Back to the Classics 2019 - Wrap Up Post

We're almost halfway through November and another year of the Back to the Classics Challenge is complete! I finished all twelve of the prompts a little bit early and am very pleased with my year of exploring some classic novels. I spent 2019 with monkey butlers, toothpaste-selling knights, ragamuffin pickpockets, extremely boring ghosts, and more than one completely delusional protagonist. I read about serious issues like slavery, racism, poverty, and mental health, and not-so-serious issues, like the consequences of time travel, the hazards of allowing Mack and his boys to throw a party for you, and the dangers of addling your brains by reading too many romance novels. I even got to enjoy some outrageous Shakespearean sexism. It was quite the journey, to say the least.

I completed all of the categories, meaning I get three entries in final drawing. If (by some crazy chance) I win, I can be reached at quiet.kristina [at] gmail [dot] com. Here's the breakdown of what I read, with links to my reviews:

1. 19th Century Classic: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1837-1839) Completed February 2019

2. 20th Century Classic: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (1962) Completed in February 2019

3. Classic by a Female Author: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) Completed August 2019

4. Classic in Translation: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (1874) Completed in January 2019 

5. Classic Comedy: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) Completed in June 2019 

6. Classic Tragedy: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895) Completed in May 2019

7. Very Long Classic: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605-1615) Completed June 2019

8. Classic Novella: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (1961) Completed January 2019

9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean): Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (1945)  Completed April 2019

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia): The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing (1950)  Completed November 2019

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851)  Completed September 2019

12. Classic Play: The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (c. 1590) Completed February 2019

Now that I have finished for the year, I'm a bit sad that it's all over. I want to participate again in 2020, but I feel like this might be the last year for it. If so, this post is bittersweet for me. I'll never stop reading classics, of course, but I will miss this particular challenge if it doesn't return. It's been one of the main elements I structure my yearly reading plans around. I'm still holding out hope that it will come back, but if not, it's been a wonderful five years. Thank you Karen!

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing

The very last prompt I had left to finish in my 2019 Back to the Classics Challenge was to read a classic from Africa, Asia, or Oceania. In looking over my Classics Club list of books, I was disappointed to see that there was nothing left on it I could read that qualified, so I did some research. After a bit of Googling, I came across The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing. This novel, set in South Africa and dealing with racial issues between black and white citizens, was a big success upon its publication in the 1950s. This was Lessing's first novel, and she went on after it to write many more, eventually winning the Nobel Prize for Literature for her body of work. Intrigued, I decided to choose this one for my challenge and got started reading it last week.

The novel starts off with a newspaper clipping describing the death of a white South African woman named Mary Turner. The article explains that she was murdered by her servant, a black man named Moses, in a robbery attempt. The action then flashes back to Mary's early life, with the rest of the novel describing the series of events that lead up to her death.

Mary struggles through a poverty-stricken childhood and finds some success after moving to Rhodesia and working as a secretary. She's happy living the carefree life of an unmarried woman with her own salary until she overhears some offhand comments from her friends criticizing her for not settling down. Greatly bothered by the perceptions of those around her, Mary decides to marry Dick Turner, a struggling farmer from rural Southern Rhodesia. After they exchange vows, Mary leaves her city job and moves with Dick to his farm. It doesn't take long for her to realize that she has made a terrible mistake.

Dick, while a nice man, is almost completely inept at farming and plagued with bad luck. He barely turns any profit on his crops, and is prone to starting big, expensive projects without thinking them completely through. The home he takes Mary to is hardly a home at all; it's a two room shack lacking in almost every modern convenience. At first, Mary makes the best of her situation, and works to improve the house and perform her wifely duties. However, she quickly becomes bored and miserable and sinks into a deep depression.

Contributing to her depression is her forced interaction with the black servants that work on the farm. Mary, like most of the white South Africans around her, is deeply racist. She doesn't trust the servants in her employ, believes them to be animal-like and ignorant, and is verbally abusive to them. Her attitude towards them is so poor, in fact, that she develops a reputation for cruelty which affects Dick's ability to keep and acquire workers. After running through several house servants that quit under her tyranny, Dick hires a young man named Moses for the job, and tells Mary, in no uncertain terms, not to drive this one away.

As time moves forward, and Mary's depression worsens, she finds herself developing friendly feelings towards Moses. She comes to rely on him for more and more tasks, eventually needing him to feed her and dress her, both jobs that are entirely unacceptable for the times. This intimacy frightens her and disgusts her, but underneath her revulsion, she has some sort of strange affection for Moses, and this combination of fear and dependence prevents her from sending him away. Dick, who has been willfully ignoring the taboo closeness of the pair, eventually comes to the conclusion that Mary is too mentally ill to continue living at the farm. He dismisses Moses from his post and makes preparations to leave, but before they can depart, Moses returns to their home in the middle of the night and commits the crime that the novel starts off with.

The Grass is Singing was a striking novel. Lessing's prose was deeply emotional and had a strong impact on my mood while reading. Mary is not a lovable character (her naked racism prevents that), but as her depression spiraled out of control, I felt my own feelings spiraling downward too. This is one of those books that carries a cloud of gloom with it. Everything had a weight to it that felt real and very bleak. Similarly, Lessing's description of the South African setting was oppressive, with the incredible heat and wildfires mirroring the tense situations Mary faced at home. Her failing marriage, her mental health, and her relationships with the servants were all unbearable to her, and there was a constant feeling of approaching doom lurking in the background.

Lessing's exploration of the racial politics of the area forms the main theme of the novel, although I did find myself a bit confused about what her ultimate message was. She is undoubtedly anti-racist, and the novel is peppered with comments and plot events that point to the cruelty and hypocrisy of the social structure of the times. Mary's story shows the tragedy that results when human feelings clash with deeply ingrained racial beliefs. Moses is kind to Mary, and this simultaneously repulses and attracts her. These conflicting feelings, plus her fragile mental state, lead her down a path to destruction. What was missing here, however, was the black perspective. While the narration hops around to focus on several different white characters, Lessing doesn't spend much time on any of the natives. I would have really appreciated more information about Moses's feelings for Mary, and how those feelings led him to commit murder. I assume he had an inner battle raging between his anger over his treatment at the hands of the whites and his affection for Mary, but without any passages explaining his thoughts, the ending felt rather nebulous. It was an obvious missing piece in the narrative.

It is this lack of black perspective that lowered my overall rating for The Grass is Singing, but it was still a very interesting and worthwhile experience. In a literal sense, it was an easy read. In an emotional sense, not so much. It left me feeling drained, but in a good, book hangover kind of way. I am glad that my Back to the Classics Challenge led me to explore this author and this part of the world. I would probably have never heard of this novel otherwise, so, as usual, participating in reading challenges has pushed me to make new literary discoveries.


Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2019 (A Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania) 12/12 Books Read - Complete


Total Books Read in 2019: 72

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

I first came across The Women of Brewster Place when I was researching books to put on my Classics Club list by authors of color. I had never heard of the novel before and had no idea what it was about, but Gloria Naylor won a National Book Award for it back in the 80s, so it sounded like a safe bet to me. I didn't own a copy of it at the time I was putting my list together, but I happened to come across one at a used bookstore a few weeks ago and picked it up for a couple of bucks. Since I'm still trying to catch up to where I should be with my Classic Club books this year, I decided to give it a shot next.

The plot of the novel follows several African American women living at Brewster Place, a cheap block of apartments on a dead end street in an inner city. Each chapter focuses on a different woman, describing the personal experiences and struggles that have brought them to the apartment block. Their stories are loosely connected to each other; some appear in each other's chapters and others have known each other prior to moving into the building, and these relationships provide some structure and continuity to the collection. However, each woman's story is unique and could be read as its own short story. 

The issues each of the women are dealing with are quite heavy and range from abusive relationships to homophobia to mental illness. Their stories explore many of the struggles that Black women face today, shedding a light on some of the many difficulties women of color have had to face over the years in America. Without exception, each of the chapters is extremely well-written and emotional. The women shown are not all blameless figures, but Naylor weaves their stories together in a way that helps readers understand the decisions they make and feel sympathy for them. Out of the women depicted, I probably enjoyed Mattie Michael's story the best. Her life takes a turn when she has a baby out of wedlock and is forced to leave her house at a young age. She spends the next thirty years of her life making sacrifices for her son, and ends up losing most of what she had built for him after he makes some extraordinarily poor choices. Finding herself out of a home once again, she moves into Brewster Place and becomes a mother figure for several of the women there. She appears in many of the stories as a nurturing and level-headed force and is an all-around wonderful character. 

This is one of those classics that is an absolute joy to read. Naylor's prose is easy to understand, yet very emotionally resonant. The characters are interesting to learn about and their stories definitely tug on your heartstrings. It's length is also quite manageable at just a few hundred pages. The ending of the collection was a bit disappointing for me, as it left me a bit unclear about the ultimate message of the novel, but aside from that, this was an excellent read and I'm very glad to have experienced it.


Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#18 on my list): 57/100 


Total Books Read in 2019: 71

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

I first came across Pet on a list of top YA dystopian novels. The summary sounded intriguingly odd, and it promised to have a strong social justice focus, so I picked it up on one of my Barnes and Noble runs last month. As I'm currently teaching a unit on dystopian fiction to my eighth graders, I thought this would be a good story to try now, so I could maybe talk about it in class as we discuss the elements of the genre.

The plot of the novel follows a young teenager named Jam. She lives in the town of Lucille, a place that has recently been through a revolution. The revolution was focused on ridding the world of all its evil. Social ills like racism, discrimination, police brutality, child abuse, gun violence, and sexual assault were eliminated, and all the "monsters" that perpetuated these acts were placed in rehabilitation centers. No one has to worry about these problems anymore, and acceptance, kindness, and community spirit are the new orders of the day.

Jam's idyllic little world is shattered, however, when she unwittingly brings a monstrous creature out of a painting to life. This creature, named Pet, tells Jam that monsters are still alive and well in Lucille, and he needs her help to hunt one of them down. Even worse, this monster, Pet explains, is in the home of Jam's best friend, Redemption. Worried for her friend, Jam embarks on an investigation to determine who the monster is, find out what he has done, and make sure Redemption is safe. Pet is a novel about the dangers of complaisance, and the importance of keeping our eyes open when it comes to protecting our friends and our communities.

This was an odd little story, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Emezi did many things right, but there was quite a bit about Pet that I didn't love. On the positive side, its message about the importance of paying attention and staying alert to potential dangers in our communities was a good one. Jam's story teaches the lesson that monsters can be hiding anywhere and wear any face. Even when we believe problems to be solved or to be things of the past, we must stay vigilant for signs of that they could be returning. The connections to modern day issues was clear, and it will be easy for young readers to draw parallels to their own world.

The representation in the novel was also very strong. Jam is a trans character, Redemption has three parents, there are many people of color, and there is a character that uses they/them pronouns. The plot does not center around any of these aspects. The characters simply were these things, it was accepted by everyone, and it wasn't a part of the main story. This kind of diversity is nice to see, and we need more of it in young adult literature.

The magical realism aspects of the novel were nicely done as well. Lucille is similar to a typical American small town, but Emezi imbues it with a wonderfully weird sense of fantasy. Life is mostly normal there, but there are little touches of wonder sprinkled throughout. The most obvious example of this is Pet, a creature called into being from a painting, but the world buzzes with a quirky spirituality in other ways too. Speaking of Pet, it is a beautiful creation; it's scary, comforting, disturbing, wise, violent, and gentle all at once. It is both a danger and a guardian to Jam. I've never read a character quite like it, and I really enjoyed how it was woven into the story.

However, while there was clearly a lot to appreciate in this novel, there were some elements of it that I didn't enjoy. One of my issues was with the writing style. This is clearly a matter of personal taste, but I found Emezi's storytelling to be arrogant or self-important in many places. She conveyed her message almost aggressively, like she was trying too hard to impress readers with her intelligence and her woke-ness. Some of her vocabulary choices were odd as well, and I found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit at some of the turns of phrase she employed, like saying "voiced" instead of "talked," or "vex" instead of "angry." In addition to the wording, Jam's voice felt inconsistent throughout the story. Sometimes she spoke like an innocent child, and other times her dialogue was peppered with profanity that felt unnatural in her mouth. I consistently felt irked by the language for one reason or another all throughout my reading.

Also, there were some thematic issues in the novel that bothered me. The story has a directly-stated, straightforward theme about how evil can wear any face. It could be anywhere and we must always be alert for it and never forget about it. It could even be hiding in our own families. While this is technically true, it's also very paranoid and unsettling, especially for a young adult audience. Are kids supposed to walk away from this story feeling like they need to look for evil around every corner? Maybe that's smart, I don't know. Something about it didn't feel quite right for me.

Another thematic inconsistency popped up at the end of the novel, when Jam and Redemption uncover who the monster is. To get the monster to confess, Pet essentially maims and tortures this person. While the monster is undoubtedly evil and deserving of punishment, I couldn't help but remember how in the post-revolution setting Emezi created, offenders are rehabilitated and helped. Torture is definitely not part of their justice system, and aside from begging Pet not to kill this person, Jam never comments on the other, extremely brutal events that happen. It also felt off to me that Pet played so large a role in the final confrontation in the first place. I thought for sure that Jam and Redemption would bring this person to justice through their own bravery and intelligence, working within the rules of their society, but they take a backseat to Pet's violent tactics and literally turn their backs and cower while Pet handles business. I'm not sure what kind of lesson that ultimately teaches. I'm used to seeing young adult protagonists find their courage and solve their own problems in the end. Everyone doesn't have their own creature to fight evil on their behalf, after all. 

In the end, I felt quite mixed on this one. There was a lot about Pet that was admirable, but a lot that bugged me too. If nothing else, this book is a great one to analyze and start conversations about. The symbolism, theme, and connections to modern society provide ample food for thought, and even though there are criticisms to be made, there are a lot of great things to think through as well. I started reading this because I was hoping to use it in my classroom. Sadly, I do not think I could use it there. The language is too confusing for my lower readers and the content is inappropriate for a middle school audience. This is definitely for higher level readers on the older end of the young adult range. Adults will probably enjoy reading this as well, especially if they aren't bothered Emezi's writing style. Pet is a unique read about important topics. I wish I could have fallen in love with it, but even though it wasn't the perfect book for me, I'm still happy to have experienced it.


Challenge Tally
Finally in 2019: 45/6 Books Read - Complete!

Total Books Read in 2019: 70

Island by Aldous Huxley

After spending most of October reading the His Dark Materials series, I wanted to get back to work on my Classics Club list. I decided to pick up Island by Aldous Huxley, based mostly on the amazing cover design of the edition I owned. I didn't know anything about the plot of the novel when I chose it, but I thought it might be something like the first Huxley book I read in high school, Brave New World. As it turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

The plot of Island follows a man named Will Farnaby. At the start of the novel, he is shipwrecked on a remote island named Pala. Outsiders aren't usually allowed to visit Pala, but as he injured his leg in the accident, the friendly natives offer to let him stay while they nurse him back to health. As he heals, he gets a chance to learn all about the culture and philosophy of the island, and his life is forever changed by what he discovers.

The island of Pala is a utopian society, and is governed by philosophies that include mindfulness, community spirit, and limited contact with modern industry. They practice fertility control to keep their population manageable, and use a whole mind-body approach to public health and education. Equal weight is given to physical, mental, emotional, and sexual aspects of wellness, with efficient processes in place to identify and rehabilitate anyone in need of medical or psychological interventions. Many of their rituals and ways of thinking are based on Buddhism, with meditation and "living in the now" forming the main parts of their beliefs.

Family life in Pala is centered around "mutual adoption clubs," or MACs, made up of around twenty family units each. Each family adopts everyone else's family to form one large network of support. Children can move freely between many different sets of parents as needed, which promotes a general atmosphere of familial harmony. Both their economic and political systems are structured to limit the amount of wealth or power any one person can accumulate, which keeps most citizens more or less equal within their society. Everyone's differences are valued and people approach all problems with logic and calmness. It's a true paradise.

As Will learns more and more about this island, he is able to work through some troubling issues from his personal life and comes to adopt many of the Palanese beliefs. Island is about both his growth as a person, and about how a restructuring of what we choose to pay attention to and care for in society might bring us one step closer to an ideal world.

This was quite an odd book, to say the least. There wasn't much actual story to it; it was more like a series of conversations exploring Huxley's suggestions for society. While some of his ideas are pretty wild (like using hypnosis to eliminate all pain or communal use of hallucinogenic drugs), many of them make a lot of sense. The general tone throughout the novel was one of hope and peacefulness. Gone was the pessimism of Brave New World. The citizens in Island were a content and joyful group, and they put up with Will's initial sarcasm and endless questions very patiently. Their persistent belief in their way of life eventually change his mind about a lot of things, their persuasive explanations will undoubtedly work on a lot of readers too.

I didn't dislike my reading experience, but I did find it to be on the dry and boring side. A world without problems doesn't exactly make for a thrilling read, and I did find myself nodding off occasionally in some of the more dense sections. There is a small bit of conflict present in a plotline involving two members of Palanese royalty that have been poisoned by the consumerism and religious institutions of modern societies, but their inclusion is quite brief and feels like more of an annoyance than anything else. Their influence becomes much more important in the final pages of the novel, but a few paragraphs of action didn't change the fact that most of the novel lacked any form of conflict.

Speaking of the final pages of the novel, unfortunately, they were the low point of my reading experience. Most of the last chapter of Island is a description of an extended hallucination sequence after Will tries the mushrooms that the Palanese frequently use. Will experiences several personal revelations during this experience, but it was difficult to follow and dull. In general, I really dislike drug or alcohol-induced hallucinations in novels, so this may have been more of a personal preference issue rather than a problem with the story. Also, the last page or so of the story was disturbingly dark, in a way that felt strange and abrupt. It was a shame to end on a down note, since I had mostly enjoyed exploring the weirdness of everything that had come before, but the last part of the novel was a disappointment for me.

Island was my first utopian novel and it was a very unique reading experience. I liked diving into the strange and idyllic world that Huxley envisioned. It was not the most engaging reading experience I have ever had, but it was different enough to keep me mildly entertained. If the novel were much longer, I think my attention would have run short with it, but as it was, I made it through before I got too frustrated. I don't know if I would ever really recommend it to anyone aside from true Aldous Huxley fans, but if you are interested in him and his ideas, then Island is worth picking up. 

Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#100 on my list): 56/100 


Total Books Read in 2019: 69

Verify by Joelle Charbonneau

I'm currently teaching a unit on dystopian fiction to my eighth graders, and I needed a novel to read alongside of them. I had recently picked up Verify by Joelle Charbonneau, so I decided to give that one a shot. I had read and mildly enjoyed Charbonneau's The Testing trilogy years ago, so I figured that this would be a pretty safe pick to read quickly and recommend to my students afterward. As I was to discover, I was only kind of right.

The plot of the story follows Meri Beckley, a sixteen-year-old girl living in Chicago in the future. This version of Chicago is seemingly perfect. There is virtually no crime, and the government has made great strides in creating pristine, beautiful communities where everyone gets along and works together. As the novel begins, Meri is struggling to cope with the recent death of her mother, a prominent artist who was struck by a car several months earlier. While examining some of the artwork her mother left behind, she stumbles across a series of images that lead her to a mysterious underground group called the Stewards.

One of the leaders within this group, another teen named Atlas, begins to tell Meri facts that she didn't know existed about her world - facts that throw everything she thought she knew about her idyllic community and about her own mother into doubt. Soon, it becomes clear to Meri that she has been living in a world that is highly censored and rigidly controlled by the government, and that her mother's death was not due to a random car accident. Understanding this, Meri embarks on a mission to continue the work her mother started, and alert people to the reality of their oppression.

This book was a bit of a mess, and it's a real shame because Charbonneau had some intriguing ideas here. On the positive side, I enjoyed the novel's message about the dangers of censorship and the importance of books. It's a crucial message that is still relevant in our society today, as we grapple with the current government's stance on "fake news" and its treatment of reporters and news outlets. I also enjoyed the ways Charbonneau showed the government exerting control over the people. Getting rid of all books and paper under the guise of a recycling program, and controlling the flow of information through the tablets everyone uses in lieu of physical media was interesting and felt like something that could actually happen. Also, I really liked the cover design. It was very distinctive and ad eye-catching, and made excellent use of colors.

Unfortunately, the positive aspects in the novel were swallowed up by its problems. This novel has serious issues with characterization and pacing. Meri, Atlas, and the rest of the characters were rather flat, and it was difficult to feel engaged in their struggles. No one came alive in the story for me, and the insta-romance that was thrown in for Meri was unsatisfying and unnecessary. The pacing was very unrealistic as well, with the events of the story taking place over the course of just two or three days. This was entirely too fast for a young girl to uncover the truth about her dystopian world and lead a resistance movement. However, the short amount of time the story took place over doesn't mean that the book was fast paced. Somehow, the action of the plot felt oddly slow. There were long, boring stretches in the story. The novel as a whole just didn't feel right; it was too difficult to suspend my disbelief while reading.

Aside from these issues, there was one other aspect of the story that irked me that I must mention - the terminology used by the resistance movement. The Stewards use train lingo as code words for their operation. It's a nod to the Underground Railroad, but it didn't come across well (at least to me) at all. Everything within their operation, and I mean everything, had a train code word. People within it were classified as conductors, porters, stokers, etc. The different bases were referred to as "stations." The rooms with beds were referred to as "sleeper cars." The suicide pills members carried were referred to as "dead man's switches." Being inducted into the movement was referred to as getting a "ticket." It was too much. It didn't come across as cool or secretive; it came across as unbearably cheesy and I started cringing every time I heard a train word. More than any other issue I had with the novel, this language choice bothered me the most.

Verify is a novel with a lot of potential and great ideas, but it ultimately falls down in its execution. I was right in my initial assumption that this would be a quick read, but I was wrong in my assumption that I would be able to recommend this to students. Reluctant readers will struggle with the slow pace and avid readers will struggle with the unrealistic story elements. I'm not sure who would really, truly enjoy this story. This is book one in a planned duology, and I'm not sure that I will be picking up the second novel. Sadly, this is one of those reads that was mediocre and is destined to be forgotten as I move forward with my reading life.


Challenge Tally
Finally in 2019: 44/6 Books Read - Complete!

Total Books Read in 2019: 68

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

*This review will contain spoilers for the first two books in the series,The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife.*

Shortly after finishing (and enjoying) The Subtle Knife, I decided to pick up the final book in the His Dark Materials series next and finish off the trilogy. The Amber Spyglass picks up right where the last book ends, with Will finding and immediately losing his father, then discovering the Lyra has been kidnapped. 

This is a tough novel to summarize, as it is a sprawling and epic adventure told from the perspective of many characters and layered with lots of symbolism. Speaking generally, the first part of the novel deals with Will's attempts to rescue Lyra, and the rest of the novel deals with Will and Lyra's journey into the land of the dead and their participation in the final battle of the novel between the church, the Authority, and Lord Asriel's army. Also included in the story are sections focusing on Mary Malone, the scientist studying particle physics Lyra first meets in The Subtle Knife. She travels to an alternate dimension filled with strange creatures who need her help to save their species. She crafts the eponymous amber spyglass to analyze the Dust swirling through their atmosphere, which aids in her efforts to reverse the problems this world is facing. She is able to determine that all the rifts between the worlds, torn open through various means over time, are causing the Dust to leak out, with disastrous environmental effects. Eventually, Will and Lyra unite with her there, where they must make some difficult decisions about how to seal off all the alternate worlds from each other and move forward with their own lives.

I enjoyed reading this novel, and it did provide a satisfying end to the series. I was pleased to see my favorite character, the armored bear Iorek Byrnison, return in it, even though his part in the story was limited. I was also pleased to see Lyra regain some of the spunk she lost in the second book of the series and act like her regular, mischievous self again. I liked Will's character a little bit more in this book too. The relationship between the pair was more of a partnership this time around, instead of Lyra blindly going along with whatever Will decided was best.

While I thought this was a stronger entry in the series than The Subtle Knife was, I did struggle a bit with some elements of it. For a children's fantasy series, this was far from an easy read. The path Lyra and Will travel is long and winding, with layers of religious symbolism to it that I didn't always understand. I wasn't sure what everything in the story was meant to represent, especially the Dust, and as the Dust is the most important force in the story, this was probably not a great plot element for me to be confused about. It was easy to get lost between all the different characters, events, and symbols, and the slow pace of many of the sections made deciphering everything a challenge. Ultimately, I did like this story, but I was definitely ready for it to be done by the time I got to the end of the book.

Despite my issues, Philip Pullman's overall themes regarding kindness, personal responsibility, sacrifices, and doing the right thing just for the sake of doing right come across clearly. His stance is firmly against organized religion, and that's a position I found it fascinating to explore in a novel for young readers. The characters in this novel wage a war against God, and things do not go well for God. I was astounded and excited to discover that this was what the novels were about. I did a little research to see how often this book gets banned from school libraries, and the answer is a lot. It is one of the most challenged books of all time in the United States, a distinction that Pullman himself regards as an honor. This guy has guts and I respect his dedication to his beliefs.

So while I had mixed feelings across this series, I am very glad to have spent the time to read it this year and I liked it overall. The first novel in the series, The Golden Compass, has become one of my favorite fantasy novels, and I am still looking forward to the upcoming HBO adaptation. As far as my reading goes, I think I need a break from this world for a little while. When I am ready to return to it again, however, I can dive into Pullman's companion series to these novels, The Book of Dust. Maybe I'll finally be able to understand what the Dust is once I give those a shot. 

Challenge Tally
Finally in 2019: 43/6 Books Read - Complete!

Total Books Read in 2019: 67