Chronicles of Narnia - the Lion, the Witch, and the Warddrobe by C.S. Lewis

I read this about 3 months ago, at the beginning of spring quarter, but naturally I was lazy and never updated my book blog all quarter. I read it, you guessed it, because of the new movie that came out, which I saw and loved, and I wanted to compare the two. I got through the first half rather fast, actually, but the last half dragged, maybe because I’d been going through that story too many times. Since I’m reviewing this a million months later, all I remember is that the book, written in the 1950s used the word “wireless” - it took me a moment to realize they probably meant telephone and not internet - and that if Susan shot the arrow in this book, I totally missed it. She does in the movie - once - but it doesn’t look like she did in the book at all, unless I missed it. Actually, it’s extremely interesting for me to read this book, if just from a historical perspective. I’m so used to concentrated my reading on, you know, young adult fantasy books that came out a year to 5 years ago, but it doesn’t prepare you for what older young adult fantasy books were like. Let’s start with the big glaring one: gender stereotypes. Now, I’m not ranting or whatnot here - let’s remember, it’s 1950, and this is a devoutly Christian author - but it’s makes me extremely curious as to what other books were like in this regard. You only have Edmond and Peter fighting, but the author is very upfront about it - girls shouldn’t fight, stated matter-of-factly there. But interestingly, he does give Lucy the healing potion, reinforcing the caregiver role, blah blah. It is very interesting to me (and yes, I know I keep using that word) how the modern day movie changed the story to fit what a modern audience would expect, namely that Lucy and Susan’s nonparticipation in the war is incidental to their characters and situation rather than the author keeping them in their “women’s roles.”