[HPFGU-OTChatter] Philip Pullman trilogy

[Jen Faulkner]

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003, ladyramkin2000 wrote:

> I recently in a fit of absent-mindedness,  sent this post to the main
> group, for which sincere apologies.  The point I wanted to make was:
> I have tried, several times, to read these books, but just cant seem
> to get into them.  As I know many people really love them, I wonder
> if it is something in me that is resisting them.  Is it worth trying
> yet again, or should I just decide Pullman isn't for me.  Any
> comments would be gratefully received.

Well, I really liked them.  The first two.  I was not as impressed with
the third (I felt it was a bit too anvilicious).

What did you dislike about them?  Have you only read the first one, or
have you tried the second (or third) too?  If you didn't like Lyra, you
might enjoy Will, the main character of the second book, more.  But if
you didn't like the world (the concept of daemons and Dust and all),
that probably won't improve.  I do think I liked the second one better,
but I still have a number of complaints about all three (I think the
anti-religion preaching was way overdone).  And if it's the
anti-religious sentiments that bothered you, that only gets much, much
worse.

But... what does anyone think of the short story that was just (fairly
recently) published?  I can't say the story would've excited me much if
I didn't already know the characters/world, but I *adored* the format,
with the maps and other found objects.  Those were so neat!  Totally
worth the $9ish.  And I must admit to looking forward to more stories in
the universe, even if I was disappointed with *The Amber Spyglass*.

So, Sylvia, if you've given them a fair chance, I wouldn't personally
bother again, at least not for a good long while.  Some books just don't
grab you -- I personally have *never* liked Austen.  No matter how many
people tell me she's great, I can't like them.  I don't see any reason
to keep torturing myself with trying them.

But, on the other hand, I'd always felt terribly guilty about not
liking/being able to read the LotR.  Every *other* sf fan in the world
(I felt) adored them.  But I *couldn't* get past the first 100 pages of
Fellowship.  And I set them aside for years.  And then, miraculously,
after seeing the first movie, I wanted to know what would happen *so*
much that I managed to get through those hundreds of pages of nothing
happening and Tolkien's prose (which I can actually now appreciate
stylistically -- I couldn't when I was younger) to discover that I
actually enjoyed the books.

But either way --- don't feel compelled to read/like them.  If you
don't, you don't. :)

--Jen :)

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Jen's HP fics:
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