Paperback, 206 pages
English language
Published Aug. 13, 1994 by HarperTrophy.
They open a door and enter a world
NARNIA...the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy...the place where the adventure begins. Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In the blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever. --back cover
"Cool premise (a worldrobe!), but everything resolves awfully suddenly. Not to mention the human-worship, and ... 'He's not the Messiah, he's a very scary lion!'
I happened to rather enjoy this book as a child, despite being an atheist. Sure, it has some flaws (especially in the later books if I recall), and it has a lot of very obvious references to religion, but I genuinely don't get people who need books and their authors to agree with them on every single point. What's the point of hopping into other worlds if they only resemble what you personally think the world is like? Go read a nonfiction book if that's what you want.
Weak.
When I was 10, I read this as the first book of the series, borrowed from my cousin. I was hooked and read every day. Funny that I couldn't finish the series (haven't read "The Last Battle") because I had to return the books. Time flies. I wanted to return to the wardrobe but I kept postponing. Now after 15 years, I finally returned to finish the journey.
Now being more "adult", the narrative is not that good to deserve a 4-star (of course it is kid-oriented) but I was excited for being overflown with a childhood memory.
My grandson (7) and I just finished reading this classic. He wishes he could rate it higher than 5 stars and wants everyone to know: "I really liked this books and I hope whoever reads it, does too."
The part he enjoyed most is the closing battle scene.
We are off to the next novel in the series.
Narnia, dont on m'avait dit beaucoup de bien, m'ont déçu. Par leur ton moralisateur, leur morale chrétienne omni-présente, et la fadeur de certains personnages (Susan, Lucy, voire Peter, je parle de vous). Seul le personnage d'Edmund sauve ce roman.
Fantastic fantasy novel, there may be lots of religious symbolism in the story but that doesn't take anything away from the story. I know a few people who hate this series, for me this is one of the best books I've read to my daughter. I am a big fan of Enid Blyton's Famous five and this is like one of her stories but at a more epic scale.
I used to love these books, but they've started making me sad. C. S. Lewis was not a big fan of women.
For the record: I object to the renumbering that the idiotic publishers have inflicted on this series. It is simply and obviously wrong to anyone with the ability to actually read and comprehend the English language. I therefore refuse to acknowledge it. And so, I began reading the series to my son starting with this book, rather than The Magician's Nephew as recommended.
I first encountered The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in fifth grade. As I recall my teacher, Mrs. Gage (at Hillspoint Elementary School) read it to us aloud, a chapter or so every day. I ended up reading the whole series, of course, and loved it.
So it was just a matter of time before I started reading the series to my son. He's seven and a half, and it seemed the right time to start. He'd been asking to watch the movie, and I knew …
For the record: I object to the renumbering that the idiotic publishers have inflicted on this series. It is simply and obviously wrong to anyone with the ability to actually read and comprehend the English language. I therefore refuse to acknowledge it. And so, I began reading the series to my son starting with this book, rather than The Magician's Nephew as recommended.
I first encountered The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in fifth grade. As I recall my teacher, Mrs. Gage (at Hillspoint Elementary School) read it to us aloud, a chapter or so every day. I ended up reading the whole series, of course, and loved it.
So it was just a matter of time before I started reading the series to my son. He's seven and a half, and it seemed the right time to start. He'd been asking to watch the movie, and I knew that I didn't want him to see it before reading the book.
Sebastian loved the book. It read well. I found the religious elements to be a bit more flagrant and extreme than I remembered, but they didn't ruin the book. All in all, it was an enjoyable, fun read that is definitely one of our new favorites.
(We watched the movie afterwards, and while there were some notable differences between the book and the movie, they weren't too awful.)
