itibaren League City, TX, Birleşik Devletler
Russian history.... the original soap opera!
This was not exactly what I expected but I did enjoy it. The author explains her motivation for writing the book was as a response particularly to those Christians who basically condemned the series without even reading the books (which touches on one of my personal pet peeves - judging something without taking the time to educate oneself about the issue at hand). She mentions an interview with JK Rowling and Rowling's comment about this uninformed opinion: "People tend to find in books what they look to find." Neal goes on to ask,"Do we really want to start determining what we will or will not read on the basis of whether the author shares our religious faith? ... Is our own faith so fragile that we dare not know what those of a different sect of Christianity, or those of undisclosed religious persuasions, or those of different religious backgrounds are thinkins?" She also references the writings of both CS Lewis and Tolkien and the similar "camps" supporting or opposing their works. What interested me the most were the specific themes, scenes, and characters Neal chose to address. Some of them were no brainers, but I'll admit she offered insights on some that I neve stopped to think about. Only the first four books in the series had been written when Neal wrote this book, and I'd love to read the revised edition to find out what she thinks about the final 3 books. Definitely worth reading if you happen to be Christian and a Harry Potter fan and have ever found yourself in the position of having to defend what I believe to be the positive (and yes, Christian) themes in the series.