Lydia's Page

All my friends loved this book when we were kids. My big secret was that I absolutely hated it. I read it over and over again, hoping I'd finally fall in love with it the way my friends had... but I never could.

I thought I might be able to appreciate it as an adult, or at least understand why it's so treasured. Alas, no. All these years later and I still don't like it.

I may not have noticed as a kid, but this time around the overt Christian themes seemed to take away from the narrative. Not that there's anything wrong with overt Christian themes (except that I'm Jewish-- Happy Chanukah!) but I felt like the heavy-handedness of its presentation bogged down what could have been a fun adventure story.

I'm all about women writing science fiction, especially in the early 60s, so I really do wish I could like this book. But I just don't.