Realmscapes

The Golden Compass (1995)

(by KMR)
This is a book I bought six months before I read it. Not because of my own want, but because all the fuss people had created about it, including the author's statement that it was his reply to C.S. Lewis' "Cronicles of Narnia" with the opposite, underlining message: anti-religion, anti-christian ---- anti-faith.

I ate the first two chapters up, falling very quickly in love with the detailed and charming characters of  Lord Asriel and Lyra Belacqua. Pullman had indeed created a vivid world, one easy to understand and to imagine... But every book, even if it is the first out of three, should hold a message and I struggled for over half of the book to find out what that message was. Eventually, despite the further development of the world Lyra was leading me through and problems she was confronted with, I realized that I cared very little for all that... besides a want inside me to be reunited with her parents, one or the other. At least, I wanted her to understand what had happened and why she was not with them.

That was the one key-plot point I loved. The fact that Lyra's mother and father were the main villian and main protagonist of a greater battle going about all around and Lyra was on a quest to learn and understand... If it had not been for that, I would have been unable to read that book.

So I finished the book with the full expctations (after understanding that Lyra's mother wanted very little to do with her only child) that Lord Asriel, Lyra's actual father, would welcome her... give her a family... at least half of one. Instead, Pullman gives us selfish rejection. Asriel did welcome his child and did not harm her, but he took her best friend away from her and harmed him for his own purpose to find out the truth about Dust. We are left watching Lyra follow her father, who still believes that everything was for a better meaning...

I appreciate the hope and maybe I am a bit... out-dated, but come on! Where is the good in this story? Even if there is a 'greater good' at the end of the trilogy, this book turned me off so much that I doubt I'll ever suggest it to somebody. And that is sad, because I loved the characters who were lost to a very sad and empty story. Empty. Anti-religion. Anti-christian... anti-faith.

I am not saying that this story did not work for me because it was anti-christian. In fact, I had very hard times seeing any hints that it was trying to be. I truely hope that Pullman's other books have a bit more of a meaning to them, especially old traits like hope and faith, if not in God, then at least in goodness... which I know even non-Christians cherish. And if one does not believe in that... and shows that... I am not surprised that people leave a theather depressed - who wants that?

And there is one last thing: Everyone can take the Bible and quote or misquote verses from it. But that Pullman had the audacity to take verses and make it seem as though his own words were part of the Biblical text is simply and down-right cheap.

GRADE: C

Live and Let Die (1954)

My second incursion into the literary world of James Bond was preceded by trepidation. The film version of Live and Let Die is not one of my favourite Bond films (easily ranked in the lower 10) and I imagined that my enjoyment of the book would follow a similar path. Happily, I was wrong.

Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die is so superior to the film to the point that it is a crime. The role of the voodoo religion is clearly divulged by Fleming as a powerful tool of Mr Big, where in the film it is merely a set piece. No doubt this commentary on religion is a part of Bond's (and Fleming's ?) cynicism.

Bond has obviouslly matured since Casino Royale: his outlook is bleaker, his violence swifter, his jump to action quicker. James Bond is no longer a man on the defensive; his mission is SMERSH, the spy organisation that destroyed the last pieces of his innocence and idealistic optimism. What makes him the most dangerous is that being a member of HMSS is no longer his job, it is his passion.

The book transitions nicely as it works its way from Harlem to The Florida Everglades to Jamaica. The reader is constantly the companion of the British agent and we get a much better view of his view of the world. But the character isn't moody or depressing; evil is black not grey and he meets out justice in a way that is honourable. In other words, you can cheer for him and against his enemies, who are just as much an enemy to the free world as they are to Bond.

Felix Leiter is an important character, establishing that Bond respects and appreciates his American allies. There cerainly is criticism of the American bureauocracy (not necessarily unwarranted), especially the nonsensical rivalry between the CIA and FBI. Fleming clearly champions the British methods as superior; at one point Bond notices CIA "tails" as easily and amused as one would notice the eyes of someone with a secret crush. However it seems that Felix is not so much a character in the books as he became in the films before the Brosnan era.

Domino is a great character--not as good as Vesper, but beautifully written. She's not so much "the damsel" as in the film version (a part very well-played by Jane Seymour I might add), and is actually quite independent and helpful for a female character in a Bond novel (remember, this is the 50's).

Fleming's way with words in terms of descriptive exposition is like none I have yet experienced. Whether it is a Carribean sunset or the sweat on the forehead of a villain, Fleming makes it all come alive with words in a way that you don't need a film other than the one Fleming puts in your head; especially look for the part where Bond is swimming at night towards the lair of Mr Big and Fleming describes the ocean-life. Fleming actually drew on a diving experience he had with the famed Jacque Costeau; that experience combined with Fleming's descriptive genius is excellent. If you're a Bond fan, you'll also notice that two elements of the book's story did not appear in the film version of Live and Let Die, but were eventually used in two later Bond films

Live and Let Die the book is not about a drug mogul looking to do to narcotics what Goldfinger tried to do to the gold industry (as it was in the 1973 film)--in fact the villain (Mr Big) is far more interesting and all about getting communism a foothold in the West; his method of funding his operations is genius and involves a historical lost treasure, putting that part of the story more along the lines of an Indiana Jones adventure or Pirates of the Carribean. This book is about the beginning of Bond's revenge on an evil organisation that crudely takes away loves, lives, and hope.

GRADE: A+