The Golden Compass (attempted review)

It is official; I have finished reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I will attempt to give a fair review of this book but at the end I will give what I truly think about this book and all the craziness it has cultivated among Christians. I will attempt to give what may seem to be two reviews, (1) as a reader, (2) as a Christian.

(1) This book is written for young adolescents, as this is how the local library had it listed in their directory. I was thoroughly pleased with Pullman’s writing and the descriptions that he gave of the events taking place in the life of Lyra, the main character. The story is based in a world that is “much like ours,” as Pullman says. The main plot of this book is based around Lyra’s adventures, and her discovery of what ‘dust’ is.

The dust is what spurred on most if not all of the events in this book. The dust is something that can be seen through a special camera lens, looking like little light particles resting around a person. In this world the “Church” is the ruler of the world and controls the coming and going of everyone, except for the bears and witches. This dust is something that the church is so utterly afraid of and conspires to eliminate it from the world. Done so by separating a child from its Daemon, a shape shifting creature that follows the children and express many of the emotions and expressions of the child by changing into different animals, which could easily be compared to the soul of the people in this world given to them by God.

The story is weaved so carefully and intricately around the dust that it drives the reader through page after page seeking to answer the question. “What is dust?” Pullman uses that so well throughout the book that it isn’t truly revealed until the last three chapters. The story was done so well that I liked reading it and getting engrossed in to the story of Lyra and the Dust. The ending was done extremely well and set the reader up for the next book superbly. I will eventually read the next two, in time.

(2) This is the part where my true being comes out. While this book is a great and easy read, there are some qualms that I have with what is portrayed in this book. Realize this that while I read the book, I do not and will not agree with Pullman, and at the same time I am not purporting a boycott of any of his materials (books, short stories, movies, etc.). I am merely giving you my view from what I have read.

Pullman is not as clear in putting his view of God out there as I had expected but nonetheless his philosophies do emanate from his writing. What he is very clear at is his portrayal of the church, and it is obvious that there is some angst toward “organized religion”. From the beginning of the story all the way to the end the story portrays the church as the bad guy or the antagonist. Pullman describes the church in such a way that reminded me of the church during the Crusades, where it was a know all, do all, approve all type of organization. This is obviously not the “true” church as we know it, and this portrayal could potentially be very confusing. Mainly his view of the church through this book is that it is manipulative and corrupt; it is a church that is run more like the central government of a country rather than a ministry, which tends to be very confusing and off the wall.

The other issue I have is this dust that Pullman describes as original sin. His idea is that this dust only collects/falls on a person when they reach adulthood, and then right on the last few pages Lyra the protagonist of the story decides that she wants to stop the church from eliminating the dust and make it freely open to everyone of every age. The issue here is that one original sin is on us at the time of birth into this world; something that we have inherited directly from Adam & Eve, a problem also with his view is that he uses inserts of Scripture but adds his own words to fit the story. He then willingly puts the idea on the page for the reader that original sin is not a bad issue in a person’s life.

Ultimately Pullman is a claimed Atheist and one that deeply despises Organized Religion; he is quoted on his website saying this about God and organized religion.

I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away.

Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them. (philippullman.com)

The man is against the church and against God; his books could potentially be confusing for a young mind. I would strongly recommend that as parents not letting your kids read these books unless you are ready to combat it with some good teaching. As for the movie, I really don’t know what to tell you about that I haven’t seen it yet (obviously), but boycotting and cursing this man is not going to accomplish anything at all except bolster his view of Christians. You just need to ask yourself is this movie going to be worse in spiritual content, than Evan Almighty (that had some major Biblical issues), or maybe even the DaVinci code (which was always claimed as fiction). You all know your children better than I do, but you can’t always protect them from everything there needs to be some opportunistic teaching in kids lives, don’t just let the children’s pastor do all the work for you.