"Silent Planet" play-by-play: Chapters 1 through 6

Well, I was on Facebook moaning to my dear friend Moira about how the mail delivery hadn't coughed up my latest book order yet (Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers, to be precise), and she suggested that I read Out of the Silent Planet, a book that I have no excuse for not having read up until now. Furthermore, she said she wanted a play-by-play of my reactions to each chapter. I think she was joking, but she shouldn't have made a joke like that to someone like me who just hangs around waiting all the time for an excuse to ramble about what I'm reading. So I made some tea, changed from my Sunday clothes to my comfortable clothes with all the purposeful energy of Lord Peter Wimsey getting ready to play detective, and set forth on my journey into what feels like the only C.S. Lewis universe I've never visited, pausing between chapters to take notes on my phone.

Admittedly I kind of cheated, treating the first two chapters as one. I was too caught up in the story to notice the chapter break, which I believe is a good sign.

1-2: Crazy, scary. Kind of reminds me of that scene in "The Magician's Nephew" when Polly becomes the guinea pig in Uncle Andrew's ring experiment. I find it interesting that Ransom ended up in the place of the original victim--sort of a heroic sacrifice, even though he didn't intend it? Anyway, not sure who's more shifty--Devine or his friend. Because I insist on drawing more comparisons to Narnia, I think Devine is what Eustace Clarence Scrubb would have grown to be if he hadn't encountered Aslan. Suspense is killing me, so I'll just keep reading.

3: Bang. Loved that chapter ending. I like the fact that Ransom has a common English mindset; he seems to be good at eliminating the impossible, but not so good at accepting whatever remains however improbable, hence the reason he spent this whole chapter in a hovering state of I-could-be-really-excited-but-I-could-also-be-really-scared. A sort of unadventurous Watson aboard an airship.

4: The whole conceit of the spaceship's construction is genius. Makes me want to live in one.

5: Here Ransom is, this unwondering Englishman, and, surrounded by the seas of stars, all he can do is "bask". Meanwhile Devine couldn't care less about the otherworldly view and is only interested in what he can do with the money when he gets home to Earth. Reminds me of how Uncle Andrew wanted to develop Narnia, but everyone with him was too busy staring in awe to pay attention.

6: I know Lewis wasn't technically a Catholic, but it's crazy how much the dividing of space works like the dividing of the Eucharist. The description of the landing sounds like my idea of the worst day ever--hours of moving items out of rooms followed by hours of stomach-wrenching sickness? But of course it would be hell to fall from heaven.

Ransom has landed on Malacandra! What is this strange place? What do his captors have in store for him? Stay tuned for the next installment--because I have no idea either.