Overrated - Young Adult Novel

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. What a great name for a novel. This is a book I just never connected with, though. It's a beloved children's book that I hated as a child.  I remember it being read aloud to my 5th grade class, and I remember watching the cartoon version in school, wishing it were shorter. 

As an adult I can look at the story and pinpoint the allusions and religious symbolism, but as a kid that wasn't interesting to me and just went over my head. Also, lots of the plot points don't logically make sense unless you are connecting it to religion (like Aslan dying and then coming back to life), which didn't happen in my public elementary school.

I think the biggest reason this book was so disappointing to read as a child is because the characters just aren't that developed. Aside from Edmund being bratty and Lucy being the youngest, I can't really describe them. They just aren't memorable, and so that makes it hard to get really into the adventures they have. Whereas in The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I could tell you all about Claudia and Jamie's personalities and motivation behind their actions, In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, all four kids seemed like one collective unit that acted very similar and had similar motivations.

 

In this instance, I think the movie is preferable to the book.

Also, it ended up taking me a long time to figure out what the heck a Turkish Delight was.