I first read them.  My kids enjoyed them too.  Some more than others, and their favorites were definitely the first ones when the original four kids were involved.  I can't remember their ages...  middle school probably?

 

ETA:  When I read them, I didn't even know they were supposed to have Christian allegories.  How could I not?  I don't know.  I didn't grow up knowing about Christian authors and books and so many other Christian-type things, even though I was a Christian.  :)

 

 

Edited January 8, 2017 by J-rap

[theelfqueen]

Adore!

 

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[Lori D.]

Enjoyed the books here. As with any fantasy series, some will love the world of Narnia, some will be so-so, and others will dislike it or not connect with it. One DS here esp. loved listening to the theatrical audio book versions for several years in the mid-elementary grades. I came to Christian faith at age 20, and read the series as a child with no understanding of the allegory, but enjoyed the fantasy world, and then re-read as an adult and found the theology and spiritual wrestlings in the works to be profoundly meaningful to me personally.

 

For those who are annoyed by the Christian allegory aspect, you may find the ideas in Planet Narnia (by Michael Ward) brings something else to the table of the Chronicles of Narnia for you. Author Ward suggests that Lewis' interest in Medieval Cosmology (the 7 "planets" of Western Medieval Europe and associated symbology and thinking) is seen through specific imagery throughout the 7 books (1 planet emphasized per book). I disagreed with Ward that Lewis intended to "embed" the Medieval Cosmology ideas as a "secret code" (I think that is Ward's "DaVinci Code"-type of hype to sell books, lol), but it was a very interesting different way of interpreting some of the imagery in the books.

 

The book is a bit long and overly pedantic and repetitive (although it also includes glimpses of the Medieval Cosmology in other of Lewis' books), so for a quick description of the cosmology attached to the 7 "planets", see here:

Mercury (Horse and His Boy)

Venus (Magician's Nephew)

Mars (Prince Caspian)

Jupiter (Lion, Witch & Wardrobe)

Saturn (The Last Battle)

Luna (Moon) (Silver Chair)

Sol (Sun) (Voyage of Dawn Treader)

 

Enjoy! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Lori D.

[mamaraby]

Never read them when I was a kid and I'm not going to bother now. My kids haven't picked the books up independently thus far. I suspect the only way the kids would read the books is if I selected them as read aloud or audiobook and while we do enjoy fantasy and sci-fi as a general rule, we're going to read other things.

 

I think I saw an old film/tv version maybe way back in the day? Can't say for sure.

[BooksandBoys]

I wasn't allowed the read then as a child. My particular religious upbringing eschews all magic...even Christian allegory written by C.S. Lewis. Yes, I'm confused too.

 

My husband loved them as a child. We are just now enjoying the audiobooks as a family. The kids are in awe, and DH and I are enjoying finding all the religious references scattered throughout them. I think I like them.

[Audrey]

There are a couple where the plot doesn't drag (Magician's Nephew and Lion/Witch/Wardrobe), but most of them have plodding plotlines and all are weakly (some rather poorly) written. That said, there's nothing in them that would upset even the most sheltered and delicate sensibilities, so I can't imagine an age too young for them, and because of that, I don't think it's necessary for you to subject yourself to them.

[samba]

I read them as a kid, and didn't realize any of the Christian Allegory until I learned of it as an adult. OTOH, I feel in general like things went over my head as a kid, so this doesn't surprise me. I don't know that any of my kids realized it either, until it was pointed out.

 

Three of my four kids really enjoy them, while the other just never could get into it. I never did them as a read aloud with her, though.

 

Agreeing. As I said in my earlier post, my dh read these as a child in a secular home, did not pick up any christian (or religious of any type) references. He wept when he reached the end of the series because he loved them so much. I never read them as a child and when I read them to my kids, we did not dwell on or discuss them from a spiritual perspective. They just enjoyed the stories as...stories. My brother, who grew up in a christian home, read and enjoyed them from a sci-fi/fantasy POV, without making any religious connections.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My kids loved it, starting at age 5. Favorites were lion, Dawntreader, Caspian. Horse a bit.

They missed the Christian allegories until they were much later.

We adults like Lion, Dawntreader, Caspian. We cannot stand The Silver Chair.

 

ETA: We all greatly enjoyed the Focus on the Family dramatized audio versions. They are fabulous. (And we don't normally agree with FotF)

 

 

I didn't like the Silver Chair for the longest time.  Certainly not as a child.  

 

On our most recent re-read though, I had read a bit about it and came to feel I understood "the point" of the book.  Now that book brings tears to my eyes to read.  In many ways, based on my religious orientation and the current state of the world, it has become the most important book in the series in my mind.  

 

I love that when you read a good book, every time you read it it's new.  

 

OP:  Love Narnia.   

[Farrar]

I made the mistake of telling my poor heathen children about the allegory at some point and then they couldn't not see it and they turned against them. They liked the first one okay when they were younger though. (The first one being The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, of course).

 

I loved them as a kid. I didn't see the Christian allegory until I was older and looked at them again. I think it's not there until you see it, you know?

[livetoread]

I was an avid reader as a youngster, loved fantasy, and was a conservative Christian so you'd think I would have loved the series, but I didn't. I liked LWW and tried several times to get through the rest of them, but always petered out somewhere mid series. I tried again reading them aloud to my kids, and the same thing happened. We enjoyed LWW and then interest waned.

[Guest]

Well, it not an all-or-nothing situation. Read one. If you enjoy it, then continue with another. If you don't enjoy it, move on.

[KrissiK]

I loved them as a kid. And I still enjoy them now. It took several readings before it dawned on my that they were allegorical. I read them over and over and over again as a child.

[kiwik]

I loved them. I didn't know about them until I was an adult, and that's when I first read them. My kids enjoyed them too. Some more than others, and their favorites were definitely the first ones when the original four kids were involved. I can't remember their ages... middle school probably?

 

ETA: When I read them, I didn't even know they were supposed to have Christian allegories. How could I not? I don't know. I didn't grow up knowing about Christian authors and books and so many other Christian-type things, even though I was a Christian. :)

I never did. Pagan and mythological echoes yes but Christian didn't occur to me.

[Spy Car]

My skeptical and not entirely thick-skilled son immediately picked up on the religious allegories when he read the series in 5th Grade (as class assignments). He got that Aslan was Jesus without input from me our anyone else immediately.

 

Lewis is about as subtle as being hit with a 2 x 4 as far as I'm concerned. That's true of both the Christianism and the anti-Muslim themes. Son caught the bigotry immediately. He was rather shocked to see such racism in school assigned reading.

 

Bill

[Guest]

There are a couple where the plot doesn't drag (Magician's Nephew and Lion/Witch/Wardrobe), but most of them have plodding plotlines and all are weakly (some rather poorly) written. That said, there's nothing in them that would upset even the most sheltered and delicate sensibilities, so I can't imagine an age too young for them, and because of that, I don't think it's necessary for you to subject yourself to them.

The bolded sounds like a challenge :lol: I've learned to never, ever underestimate what someone can rouse to personal offense. Troll dolls, doilies, and and hot dogs come to mind!

[eternalsummer]

I was mildly upset during the dramatised Focus on the Family version to hear of the boy being beaten with the stick in The Last Battle.  Didn't bother me to read that much, though.  If you have a child who by some miracle doesn't yet know that there are adults who commit ritual acts of violence against children, beware that there is a bit of it there and also in The Horse and his Boy (my favorite book otherwise).

[magnificent_baby]

I loved the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe as a child. I started to read the series aloud to the kids when we homeschooled but we never finished. I should try again now, they are older and might enjoy it.

 

I have also read one or two books of his other books for bible study. I did not enjoy trying to read through those. I do NOT like his style of writing. I kept thinking "say whatever it is you are trying to say!" Hated trying to decode his points. 

[Tanaqui]

Doilies, Arctic Mama? They don't read much Order of the Stick, I take it. (OOOH, UPDATE!)

[TravelingChris]

I had Lion Witch and Wardrobe read to me in the 2nd grade. I really liked it but have never read the others. I did see the second movie. I am not into fantasy but did like that one.

 

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