Rating: Summary: Narnia Review: These reviews are excellent, but no one seems to be clear on whether they are reviewing the BBC Movie or the book itself. Let me try to make clear some of the differences between the two.
Reviewers have not commented much on this fact, but THE SILVER CHAIR as a story plainly belongs to the Emerald Witch. She is by far the greatest of C.S. Lewis' Narnia villains. Unlike the cold, lifeless White Witch, and the bumbling slapstick Queen Jadis, the Emerald Witch is an alluring, sophisticated, outwardly charming woman. It's easy to understand why Prince Rilian would fall deeply in love with her, with or without enchantment. It's just a shame this is a children's book and none of the witch's wiles can truly be shown in context!
In the BBC movie, the Emerald Witch is played by Barbara Kellerman, and she does full justice to the character. Kellerman has just the right sort of dark, warm beauty, combined with a hint of cold malice, and great outer charm. She deserves at least as much praise as Tom Baker's Puddleglum.
One of the huge problems with the movie, as opposed to the book, is that the luxury and comfort of Harfang Castle is largely glossed over and ignored. It's important to see that both the Emerald Witch and the Gentle Giants represent fleshly temptation, not mere brute violence. The movie misses much of that, so that the children's weakness is a lot harder to grasp.
Since there are no large battle scenes or other conflicts to make the story interesting, the loss of most of what happens at Harfang really weakens the story. The BBC movie overall is much colder, more prosaic, and less full of light and color than Lewis' original book. But Barbara Kellerman is stunning!
Rating: Summary: Weird Thingys!!! Review: This book has some strange Stuff in it like talking owls and giants. I am only 3/4 Done with this book becouse it is a good adventure book. It is good becouse it has exiting things happaning in this book like sliding down a cave thing. I do recomend it. ~Bill
Rating: Summary: The Silver Chair Review: This book is about a boy named Eustace and a girl named Jill running away from bullies and ending up in the other world. Aslan the Lion has a task for the kids. They have to defeat the evil White witch to save Prince Rilan from her castle. To do that, they have to go on a long journey to find the White witch's castle.They go on great adventures together meeting new people and making friends with nymphs. I like this book because it was filled with adventures and filled with abnormal creatures. This book keeps you full of exciting imaginations through the journies Eustace and Jill took. My favorite part of the book was when The Whire witch was defeated and the Prince was freed. Tah is my favorite part of the story because there is action and after she was defeated, Prince Rilan got to go back to Cair Paravel(his home) to meet his father. The story was a happy ending for everyone.
Rating: Summary: I Didn't like this book Review: This book was about two young children in the quest of finding a young prince. I think that there was too much characters in the book and I personally think it wasn't as good as the rest of the collection. And if you want to understand well what role every character plays, you have to read the whole collection of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Rating: Summary: This is a must read for Narnia Fans!!!!!! Review: This is a very good book!!! It is boring at the begining, but keep reading, it gets really good. You won't be able to put it down!!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Invaluable and fun Review: This is an incredibly important book.
For some reason, this was the one Narnia book I could never get all the way through as a boy even though I was an otherwise voracious reader. I'm not really sure why. I just finished reading it to one of my own sons and he seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I wish now that I'd read it all the way through a long time ago. This is nothing less than a children's introduction to Christian spiritual warfare, in some ways far more general and comprehensive than Lewis' "Screwtape Letters" which covers the same subject for adults.
In order of authorship and according to the original ordering of the series "The Silver Chair" is number 4, coming between "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and "The Horse and his Boy". Under the current numbering by the internal chronology of the narrative, it's second to last. In many ways neither ordering is really the most useful. In broad terms, the books divide thematically between allegorical (or better, fanciful) representations of salvation history, and guides to Christian living. Into the first category fall "The Magician's Nephew", "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", "Prince Caspian", and "The Last Battle". The second category has "The Horse and his Boy", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", and "The Silver Chair". I believe this last is the most significant.
Lewis himself always denied his works were intended to be strictly allegorical, and in the case of the salvation history volumes this may well be the case. Element by element assignment from reality to story usually breaks down once you get past Aslan as Christ, and even where characters or events are not made to do double duty at different points (such as Edmund in "Lion") it's not alway possible to carry out this operation reliably. ("Applicability", as Lewis' friend J.R.R. Tolkien termed it, is another matter.) But "The Silver Chair" is far more nearly allegorical than the others, with symbolism that's crystal clear. This makes the lessons it teaches, in the context of a high fantasy adventure, all the more accessible.
It would take a long essay to explore all the lessons in this book so I'm not going to do that here, but they're not difficult to identify for an adult with a moderately thorough Christian education. Lewis packs an incredible number of subjects into this short book, everything from repentance and forgiveness to the basics of the theology of the image of God in our human nature. (Although in other works Lewis has promulgated what is, to Eastern Christian eyes, a faulty Augustinian Pneumatology, his treatment of the image here makes me think he must have been familiar with at least some Eastern Church Fathers.)
Lewis also anticipates, and armors his readers against, modern trends already evident in his time such as the despair engendered by the prevailing nihilism, extreme materialism, secular humanism, and others. He was very much spot-on in indentifying those ideas that would come to present the greatest temptations to Christian believers in the decades to follow, and this work, among others, reflects that. This means it's useful and relevant even today, over 50 years since it was written.
I now regret deeply that I never gave this book the attention it deserved when I was younger. I don't know, of course, how much of a difference it would have made, but it might have made at least some. As difficult as it is these days to be a Christian, no help can be neglected. If you're a parent of a Narnia reader, do what you can to make sure they don't skip this one. If you *are* a Narnia reader, "The Silver Chair" is worth your full attention and then some. It's a fun adventure too.
Rating: Summary: My Favorite Narnia Book Review: This is probably my favorite of the Narnia books. It is a completely wonderful quest story. As an English major, I love the reference to Hamlet as well.
Rating: Summary: book 6 Review: This is the sixth book in the timeless Narnia Chronicles. It is also another great book as Lewis just keeps adding better ones. I love the Narnia books, and this is no exception. It's not the best in the series, or the biggest, but it's still good, and it's definitely not the worst. Jill and Eustace escape from bullies through a door in the wall, and are instantly transported to Narnia once again. They learn that all is not well in the land of Aslan, and that King Caspian's only son, Prince Rilian, is missing. They meet up with a strange little creature (well, not really little) called a Marsh-Wiggle. The three journey to the far north, where many dangers await them. They must face the harsh mountain winds. They must outwit man-eating giants. And in the end, they must defeat a character whom nobody in Narnia ever wished to see again. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: Great Characters Review: This is the sixth volume in the Narnia Series. It is definately one of my favorite, simply because of the characters. The two main heroes in the book are Jill and Eustace. It is interesting to see a boy and a girl work together on a great adventure. We also get to learn what a marsh-wiggle is in the character of Puddlegum. C.S. Lewis uses this fictional being to emphasize both strengths and weaknesses in people. Puddlegum is extremely brave, even though he is an extreme pessemist. More than most of the Narnia books, this one introduces characters unique to this book. Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan are not involved at all in The Silver Chair. Caspian is a carry over from the previous two books, but is much older and not really a central character. This is fun adventure book that is meant for kids, but enjoyable to adults as well.
Rating: Summary: The Silver Chair is a ok, boring, funny book!!! Review: This reader thinks The Silver Chair is an OK book, but the language was so confusing! It had a funny part in it when the owl thought that Eustace's name was "Useless." I wouldn't recommend this book because it had difficult old English vocabulary.
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