Philip Pullman trilogy

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

Sylvia:

> 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.

    
I *listened* to the trilogy on tape - I used to do a lot of long school runs 
and having an audio book on the go stopped the natives getting too restless. I 
also often find it easier to get into something by listening , so I don't 
know if I would have persisted if I'd been reading. (I have always adored 
listening to stories and still remember the sense of bereavement when my parents 
decided I was too old to need to be read to at night)

I found the first book very hard to get into. I found the way it launched 
straight into Lyra's universe confusing and the writing somewhat pretentious. I 
also didn't really warm to Lyra as a character for a long time.

But as time went on, I was captivated by the world that Pullman had created 
and by the story that was unfolding. The trilogy has left a deep impression; 
it's the atmosphere and some of his characters and inventions that have stayed 
with me. 

As in HP, it's some of the adult characters whom I find the most interesting. 
I adore Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear, and Lee Scoresby the balloonist. I 
am desperately frustrated that we don't learn more about Lord Asriel (and 
won't say anything about his final appearance in The Amber Spyglass for fear of 
spoiling it, but that scene haunts me). I identify strongly with Mary Malone, 
the ex-nun turned research physicist. 

I enjoy Pullman's inventiveness - daemons, his portrayal of witches, the 
world of the mulefa, the ability of the subtle knife to cut portals between 
parallel universes. And he has a power to shock and move. This probably isn't a good 
forum in which to compare the deaths portrayed in his books with those in HP, 
but I am afraid that for me at least, Pullman wins hands down on that 
particular score.

I am certainly looking forward to his next foray into Lyra's world - and 
hoping that this is not the only world in his universe that the next book visits.

~Eloise
Who thinks that in reality, if Pullman wanted to find an explanation for 
"dark matter", all he needed to do was to look down the side of my third child's 
bed, where I swear he would find all the unaccounted for mass in the universe.



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