The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

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⭐8/10

Not entirely sure why I started a reread, but it has been years since I went through these. I was very curious to see how they held up as I know this story very well, but have not engaged with it for well over a decade. I think about kids lit a lot, and kinda wonder if kids still dig stories like these. 

Well forget the kids, *I* still like stories like these! I don't read a ton of modern kids books, but I do think this particular sense of style needs a comeback, where the narrator is witty, where everyone has silly names, where not everything is taken TOO seriously but can still druge up some serious emotion when needed. 

I loved the setup of Aslan in this. I definitely think he is the coolest character, just as cool as I remembered. I love the way other characters talk about him, I love how mysterious he is, how he is the main good guy but very much exists in the margins of stories. I'm sure there are a million characters similar to this in books, but I'm not sure there are any as compelling. It is so incredibly bold to put a Christ figure in a kids book, but I think this is about the best you can do. 

One thing I can't really get over though, is that similar to regular old atonement theory, that scene just doesn't really make sense? Why did Aslan have to die? Isn't he literally God? Can't he just like, forgive Edmund? I think this is supposed to teach atonement to kids, but ends up making it more confusing...

Anyways, the book itself is still good. Can't say I was moved by it, but I don't think Lewis really meant for it to be that. Its mostly a light little kids story (truly, this book is surprisingly SHORT) with a few nice moments. The writing is cute, sometimes really good, but mostly just doesn't try that hard, and there is value in that. 

Is the Greta Gerwig stuff true? What a weird fit. Can't say I'm optimistic about that... 

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