I feel like C.S. Lewis and Tolkien must have felt (though I’m certainly not comparing myself to them) – there just aren’t enough of the kind of books that I like. 100 Cupboards, however, is one such book. I had a feeling it would be.
I knew that N.D. Wilson was a fan of Lewis, Tolkien, and Chesterton (all of whom I enjoy). I was familiar with him because of the ministry of his father. But I had not yet read any of his work.
I don’t know exactly what to say about this book. I didn’t come away from the book with anything profound. I didn’t feel as though my life were changed through the reading of it. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did my 6 year old daughter. Yes, my 6 year old daughter enjoyed it immensely. We couldn’t wait to go out and buy the second book in the series, Dandelion Fire, which we have already begun reading. Any book that allows you to turn your eyes away from yourself and simply enjoy the story is good enough for me.
I was amazed reading some of the reviews that some thought it was too violent for its demographic (9-12 years old, I think). I wonder what these people read. It’s less violent than the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to be sure. It’s even less violent than the Hobbit. It’s certainly less violent than the majority of Fairy Tales I’ve read. Anybody who thinks the book is too violent probably doesn’t like the genre to begin with. But that’s an aside.
Wilson is a wonderful writer, a true wordsmith (see my thoughts on his dad’s book, Wordsmithy, HERE). The book is full of suspense and is therefore hard to put down. I’m not in the business of reviews or summaries. I simply like to record my initial impressions and applications. My impression is that it is a fun book – the kind of book I like. Beyond that I don’t know how to describe it. For someone who likes to write, such as myself, you can’t help but hope that your writing will get better through osmosis after reading such a book.
I think of it, I guess, as a story of boy meets world. Or more precisely, boy meets magical world. Henry, the main character, gets to step out of his sheltered world and see a new, and wide, world filled with magic and danger. I often refer to C.S. Lewis’ words that a child who reads of enchanted forests doesn’t thereby begin to despise real forests. Instead he begins to see in the real forests some of the enchantment. That’s the kind of book 100 Cupboards is – it makes Kansas a bit more enchanted than it already was. It makes attics, and cupboards, and barns, and fields, and bedrooms, and keys, and trucks, and wind, and baseball, and soda, etc, etc, a bit more enchanted. And therefore makes my own home, and hopefully this is true for my daughter also, a bit more enchanted as well. I don’t like the thought of living in a mechanistic and materialistic world. I need some enchantment and imagination. This book serves as good fuel to that end.
Tides and Turning 