tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2323593442539882992.post8199143395015151835..comments2024-01-29T09:59:57.107-06:00Comments on The Literary Amnesiac: "The Golden Compass" by Philip PullmanKathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867744753830511111noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2323593442539882992.post-50187706733764329242010-02-24T21:46:57.757-06:002010-02-24T21:46:57.757-06:00Thanks for your comment! You spurred me to refresh...Thanks for your comment! You spurred me to refresh my memory on the things I had heard about the book before reading it. The book isn't as recent as I thought (first published in 1995) but the movie is from 2007. I don't believe the book ever crossed my radar until after the movie was scheduled for release, and then it was only because I received an email like one of those you can read here:<br /><br />http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp<br /><br />From the information in this link, apparently in the third book of the trilogy the main characters do kill a God-like figure (although I don't believe he's actually referred to as "God") but I won't bother to comment on that since I've only read the first of the three books. I just remember when I got this email I took it with a grain of salt (as usual) and figured someday I'd make up my own mind about it. <br /><br />I will say that <i>The Golden Compass</i> did cast religion and church in a negative light, but this didn't bother me for several reasons: #1, the book takes place in an alternate universe, so even though the author very well may have anti-religion and anti-church feelings, the book itself referred to religion and churches that don't even exist. I don't feel the need to get irate over fantasy. #2, neither every religion nor every church is above reproach. There can be (and have been) many negative aspects to each. And #3, (which can apply to much more than this book), just because I read a book that differs from my own way of thinking doesn't mean I should, must, or will change my beliefs. A child may be more impressionable and less set in their beliefs, but (with the first book of the trilogy, anyway) I really couldn't see anything that would sway even an impressionable child in an undesirable direction.<br /><br />So, judging by the link above, when the trilogy is taken as a whole perhaps there is a basis for the anti-god notion, but in this book alone it doesn't go any farther than anti-religion and anti-church. (Some might see these as equivalent to anti-God; I don't).Kathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15867744753830511111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2323593442539882992.post-56003616157942688422010-02-24T16:50:11.023-06:002010-02-24T16:50:11.023-06:00I had never heard of this one, not even the movie....I had never heard of this one, not even the movie. Wonder how the anti-god notion developed. Interesting.J. Anne Hamnernoreply@blogger.com