Further Up and Further In: Understanding Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia was one of my favorite series as a child. It opened my eyes to a fascinating world, and is a series I still visit in my adulthood. I love it so much I have two different audio versions of the books and even imported some color hardcover books from the U.K. because I didn't think the U.S. versions of the books were of good enough quality for this series. In addition to reading the books, I also enjoy reading about the books and learning things I might have missed in my readings of them. That's why I knew I had to have a copy of Further Up and Further In: Understanding Narnia.

The book begins with the author, Joseph Pearce, explaining the proper order to read the series and touting its popularity almost 70 years later. He then discusses this series briefly in comparison with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and talks about how that even though these books are widely viewed as children's books, they are for adults as well. However, to read these books as an adult, we must first become childlike. This leads us to the next chapter that teaches us about allegory, symbolism, sacramentalism, and learning to read like an adult. The meat of the book is the next seven chapters, which devotes one chapter to each book in the series, starting with The Magician's Nephew and working us all the way to The Last Battle. The chapters range in length from 12 pages to 29 pages. I was surprised that the shortest one was the one on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but perhaps that is because it is the most well-known and straightforward one of the series. The chapter I most enjoyed reading was on The Magician's Nephew. That is my favorite book of the series, because I love a good Creation story. Pearce tackles this story, compares it to Tolkien's Creation story in The Silmarillion. He also shows us the dire warnings that Aslan gives for our world, which though the warnings benefited from hindsight, the lessons can still be applied today.

The book closes with a chapter that discusses what happened in the final book at the end. Here we get an explanation of why Susan is not there and what that means for her soul. We also see a theology of someone not knowing Christ but making it to Heaven, because he lived a good life and tried to do what is right. This is not the heresy of Universalism, but the theology of a merciful God, saving the souls of those who did not have the chance to know him, and would have accepted Him had they only had the chance to know Him. I loved reading this book, because it made me get out the series and read it again. I learned things I have missed in my previous readings, and it tells me that you can read this series many times and find something new every time. I also liked all the holes Pearce poked into the arguments of Philip Pullman, a noted atheist author and C.S. Lewis hater. I have never had to argue in defense of C.S. Lewis, but if I needed to, Further Up and Further In is the first book I would reference. If you are a lover of Narnia, like me, this is a book you need on your shelf!

This book was provided to me by TAN Books in exchange for an honest review.