How did you comprehend the ending?

[David]

Brenda wrote: "If you truly (and I mean TRULY) want to look at Gaiman's take on Narnia, he has written a highly-controversial short story about it, "The Problem of Susan."

Highly controversial only in the sense that Mr Gaiman doesn't much like CS Lewis' morality. Lev Grossman's The Magicians provides a trilogy-length critique of Narnia. Grossman's Fillory is clearly a Narnia-parallel, and indeed the plot hinges in part on questions like: what happens if you don't play by Aslan's rules.

[Scott]

Susan wrote: "I was reminded of the Silence creatures from Doctor Who--you see them and you remember and then you don't see them and you forget."

The hunger birds reminded me of the Reapers.

[Scott]

Hilary wrote: "I did care about the main character and identified with him because I found that Mr Gaiman had captured very effectively the fears, memories and illogical thoughts of childhood."

This was what made the book special, for me. I so rarely identify with boys in fiction because they are not like I was at all, and their experiences are shown through a lens of sentimentality and nostalgia that never seems realistic to me. Here, all of that nonsense is stripped away.

[Christine]

Jerry wrote: "Don't know that I have to give spoiler alert, given the thread title, but


Did anyone catch the bit at the end where the narrator said to Old. Mrs. Hempstock something to the effect "I thought th..."

I believe the Hempstocks were representative of the Maiden, mother, and Crone -- the three-faced goddess-- so prevelent in Celtic and pagan mythology.

[Ahmed]

I think Ginnie erased the narrator's memory when she squeezed his shoulde. So that he told Gran "For a moment, I thought there were two of yo." as he thought that she was Ginnie but old (like at the prologue when he fist saw the old woman).

And also when he mentioned to Gran "Next time Lettie writes from Australia,please tell her I said hello.". He thinks (like other people) that Lettie is in Australia.

And also when he was leaving and saw two moons, and when he checked he saw only a half moon (not full like at the pond), and he thought it was his imagination.

So in conclusion, all the events happened to him when he was seven were erased. and he will come back only if Lettie wants to see him (like before).

[Christine]

Christine wrote: "Jerry wrote: "Don't know that I have to give spoiler alert, given the thread title, but


Did anyone catch the bit at the end where the narrator said to Old. Mrs. Hempstock something to the effect..."

Exactly what I thought. It was brilliant that he saved the reveal until the end.

[China]

Brenda wrote: "There's a considerable tradition in children's lit about becoming Too Old to do stuff. You can't go with Peter Pan to Neverland after you grow up; after a certain point Aslan refuses to let you co..."

This certainly may be valid, but remember that his parents entered the house earlier in the book, so clearly adults can enter. Also, however, it was said that part of the house was "new. Sort of." Perhaps only a portion of it exists in, or touches our world just as Aslan's country connects all worlds.

I tend to think the purpose in his not entering at the end is more about preserving his underlying feelings about the place. A way to hold onto the magic, and the feelings of comfort and safety that the place gave him in childhood. Going in as an adult, his adult perceptions would extinguish that. This way, no matter what adulthood throws at him, he always has a place in the world to seek solace....even if he doesn't consciously know it.

This is the first of his novels I've read and I look forward to more.