By this time I'm sure most people view the Golden Compass as a children's book, because the marketing for the film was geared that way. Despite entailing the story of a little girl, the first book in Philip Pullman's trilogy masterpiece is brilliantly-conceived; it's a deeply-themed journey that is actually adult-oriented.
Pullman creates his universe (multiple, actually) with such detail and ease that by the end of the book you're more acquainted with his universe than our own. Religion, or anti-religion, is an important theme in the Golden Compass. However, Pullman isn't trying to convert the believers, as all the Christian boycotters would have you believe; it's more a subtle detail than an explicit fact that in Pullman's book, religion is controlling and bad. Subsequently, most children and teens would probably not even make the connection between religion and the Golden Compass. This work of fantasy sci-fi is as ambitious as it is enthralling and intelligent, and will be remembered for a long time.
6/7
No comments:
Post a Comment