Check your premises.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary

Atlas Shrugged is a story of struggle, pain, industry, love, and triumph. It follows Dagny Taggart, a railroad executive, from her first thrilling buds of excitement at getting to take over the family business to the moment when she must leave her railroad behind forever. The premise of the novel is that government regulations and attempts to "equalize" society have worn down industry mavens and caused them to quit, one by one. Dagny begins to believe that a "destroyer" exists and is getting to the tycoons just as they are at their weakest points. She spends much of the novel chasing after this "destroyer" and trying to get her fellow industry heads to remain and continue to fight against the "moochers" who are trying to use and abuse them. She finds a friend (and eventually lover) in Hank Rearden, a steel executive and creator of Rearden Metal, a new material that will revolutionize industry. He is married to a soulless bitch named Lillian Rearden, whom he eventually divorces. Dagny also has an ongoing friendship with Francisco D'Anconia, a boyhood mate of hers and Eddie Willers (Dagny's number 2 man) with whom she first dreamed of taking the world of industry by storm. He was her first love, but he mysteriously turns into a playboy who throws away his copper fortune systematically over a series of about 10 years. Dagny finds out much later that he took on this persona and destroyed his own copper company because he was leading a revolution to take the world back on his terms with his two friends, John Galt and Ragnar Danneskold. Everyone says "Who is John Galt?" when they don't know the answer to a question or they're feeling particularly hopeless, and it is only when Dagny accidentally crashes her plane into Galt's secret society in Colorado that she realizes he actually exists. Ragnar Danneskold has become a modern-day pirate, commandeering government ships and non-violently seizing what he sees as the property of the wronged industrialists. There are many other characters along the way (including Dagny's waste of space brother, Jim) but we focus mainly on these three and their battle to "stop the motor of the world" and restart it on their own terms. Dagny sees the world the industrialists have created in Colorado and simultaneously loves them for leaving and hates them for not believing that they can beat the moochers in the current world. She struggles to leave her railroad but finally does when Galt's life is in danger and she realizes there's nothing left to save. Eddie dies on the Taggart Comet's last run, throwing himself on the rails in the middle of nowhere when the Comet can no longer run and no one can fix it. Galt is captured by the moochers who try to force him to take over and save the economy. They torture him but he refuses to act "at the point of a gun" and Francisco, Hank, Ragnar, and Dagny save him and they all return to their secret society in Colorado. At the end of the book, Dagny and Galt walk into the forest and he tells her that the time has come for them to return to the world.

Spoiler Over: Continue Here

So, chances are if you know me AT ALL you know I love this book. Some of you may find this incongruous with the message of Atlas Shrugged which many mis-translate as a pure love of corporate greed. I have read this book at least 3 times before, and I truly believe after slowly and methodically reading her philosophy this time around that she is very often drastically over-simplified and mis-represented. Aside from the philosophy, I also think that Rand is an eloquent prose writer and lyricist and writes what I think is one of the best plots in any classic novel ever written.

There were some great names in this book (just very descriptive and indicative of personalities):

Moochers: Balph Eubank, Tinky Holloway, Wesley Mouch, Dr. Flloyd Ferris, Claude Slagenhop
Industrialists: Hank Rearden, Ragnar Danneskold, Francisco D'Anconia

I starred my favorite passages as I went alon. Here they are, in no particular order:

-Francisco and Rearden throwing clay at a furnace leak -- Hank really wants to be Francisco's friend, and he can tell that underneath the playboy facade is a true brother-in-arms. This is the first moment when Hank realizes that Francisco is really burning with a tension to keep his true industrial spirit hidden. They perform an old technique of literally throwing clay at a broken furnace part in Rearden's mills and Rearden is amazed that Francisco knows this technique and the two attack the vicious and dangerous crisis with camaraderie. Fantastic scene.

-Dagny taking Lillian's bracelet -- Hank makes his wife a bracelet out of Rearden Metal (it's the first thing forged of the new material) and as usual, she scoffs and makes fun of him and accuses him of just giving her a present to show off his newest creation. Hank sees it as the culmination of a decade of gargantuan effort to revolutionize not just the steel industry but any industry that could use this metal, from kitchenware to railroad ties. When Dagny hears Lillian making jokes about the bracelet to her moocher friends at a party, telling them she'd gladly swap it for a diamond bracelet, Dagny strolls right up to Lillian and offers her diamond bracelet in exchange. This is before Hank and Dagny are romantically involved, and are just business associates, but it's when we first see that their kinship in this world of desperate wannabes and I love imagining the look on Lillian's flabbergasted face. Lillian later accuses Dagny of making people think that she and Hank are having an affair because she sees Dagny at a party still wearing the bracelet, and Dagny blatantly refuses to take it off.

-The John Galt line's first run -- Dagny creates a pioneering new rail line that cuts across Colorado and the western states, and as an f-you to society's indifference, she calls it the John Galt line. It runs on a track made entirely of Rearden Metal (the first use of it publicly) and as she and Hank ride the freight train on the first run, they see that men all across the line have taken up arms to guard the rail all along the way. Still gives me the shivers.

-Dinner at Ellis Wyatt's -- Ellis Wyatt is an oil tycoon who is instrumental in Colorado's business boom in the book, and after the John Galt line's first run, he has Hank and Dagny over to his house in the middle of nowhere. This is the first time we get to see the hard-working industrialists break bread together, and it's also the first time that Dagny and Hank sleep together.

-Ragnar gives Rearden a bar of gold -- Part of the rules of the secret society are that no money from the outside world is to be spent there. In order to make this a reality, they deal only in gold. Ragnar has been stealing gold from various moochers and creating bank accounts in industrialists' names in the secret Colorado valley, claiming it as restitution for their suffering. He approaches Hank as he's walking from the mills to his home one night and presents him with a bar of gold to let him in on the secret. Hank is horrified and still disagrees with the extreme measures Ragnar is taking, but when the police approach them and ask if he's seen the famous pirate around (because he has an enormous price on his head), Hank looks straight at Ragnar and tells them that he's a business associate. We also realize that Hank was ready to shoot the policeman after they move on. I love the way Rand makes it clear that Hank and Dagny have such immense respect and kinship with Ragnar and Galt and Francisco but they are still completely conflicted about how they've chosen to conduct their revolution.

-Dagny escapes to the cabin -- Dagny tries to quit once before the true end of Taggart Transcontinental. The moochers have passed a "Unification plan" that requires, among other things, that companies produce exactly the same amount they did previously, that all patents become public property, and that all workers remain in their current positions. Rearden is forced to sign a "Gift Certificate" making the production process for Rearden Metal public knowledge because the moochers threaten to reveal his affair with Dagny and ruin her reputation. Dagny disappears to her family cabin, and Francisco comes to meet her, believing that she's finally ready to hear the truth of what he's been up to this past decade and join her in the secret valley. While he's there, though, she receives word that the Comet was sent into the Taggart Tunnel with a bad engine and the wrong type of fuel, causing a major explosion and the death of all the passengers. She can't stand to let incompetency win and let her railroad fail, so she returns. (She's VP, by the way. Jim is the "face" of the railroad, but Dagny really runs it.) This is a tough scene to read, because you think she's finally given in and her suffering will be over, but it's nowhere near over, and Francisco has to let her go again.

My apologies for the length this post has already achieved, but the book IS nearly 1200 pages. So cut me some slack. :) As the awful moochers would say, "It's not my Fault! No one can BLAME me! It's beyond my control!"

-Francisco discovers Rearden loves Dagny and Rearden discovers Francisco loves Dagny -- So as I mentioned previously, Rearden and Dagny are having an affair, and Francisco was Dagny's first love (and would still be her love if he hadn't seemingly turned into a wasteful playboy). Hank and Francisco have a friendship despite their fundamental disagreement over Francisco's strange behavior, and when Francisco ruined Hank by destroying one of his own mines, he told Hank, "I swear to you by the woman I love that I am your friend." Francisco shows up at Dagny's apartment one night, and as they're talking, Hank enters, using his own key. The moment is rife with emotion and pain and recognition and realization and heartbreak; Francisco realizes what it means if Hank has a key, Hank realizes what it means that Francisco is here, alone, with Dagny, and even though she hasn't done anything physical with Francisco since she and Hank got together, it's all too much for Rearden and he slaps Francisco in the face. Later when their secrets are all revealed and Francisco's motives are clear, Rearden begs forgiveness for his actions because he and Francisco are dear friends, but this moment is pure intensity.

-Dagny crashes in -- Dagny literally crashes into Galt's secret valley in Colorado. It's protected by a rayscreen that makes it look like it doesn't exist, but she follows Galt because he's just convinced Quentin Daniels, a brilliant young scientist, to quit and join them. Dagny hired Daniels to try to re-create the unfinished motor that she found (a motor that would revolutionize industry, and which she later finds out was of Galt's design) and she's so upset at his impending departure that she follows Galt in a plane to what she assumes will be her death by flying into what looks like a mountain range. She crashes her plane and sustains minor injuries, but what's so crazy is that because she can't send word out to the world that she's in the valley (no communication is permitted) Hank and Francisco spend weeks searching the mountains for the wreckage of her plane. They are both utterly heartbroken and desolate, thinking that she has died, and Francisco discovers when he comes to the valley that she is safe and, as they call her, a "scab" because she has a rightful place in the valley but hasn't agreed to give up on the outside world just yet. She gets to stay for a month while she recuperates and then she returns to the world. Poor Hank is left crawling over every inch of the mountains looking for Dagny, and she can't send him word that she survived until she actually returns, fully a month later.

-Dagny falls for Galt -- So it may seem to the outsider that Dagny has QUITE A FEW MEN after her in this novel, and... SHE DOES. She already told me she's going to share, so I think I'll take Rearden. AND FRANCISCO. She can have Galt. When she crashes in and she wakes up on the floor of the valley, she looks into this stranger's eyes (Galt) and simply says, "We never had to take any of it seriously, did we?" To which he responds, simply, "No, we never had to." The complete story of who he is and how he came to lead this revolution with Francisco and Ragnar comes to light over the next month, but this first few days when Dagny stay's at Galt's place and works to earn her keep by making him breakfast and ironing his shirts (as a paid servant, not a flimsy housewife) and falls deeply, madly in love with him are the best. She spends most of the month there trying not to reveal that she adores Francisco as a friend but she LOVES Galt, but it finally comes out. Dagny finally decides on the last day that she will return to the world, and Galt has said that he's undecided as to whether he will return. Just after Dagny makes her decision, Francisco turns to Galt and asks if he's made his decision. To which Galt immediately replies, "Yes. I'm going back." Francisco pieces it together, and Dagny finally receives confirmation that Galt loves her as much as she loves him. I just love the playful way that Galt pretends he hasn't made a decision and then MYSTERIOUSLY decides to return when Dagny decides to return.

-Dagny and Galt in the Taggart Terminal tunnels -- Tongue twister! Okay, so this as a euphemism. What I really meant to say was, "Dagny and Galt GET IT ON in the Taggart Terminal tunnels. When they return to the world, they have to pretend not to know each other (because it's become dangerous for Galt to be known for who he really is) but he's been working as a lowly track worker at Taggart Transcontinental for 10 years to "keep an eye on her". (I know, borderline STALKING, since he chats it up with Eddie Willers to get the scoop on Dagny, but it's mostly adorable and only 10% creepytastic). She can't stand not talking to him, though, so she gets him to follow her into one of the tunnels and they have mad, passionate sex. Then they go back to pretending they don't exist. Which is understandably a challenge.

-Hank discovers Dagny loves Galt -- I feel like we could do a mad lib with this line... "_________ discovers ________ loves ______." There's a lot of that going on here. When Dagny returns from the valley and Hank realizes she wasn't actually hurt that badly, he realizes she must have another reason for staying away so long. She confesses on the radio LIVE that she had an affair with Hank (to throw it in the moocher's faces, because they were trying to blackmail her to keep it a secret and she was like, What now, bitches!) but the whole time she talks about their affair she uses the past tense. When she meets up with Hank later that night, she doesn't know how to tell him that she was in a secret valley and fell in love with someone else, but he stops her and tells her he already knows. She's all, how could you? And he says, in a darling and tender turn of events, "The whole time you spoke of our affair, you used the past tense." It's a great literary trick and so perceptive of Hank.

Guess what, THERE ARE MORE! This IS my Favorite book. So there.

-"Frank Adams" saves the mills and Rearden -- Rearden's mills are mobbed by a vicious group of thugs under the moochers' orders and one man, a new furnace foreman leads the battle against the mob and saves Rearden from getting shot. This "Frank Adams" turns out to be Francisco D'Anconia, who began working for Rearden the same day that he blew up all of his own copper mines. Great, great scene. Also when Rearden is finally "taken" by the secret society.

-The Wet Nurse is shot -- Rearden has a Washington man assigned to him to deal with all the regulations and implement the new laws, and he's a young man Rearden calls the Wet Nurse. He has a change of heart over the course of the novel and ends up realizing that he'd rather protect Rearden from regulation and moochery than impose the government's whims on him. He even tries to get a real job from Rearden, to train and work in the mills, but Rearden points out that under the Unification plan, he'd be tried as a deserter if he tried to leave his job as the government flunky. Rearden is held up in a meeting with the moochers in New York when the mob happens, but he leaves and returns to Philadelphia before they intend and comes upon the Wet Nurse on the back road to the mills. The Wet Nurse tried to stem the tide of the mob and the government's thugs shot him in the back. Rearden realizes that the Wet Nurse dragged himself nearly 100 yards to try to get to the road to tell someone about the mob. Rearden holds the Wet Nurse in his arms as he dies. This scene never fails to make me cry.

-Galt's speech - Galt makes a 60-page, 3 hour long speech on the radio when the moochers are trying to make a speech about how to save the economy. He hijacks the airwaves and describes his philosophy and his plan to remake the world. He lets the moochers know that he can rebuild if they'll "get the hell out of the way". This was the first time I read the entire speech, word for word. It's worth it.

-Dagny goes to Galt's house -- After the speech, the entire country is trying to find Galt, and since he's stopped working at her railroad, she doesn't know whether he's dead or alive. Finally, she can't take it anymore, and she goes to his apartment. He realizes immediately that she has led the moochers straight to him, but he can't blame her because he was dying to see her, too. When the moochers' thugs show up, Dagny has to pretend to hate Galt and to have come to find him herself because otherwise they'll know how much she means to him and torture her to get to him. Galt is prepared to be tortured himself, but promises he'll kill himself before he'll let them torture her. This reminded me of the Hunger Games (which I read while I was reading this book - books one and two are GREAT and the third book is simply WRONG WRONG WRONG) and when Gale and Katniss each promise they'll kill the other before they let them get captured and tortured. They of course, fail to do so (who can really shoot their best friend/lover?) but it was a similar sentiment. When the doorbell rings and the moochers' thugs had arrived, I had to stop reading and go to Dennis's RA meeting and it was SO HARD! But then I came back and they opened the door.

-Francisco's note -- When Galt is taken prisoner after Dagny comes to find him, Dagny receives this note from Franciso:
"Dagny:
Sit tight. Watch them. When he'll need our help, call me at OR 6-5693.
F."

-Galt is saved -- Rearden, Dagny, Ragnar, and Francisco come to save Galt. The moochers have finally decided they can't get him to do what they want without the use of force, and even though they know in their hearts that he won't respond to torture, and that if they kill him, they'll all perish, they torture him anyway. Dr. Ferris uses this strange newfangled machine to torture Galt through electric shocks that don't leave permanent damage, but the machine breaks during the torture. In an ironic twist, no one in the room knows how to fix it (the men of the mind have departed) and Galt raises his head and calmly describes how to fix the machine so they can continue to torture him. At this, James Taggart has a total nervous breakdown (and says things like, "He hasn't even SCREAMED yet!" and finally realizes that he's lost it and Dr. Ferris and Wesley Mouch have to take him away. During this time, Rearden, Dagny, Ragnar, and Francisco break in (and I won't spoil it for you because it's really one of the best scenes in the whole book) and then Ragnar flies them back to the valley in his plane. We find out in flight that the entire male population of the valley flew out as well and were ready to storm the building to save Galt.

-The title of this post comes from Hugh Akston, the philosophy professor who taught Ragnar, Francisco, and Galt in college. He stresses to Dagny that if she thinks contradictions exist, she should check her premises. I love this (it comes up quite often in the book) because it's a great line, but it also reminds me of the scene in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when the professor asks the Pevensie children whether they are usually inclined to trust Lucy or Edmund after Edmund has been telling them that Lucy is making up Narnia and that she's crazy. When they say they're inclined to trust Lucy and the professor suggests that they should then perhaps believe in Narnia, they're flabbergasted (as was I!); it's only later in the series that we realize that the Professor is in fact Digory and he not only discovered Narnia, he created it.

The last thing Galt says to Dagny is, "The road is cleared. We are going back to the world."

Once again, I must put down my favorite novel and go back to the world. Onwards to timepieces and fruit.

Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary

Nota Bene: I will be summarizing in chronological order of events according to Narnia, not according to the order in which the books were published. (My book set, when rearranged chronologically, becomes 6, 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 7.)

The Magician's Nephew (Originally Book 6)

This is the story of Polly and Digory and how Narnia came to be. (Okay, just for the record, I just wrote "this is the story of Cedric and Diggory and how Narnia came to be. WHOOPS! Cedric's dead and now he's a vampire.) Digory and Polly are neighbors, and while exploring their neighborhood, they end up in Digory's Uncle Andrew's secret attic. He uses them as guinea pigs for his magic rings, which he postulates send people to other worlds. Uncle Andrew sends off an unwitting Polly, and then he bullies Digory into going after her. The children end up in a "wood between worlds" which is quiet and dreamy and has many pools. Each pool sends you to a different world. They explore one world (which turns out to be Charn) and accidentally awaken an evil witch named Jadis who has frozen her whole world in time. She follows them back to London, causes a ruckus by trying to take over and causing a carriage accident, and eventually the children, Jadis, Uncle Andrew, the carriage driver, and a horse all end up in Narnia. Here they meet a talking lion, Aslan, who tells them that to make up for bringing evil to Narnia (a new land) they must fetch an apple which, when planted, will protect Narnia. Digory and Polly travel on a flying horse (of course!) to fetch said apple, where they run into Jadis, who tries to convince Digory to steal an apple for his mother (who is very sick) instead of taking it to Aslan. Digory ultimately resists and returns to Aslan with the apple, but they find out that the witch will continue to exist in Narnia and will cause future trouble. The two children and Uncle Andrew are sent back to London, Polly and Digory become great friends, Digory is allowed to bring the apple back to his mother and heal her, and Digory becomes the quirky professor featured in the next book.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Originally Book 1)

This one is definitely the classic of the series. If you've read one of them, you've probably read this one. It features the four children of the Pevensie family - Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter - and their adventure into Narnia. They are sent to stay with the Professor (aka Digory from the previous novel) during WWII, and in exploring the house, they discover a wardrobe that leads to Narnia. Lucy discovers it first and is befriended (and almost betrayed) by a faun named Mr. Tumnus. When she returns, however, none of the others believe her. They think she's gone mad until Edmund stumbles into Narnia later on himself. While he's there, though, he befriends the White Witch, who convinces him that he should bring his brothers and sisters to her and she will make him a Prince of Narnia. (She also treats him to some Turkish Delight! Who can resist a witch with Turkish Delight? Actually, I think Turkish Delight is quite gross. But perhaps you would be swayed!) Edmund (the nasty boy that he is at first) tells Lucy he's gotten into Narnia, but when asked to tell Susan and Peter the truth, claims he was only playing a joke on Lucy. Eventually, all four children gain entrance through the back of the wardrobe and Peter and Susan realize Lucy has been telling the truth all along. Lucy finds her friend Mr. Tumnus has been kidnapped by the White Witch (for befriending her, a daughter of Eve) and the children eventually are led by a series of animals to a friendly talking beaver couple. Edmund slips off to the White Witch and tries to reveal the children's plans to meet up with Aslan and the other talking animals to rebel against the Witch, but the Witch enslaves him and he sees that she really is evil. Aslan sacrifices himself on the Stone Table to save Edmund. The Witch kills Aslan (and in a way that is totally NOT reminiscent of Jesus at all) and then SOOPRIZE! Aslan comes back to life. He defeats the Witch in a battle and the children become kings and queens of Narnia. They reign for decades until one day they chance back upon the lamppost by the old wardrobe. They return to London, only to find that no time at all has passed in their world.

The Horse and His Boy (Originally Book 5)

This story, unlike the others, does not focus mainly on children from our world. It centers around a boy named Shasta who is living in Calormen, a country near Narnia, and is poor and mistreated by his father. He dreams of Narnia and loves the stories of talking animals, but feels trapped. He decides to run away with a horse, Bree, who turns out to be a talking horse. During his flight, he runs into Aravis, a Tarkheena girl who comes from a well-off family but was promised to a creepy old dude. (Gross!) Aravis's horse, Hwin, is also a talking horse. Shasta is mistaken for Corin, a prince of Archenland (another neighboring country) and taken in by Susan and Edmund, who are visiting Tashbaan (a town in Calormen) because Susan is being courted by the vizier, Rabadash. Shasta eventually escapes from the Narnians (though he is sad to leave them) and meets back up with Aravis, Bree, and Hwin. They have uncovered a plot to attack Narnia (while Aravis was in Tashbaan she had to hide with a friend and they overheard) and so they ride as fast as they can to Archenland to warn them. Aravis is clawed by a lion just as they reach a hermit's house, but they make it, and Shasta is sent on to warn the Archenlanders. He meets Aslan on the way and learns all about Narnia, and when he tells the Archenlanders, he sneaks into the fight with Corin (whom he met and bonded with earlier just before escaping from Susan and Edmund). Everyone realizes that (TA DAH!) Shasta is really Cor, Corin's twin (but slightly older) brother who went missing at birth. Rabadash is captured and Aslan turns him into a donkey temporarily (with instructions on how to turn back into a man), and warning that if he ever strays too far from Tashbaan, he'll be turned back into a donkey.

Prince Caspian (Originally Book 2)

This story is all about how Prince Caspian takes his rightful place as heir to the Narnian throne. His uncle, King Miraz, has taken a page out of Hamlet and killed Caspian's dad. Caspian's tutor, Doctor Cornelius, tells him all about Narnia and the truth, and he sends Caspian away to save him because his uncle Miraz has a son and Cornelius knows Caspian will be killed. Caspian ends up gathering up the talking beasts (bit by bit) and getting some help from Trufflehunter the badger and Nikabrik and Trumpkin the dwarves. They are no match for Miraz's army, though, so Caspian blows Susan's ancient horn for help, and meanwhile the Pevensie children are called back to Narnia. They're confused at first because their castle is in ruins and Narnia is unrecognizable (a great deal of time has passed) but they figure things out and gather up their swords and armor. They find Trumpkin, who was sent to look for them but had been captured by Miraz's men. They convince him they are former queens and kings of Narnia, and they go to Caspian's aid. Because they are outnumbered, Peter challenges Miraz to one-on-one combat to settle the battle. Miraz assents, Peter wins, but Miraz's men betray him and continue to fight. The trees come to life (with Aslan's help) and scare Miraz's men away, winning the battle for Caspian and the rest of the Narnians. Prince Caspian takes his rightful throne and the children are sent back to London.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Originally Book 3)

This one starts out with Lucy and Edmund visiting Eustace, their annoying and snobbish cousin. The three of them are pulled into Narnia through a painting, and they find themselves at sea and being pulled onto the Dawn Treader, Caspian's ship. Caspian has been ruling Narnia with great peace and joy, and so he has gone off to search for several lords who were friends of his father and never returned from a trip sailing to the end of the earth (IMAGINE that). They find many adventures along the way, including some very silly Monopods, some frightening nightmare monsters, mermaids (the scary kind; think Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), people who used to be stars, and, at last, the end of the world. Eustace is turned into a dragon for awhile (every boy who is bad should be at some point) and then he meets Aslan and is turned back into a much more penitent and pleasant version of himself. They find all of the lords (though not all of them are alive) and Reepicheep leaves them at the end of the world to go into Aslan's Land. Caspian wants to go, but it's not his time, so he returns to Narnia and Lucy, Eustace, and Edmund are returned to London.

The Silver Chair (Originally Book 4)

Our main characters in this novel are Eustace and his friend Jill Pole from school. They are pulled into Narnia unexpectedly while trying to escape some bullies, and sent on a mission to rescue Prince Rilian, Prince Caspian's son, who disappeared many years ago. They are joined by Puddleglum, a rather depressed Marsh-Wiggle (of COURSE you know what that is, so I won't explain), and they journey forth with a set of commands from Aslan. They inevitably forget the commands along the way, and end up almost getting eaten by giants. They end up trapped underground in the hands of an Emerald Witch (no relation to the White Witch, I think. I'm only partially joking.) who tells them that her prince (who they don't realize is Rilian at first) has fits of madness at night and must be tied up in a silver chair that restrains him. They witness one of his fits, and after some uncertainty, they realize that he is in fact the Prince Rilian they have come to save and they set him free. The Witch finds them and tries to trick them into believing that no other world exists, and her magic almost works, but Puddleglum refuses to forget Narnia (by burning his foot; long story) and when the witch turns into a serpent, Eustace, Puddleglum, and Rilian manage to kill her. They escape from the underground and return to Narnia, only to reunite Rilian and Caspian on Caspian's deathbed. But Aslan does his magic tricks (like ALWAYS) and pseudo brings Caspian back to life so he can say hi to Eustace (who traveled with him in the Dawn Treader) and then Eustace and Pole go back to London (and Aslan comes back and helps them scare off the bullies).

The Last Battle (Originally Book 7)

Prince Tirian is now ruling Narnia, and Jewel the Unicorn is his bestie pal (unicorns make the BEST friends, I always say). Meanwhile, an ape named Shift (who is shifty) convinces an unwitting donkey (who thinks he's his friend) named Puzzle to put on a lion's skin and pretend to be Aslan. Shift eventually does all sorts of nasty things, and teams up with the Calormen and turns the talking beasts into their slaves. Tirian calls for help from the daughters of Eve and sons of Adam, and Eustace and Pole come to his aid. They team up with a few other talking beasts and one dwarf and rescue Jewel and the donkey, Puzzle, who is very apologetic. They wage war with the Calormen, but the Calormen launch a sneak attack and kill a great deal of Narnians. The Calormen believe in a god called Tash, but when he actually appears, they are very surprised and frightened. He's some sort of scary demon bird/man. Shift and the Calormen tell the talking beasts (who are still suspicious about Aslan even though Puzzle has been revealed as a fake) that they can meet the real Aslan in the stable, but that he is "no tame lion", so they should beware. Eventually, pretty much everyone ends up in the stable, and Tirian is surprised to find that it is not scary, but it is a link to Aslan and his country. The dwarves (who decided to stand alone and fight both the Calormen and the Narnians) are there but they are stuck seeing just a stable, while Tirian sees all the daughters of Eve and sons of Adam that have visited Narnia (except Susan, who apparently was BAD). Then Aslan takes the stars out of the sky and ruins the earth and brings creepy dragons and then all the animals go through something that is totally DIFFERENT from ascension, and he chooses who will come to his country and who will be stuck in dead Narnia. Tirian and all the children go on to Aslan's country, which is a like a better version of Narnia. They want to stay, and then, guess what? They can, because they DIED IN A TRAIN ACCIDENT. Yes. The end.

Spoiler Over: Continue Here

So, I loved the humor and levity of the earlier books, and I still love the overall series, but the Christian overtones are really heavy-handed, especially later on, which I found a bit annoying and unoriginal.

Here are my thoughts, book by book (I'll try to keep them somewhat short!)

The Magician's Nephew:
-Uncle Andrew is a jerk, but the line he feeds Digory to get him to follow Polly is pretty funny: "Oh very well then. Just as you please. Go down and have your dinner. Leave the little girl to be eaten by wild animals or drowned or starved in Other World or lost there for good, if that's what you prefer. It's all one to me. Perhaps before tea time you'd better drop in on Mrs. Plummer and explain that she'll never see her daughter again because you were afraid to put on a ring."
-When Jadis breaks the lamppost in the carriage accident, she accidentally brings it to Narnia and it gets planted. Because Narnia is new, the lamppost grows, and it becomes the lamppost of Lantern Waste by the wardrobe.
-The talking animals in Narnia don't know what to make of Uncle Andrew, and he is very dirty and unconscious, so they plant him. Like a tree. And then they water him. A.m.a.z.i.n.g.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:
-Of all the scenes in Narnia, I think I will always love Lucy's tea with Mr. Tumnus the best. It's a very short scene, and not particularly memorable, but I have very fond feelings about it.
-When the children fight and they want to reconcile, they say "Make it Pax." Thought you'd like that tidbit, Mommy!
-When the children think that Lucy is lying, the Professor asks them whether Edmund or Lucy is usually the one to tell the truth. Since Lucy is normally truthful, the Professor accepts that there must be other worlds that Lucy has discovered. I always thought the Professor was so COOL for a grown-up, but now it makes sense knowing that he's Digory, and of course he knows about Narnia - he helped create it!
-When the animals plan their attack for the battle, Aslan refers to "us lions", and the other talking lion is exceedingly pleased. "Did you hear what he said? Us lions. That means him and me. That's what I like about Aslan, no side, no stand-offishness. Us lions. That meant him and me." I love this moment.

The Horse and his Boy:
-Tumnus and Corin are close friends and they talk about going to dances and festivals and it's super adorable.
-Who is the King of Archenland? King Lune. OF COURSE! (Alexis, please tell your husband that he needs to tend to his people. The Archenlanders. If he needs directions, it's just between Calormen and Narnia. MMkay?)
-So, the lion that clawed Aravis? That was Aslan. He was "teaching her a lesson" because she got her servant whipped when she was making her escape. I understand the moral lesson, but hrm.....a little too eye for an eye for my taste.
-Bree is most concerned about whether or not Narnian horses roll. He used to live in Narnia, but he can't remember if talking horses roll, or if it's a common animal thing he picked up in Calormen. He agonizes over this. A-dorable.

Prince Caspian:
-Lucy decides to call Trumpkin their D.L.F. (dear little friend). He's not wild about the nickname (being a VICIOUS and brave dwarf and all) but he allows it.
-When Peter needs marshals for his one-on-one battle with Miraz, one of the Three Bulgy Bears asks to be a marshal. Trumpkin whispers to Peter, "Don't let him. He's a good creature, but he'll shame us all. He'll go to sleep and he will suck his paws." Peter says he can, as long as he doesn't suck his paws. The bear promises not to, at which point Trumpkin points out that he is doing it right at that very moment. (Incidentally, in the battle, the bear does in fact suck his paws.)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
-The Monopods (or the Dufflepuds) are silly and not very smart dwarves who a magician has turned into one-footed dwarves that look like they have mushrooms stuck to their feet. In explaining to Lucy why he has made them one-footed (and why he made them invisible), he relates, "You wouldn't believe the troubles I've had with them. A few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner: they said it saved time afterwards. I've caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up." Tee hee hee. Silly dufflepuds!
-Reepicheep shows the Monopods/Dufflepuds that they can use their mushroom feet like boats. They love this, and they have boat races all night long for bottles of wine.
-After the Dufflepuds are renamed Monopods, they love the name but can't quite get it right. "That's what we are,' they bellowed, 'Moneypuds, Pomonods, Poddymons. Just what it was on the tips of our tongue to call ourselves." MONEYBAGS!

The Silver Chair:
-Just for the record, I couldn't find this book just now. Where did I find it? UNDER A SLEEPING SUZY.
-Puddleglum is my FAVORITE character. He is absolutely hilarious. When the children first meet him, he tells them they can try to light a fire. "You could light it inside the wigwam, and then we'd get all the smoke in our eyes. Or you could light it inside, and then the rain would come and put it out. Here's my tinder box. You wouldn't know how to use it I expect?"
-When Eustace comments on the weather, Puddleglum replies, "Very likely, what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we'll hardly notice the weather. And if we don't get far enough to do any good, we may get far enough not to get back in a hurry."
-Puddleglum claims the other Marsh-Wiggles think he's too chipper, to which he responds, "Now a job like this - a journey up north just as winter's beginning, looking for a Prince that probably isn't there, by way of a ruined city that no one has ever seen - will be just the thing. If that doesn't steady a chap, I don't know what will."
-The Witch tells them to find Giant-Land to join them for their upcoming festive supper. What they don't realize until they read the entries in the cookbook -- Mallard, Man... -- is that they are to be the supper. Whoops!

The Last Battle:
-Jewel comforts Puzzle when he first joins them by talking about things they "have in common", like sugar and the care of one's hoofs. Adorable.
-Susan doesn't make the final cut. Cautionary tale, much, Lewis? Apparently she's too into herself. Not a great reason to miss out on heaven (I mean, ASLAN's COUNTRY! SOO not the same thing.)
-In Aslan's Country, all the old familiar faces are there -- the Bulgy Bears, Reepicheep, Caspian, and PUDDLEGLUM!
-Not to be a downer, but Lewis wraps things up by KILLING the children. He's all, oh, whoopsies! There was a railway accident in your world, so you died but it's okay because now your REAL existence begins. And it's so amazing and wonderful but I can't tell you about it because you've never been there and I've never been there. Mmm hm.. SUUUUUUURE.

All told, some moments of brilliance, and some really fun characters and fantastic humor. If I had to rank the series so far, I'd say (1) Harry Potter, (2) Lord of the Rings, (3) Chronicles of Narnia. Although I told Diana that I'd like to raise my children not on explicit Christianity but on a regimen of novels and morals, so I think they'll have a chance at enjoying them without the overwhelming Christ and God metaphors. And also hopefully they won't catch on to the xenophobia/latent anti-Muslim feel to some of the books...

Onwards to a world in crisis, a beautiful lady, and mavens of industry.

For you, a thousand times over.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary
The Kite Runner is a story about love, friendship, betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption. It centers around two boys, Amir and Hassan, who grow up together in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hassan and his father, Ali, are Amir and his father, Baba's servants, due to the fact that Hassan and Ali are Hazara, a particular ethnicity who are forced into a lower caste in Afghan society in part because they are Shi'a Muslims, while the Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims. Despite the difference in their respective castes, Hassan and Amir grow up like brothers. Amir is constantly fighting for Baba's affection, and hates that his father seems to share as much (if not more) affection and love for Hassan. The story pivots around a moment that occurs when Amir and Hassan are 12; (NOTE: this is graphic, and not for children's eyes); Amir wins a kite-flying competition, and after Hassan runs for the last kite (a great honor) and catches it, he is cornered by the local vicious bully and raped. Amir watches and does nothing, too terrified to intervene. Their relationship goes downhill in the coming weeks, and Amir, eaten alive by his guilt, frames Hassan and claims he has stolen from the family. Hassan is, in reality, unbelievably good and kind and would never do such a thing, but his father, Ali, finally having been clued in on all that happened, decides that he must take his son away. Baba is heartbroken, and tries to get them to stay, but they leave. Amir and Baba leave Afghanistan a few years later because of the Russian occupation and move to America. Amir eventually marries Soraya, an Afghan woman, and Baba dies of cancer. Amir and his wife are unable to have children. Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan, his father's old friend, and Rahim asks him to come to Pakistan. When Amir arrives, he finds Rahim Khan near death from illness. Rahim divulges to him Hassan's life since Amir left for America, and tells him that Hassan and his wife and son ended up moving back to Amir's old house (and living in the servant hut) while Rahim lived in the house. They led a happy life for awhile, but when the Taliban took over Kabul, they massacred the Hazaras. They arrived one day claiming that rumours had gone around that Hazaras were living in a mansion in Mazar-e-Sharif, Amir's neighborhood. Hassan denied it, but when the Taliban threatened to occupy the house and he protested, they shot him in the street. His wife ran out to stop them, so they shot her too. Sohrab, their son, was sent to an orphanage, and Rahim Khan asks Amir to find him. Amir is not at all interested in going to Kabul, and almost refuses, at which point Rahim Khan (who by the way knows everything about what has happened between Amir and Hassan) reveals that Ali, Hassan's father, was impotent, and in fact, Baba is Hassan's father. He dishonored Ali by sleeping with Sanaubar, Hassan's mother, and so Hassan is actually Amir's half brother. Amir is, of course, furious that this secret has been kept from him, but he agrees to go to Kabul. He goes to Kabul, only to find that Sohrab has been sold by the orphanage to the Taliban. He confronts the Taliban leader, who turns out to be Assef, the very same bully who assaulted Hassan decades before. Assef taunts Amir, and tells him he finally has it coming to him. They fight until Amir is near death when Sohrab (who Assef has been using as a slave and sexually abusing) holds his slingshot up to Assef and tells him he must stop. Assef won't, so Sohrab shoots a brass ball into Assef's eye. Amir and Sohrab escape, and Amir is nursed back to health in a hospital in Peshawar. Amir tries to set Sohrab up with an adoption agency run by two Americans recommended by Rahim Khan, only to find out that no such agency exists. He realizes Rahim Khan's motives, and decides to adopt Sohrab. The process is incredibly challenging however, and he ends up having to go back on his promise to Sohrab that he would never send him back to an orphanage. Overwhelmed and emotionally broken, Sohrab attempts suicide, ironically just as Amir receives news that a friend of the family will be able to help them bypass the orphanage requirement and he will be able to bring Sohrab home immediately. Sohrab is treated in a hospital and Amir eventually takes him home, but Sohrab doesn't speak for nearly a year. The book ends with a small, but encouraging outing where Sohrab and Amir fly a kite. It closes with Amir running the kite for Sohrab.
Spoiler Over: Continue Here

So, first off, sorry if I ruined it for anyone interested in reading it, but you really should still read it. It's a tough book to stomach, not just because of the scene in the beginning or the scene at the end, but because of a few moments of really inhumane behavior, but it's also a book that centers on a very real and very upsetting event that touches all of our lives.

As always, in no particular order or structure, here are my thoughts:

- It is always an interesting experience reading a story that is told from the point of view of a protagonist you don't really like. Amir grows on you, and I think I found him unlikable because he represented the worst side of all of us when we're being petty and selfish, but he's a very believable character. I also think that you couldn't tell this story from anyone else's perspective and have the same power behind it. Just the same, I had forgotten how challenging it can be from the reader's perspective to disagree with and feel shame at the narrator's actions. This isn't to suggest that all protagonists are all good; the best ones are imperfect in just the right way. It's just hard for me to feel such tension with the character telling me the story.

- The people in Kabul treat Hassan like complete shit in this novel. I don't know exactly how true to life this is, but I really just don't understand societally-sanctioned, pervasive prejudice. I know that there are many groups persecuted and looked down upon, both here in the U.S. and in other countries across the world, but such dishonor, such hatred, such totally inhumane treatment, is hard for me to conceptualize and impossible for me to sanction. When Hassan and Amir are on their way to the movies, a man on the street insinuates that he slept with Hassan's mother. Hassan cries throughout the movie and Amir just keeps whispering, "He took you for someone else." Amir takes a back seat to the prejudice at several key points in the novel, but here he is a human, and a friend, and he is tender.

- Unlikable though he may be for the first half of the book, Amir is an obsessive reader, which I must admit, I love. He reads Hafez, Saadi, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and Ian Fleming. I love a child who loves books.

- Hassan and Amir often visit a pomegranate tree behind Amir's house, and one day, they carve into the trunk these words: "Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul." When Amir comes back decades later, the words linger, faded, but visible.

- Part of the reason Assef is so angry with Amir and Hassan at the beginning is because he tries to beat them up, but Hassan threatens him with his slingshot. He tells Assef that if he tries to hurt Amir, he will become "one-eyed Assef". Even when he is faced with Assef, a bully and a jerk, Hassan still calls him "agha", a term of respect. Amir notices how bizarre it seems that Hassan is so ingrained in his class that he uses a respectful term even in this moment.

- I found the description of kite-running quite fascinating. They roll the kite string in a mixture of shards of glass and glue, and as they fly the kites, they undercut and attack each other, slicing the kite string. The last kite in the sky is the winner, and running (and catching) the last kite is an enormous honor. Hassan runs Amir's winning kite for him, and his refusal to hand it over to Assef is what leads to his assault. Part of what keeps Amir from intervening is that he hopes bringing home the winning kite will help him to win his father's love and approval.

- Before Hassan and Amir begin the kite tournament, Hassan tells Amir about a dream he had the night before. There is a lake in town, and no one will swim in it, because they think there is a monster living in it. Amir dives in and shows the town that there is no monster, and they rename the lake after Amir and Hassan. As they leave for the tournament, Hassan whispers to Amir, "There is no monster, just a beautiful day." He is wrong; Assef is the monster.

- When Amir witnesses Assef cornering Hassan, he wonders if maybe Hassan is the price he has to pay for Baba's love. While Amir atones for this moment in many ways throughout the rest of his life, I can't help but feel that it's kind of unforgivable. And even though he's terrified and he's 12, he could use the time after the event to change the outcome of all of their lives, but he doesn't. This moment took me back to my first book on this list, 1984, and the idea that maybe I hated Winston so much because the possibility that I would not act differently scared me so much. Amir finds that Baba loves him, and that is enough to cloud the guilt; the power of a parent's love (or lack thereof) is a thing to be reckoned with.

- After ignoring Hassan for weeks and not divulging the secret of what transpired in the alley to anyone, Amir takes Hassan to the pomegranate tree. He throws pomegranates at Hassan's face, hoping that Hassan will fight back. Hassan merely takes the beating, and eventually smashes a pomegranate in his own face. Hassan is almost unbearably good to Amir, and even in this moment, he is incapable of causing him harm, despite the harm Amir has done to him. In many ways, I found this the hardest scene to read.

- Amir and Baba end up having to leave Kabul at the drop of a hat. They are transported in the back of a truck part of the way out. Baba stands up for a woman who a Russian officer tries to rape as a "toll" to cross the border. They end up having to be smuggled the rest of the way to Pakistan in an oil truck, and one person ends up not making the trip because of the fumes. (There's another connection between this character and Amir, but it's complex and I'll leave it for you to read. I can't give away ALL the secrets!)

- I'm not going to get into it here, because it's a subject I have a strong opinion on and it's by no means a simple issue, but I found the treatment of women in Afghan culture (both before and after the Taliban) to be quite upsetting. Obviously it's tremendously worse with the Taliban (beatings in the street, stoning for adultery, etc) but I'm not wild about the whole "no non-chaperoned visits with boys", your honor is a one-time only deal, you should be on a separate side of the mosque, etc. thing. I know that there are totally different cultural and traditional customs, which is why I don't want to make any sweeping statements, but I just want to put it out there that I've got some concerns.

- Amir's wife, Soraya, has a complicated past - she lost her honor because she ran off with a man and did drugs and ended up being rescued and brought home by her father - but she reveals everything to Amir the night he has his father ask for her hand in marriage. He, on the other hand, does not reveal the truth of his past with Hassan until they are married for nearly 15 years. I know married people have secrets, but I find it telling that Amir withholds his, while Soraya immediately shares hers.

- Sanaubar, Hassan's mother, returns to him just before Sohrab is born. She ran off just after giving birth to him, but appears on the doorstep, bedraggled and quite ill. They nurse her back to health and she delivers Sohrab. She ends up passing away a few years later. I don't really have anything particular to say about this, other than that my only complaint about this book is that it feels a little bit like it's trying too hard to tie up loose ends. It brings just about every story line full circle, and at a certain point, I was like, "really? do we really need to resolve every relationship and every event?"

- When Rahim tells Amir about Hassan and what has happened to him in the years since Amir and his father left Kabul, Rahim gives him a letter from Hassan. Hassan was illiterate growing up, and Amir sort of withholds literacy as a trophy and a way to maintain hierarchy over Hassan. Hassan learns later on, and in his letter, he is still faithful and loving to Amir. I know that Assef is the one who is truly to blame for what happened to Hassan, but I am still amazed that he is able to forgive Amir for how he behaved after and what he did to have him sent away.

- The whole, "hassan was actually your half-brother" thing did feel a LITTLE bit like, "Luke, I am your FATHER!" But it does make sense with the rest of the story line. I think the book could have stood to be one ironic cliché or two shorter.

- There were so many parts of this book that were hard to read; the scene with Hassan and Assef, the public stoning by the Taliban at the soccer game, the grisly battle between Amir and Assef, and Sohrab's suicide attempt. I certainly wouldn't recommend this book to a child, and I'm not sure if I had a teenager I'd recommend it to them, either; it would depend on what that teenager had already experienced in his/her life. I'd probably recommend it to my old students at Fels, but not my students at Breakthrough. These things still occur to me even though I'm in grad school now :).

- As Amir watches Sohrab sleep and pulls the door closed, he has this thought: "Closing Sohrab's door, I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night." I found this line really powerful and poetic.

- Amir grows a backbone throughout the novel (though it's often kicking and screaming) and when his father-in-law, a traditional Afghan, questions his decision to adopt Sohrab, Amir tells him that he is his nephew, and practically spits out, "You will never again refer to him as 'Hazara boy' in my presence. He has a name and it's Sohrab." I actually wrote "Go, Amir!" in this part of the book, I was so pleased that he stood up for Sohrab and shirked the Afghan prejudice and bigotry.

- The book closes with Amir offering to run a kite for Sohrab. He turns and says, "For you, a thousand times over." Hassan says the same thing just before he disappears to run Amir's winning kite. This is the last time Amir sees Hassan smile.

This book is dark, and it gets at some of the deepest part of our souls. It pulls you into difficult and painful situations, but there are moments of levity and joy, too. It may not be a classic in the truest sense of the word - only time will tell - but it is certainly a well-told and well-crafted story.

I'm off to bed (and YES, I do know what time it is!) a belated Merry Christmas to you all! I'm off to Narnia and the land of Aslan.

Safe travels, sweet dreams, and kind thoughts.