 ""A Grief Observed"" | 2009-09-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1M934SCNC5HYX |
| C. S. Lewis was a man with a passion for thoughtful words. Having read parts of this book in Lewises compilation, "A Year With C. S. Lewis" coupled with a family death at a young age. We could feel his emotion and shared in his and our grief. |
| |
 "Interesting Perspective" | 2009-08-20 |
| - Reviewed By beccaroby |
| The language of the day makes this little book a bit cumbersome to read. However many of the points made in it were ones that mirror my own experience as I walk through the grief process of losing my husband and soul mate. I thought the preface gave interesting information about the author and his relationship with "H". The used price for this book made it a good purchase for me. I am not sure I would buy it new unless I wanted it for a permanent library. I am on my second read of it and I have found that to be beneficial for me, as I am picking up new insights. I'd recommend this if you are grieving and you like to read or if you are studying the author. If reading is not your thing I would probably bypass it because of the writing style. |
| |
| "The books own title says it all..." | 2009-08-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: AK50T6Q5ON9C2 |
This was a deeply personal book about the intense grief Lewis was feeling after losing his wife. This book was written 20 years after The Problem of Pain (see note below), and begun less than a month after losing his wife Helen to Cancer. For the three years prior to her death, Lewis had nursed his wife and watched her slowly die. His thoughts on pain have become quite personal now. He is a grieving Christian man, suffering deep pain at the loss of his wife, his friend, and his lover.
The book is a collection of thoughts that he wrote, and as Lewis says, "sometimes yelled" into his notebooks. It is a brief yet powerful summary of what he describes as "one tenth of the thoughts" during his period of mourning. Lewis is a profoundly spiritual man who has spent the better part of his career telling the world about the beauty, grace, and consolation of the Christian faith, but in this work you see him as man wrestling with his own faith, doubting not only everything he has believed, but regretting the platitudes and consolations' he has said in the past to other people to comfort their pain. He recoils at the kind words of well meaning friends who mindlessly repeat memorized messages of hope and strength in God, the kind so often heard in funeral parlors and read in greeting cards. He refers to his own faith as a "house of cards", tumbling at the slightest breeze.
He learns about the cycle of sadness and the awful pangs of guilt one feels when, just for a second, they almost forgot to grieve for those they've lost. He wrestles with all of the emotions of grieving while trying to comprehend his own feelings of spiritual doubt and self doubt.
Ultimately, his faith once again begins to sustain him. He brings The Lord into his suffering, and he begins to realize that his grief and sorrow were actually keeping him further away from honestly remembering his wife, and truly seeing her in his heart. He learns how to remember his wife without recreating her through distorted memories and imaginings. Finally, he comes to find peace. This little book documents that journey, to the extent that he has allowed us to see.
This is a book for those who are suffering. It is for those who have lost someone so near to them that the thought of going on without them seems unbearable. I believe that Lewis' very personal and blatant honesty will help those who are suffering with their own struggles and doubts of faith. Perhaps if they read it completely, they will be comforted in the knowledge they too can find their way back to a loving God, and that they will find Him waiting with opens arms.
-------------------
NOTE: Prior to reading this book I reviewed C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain. I mention this only because many people confuse these two books, and they really couldn't be more different. I ultimately reached the conclusion that that particular work belongs more in the "Exploring Christianity" section than in the "Healing" section. To the best of my limited ability I made the case that Lewis' approach to discussing the pain and evil in the world were strong, compelling, and theologically beautiful, but perhaps bit impersonal to be considered appropriate for someone actively in a period of personal suffering. Please refer to that review for a further explanation.
|
| |
| "An Uncomfortable But Rewarding Book Journey" | 2009-08-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1JYC8NY9JZ3H8 |
"A Grief Observed" is a collection of notebook entries penned by Lewis after the death of his wife. In the introduction Madeleine L'engle writes, "I am grateful to Lewis for having the courage to yell, to doubt, to kick at God in angry violence. This is a part of grief which is not often encouraged." When I first encountered Lewis' yelling and kicking, I was not thankful. I was uncomfortable. I didn't want one of my heroes in the faith talking to and about God like this. I wanted him to grieve with sure and steady faith. My discomfort with grief and all that it brings with it was being revealed. As I finished the book I was grateful to have had my own faith poked and proded and my heart exposed. Whereas I didn't agree with all of Lewis' doctrine, I appreciated his willingness to take it out and look at it again.
I would offer one recommendation to anyone reading this book. Try to read it in one or two sittings. In doing so you will be able to better see the process of Lewis' grief. You will see that as the process of mourning unfolds there are still questions and doubts, but there are also honest admissions of immaturity and self-pity. You will see how Lewis looks back at earlier entries, written in deep darkness, and sees them more clearly as the sun was beginning to rise. His willingness to deal with his own questions and doubts is refreshing as he comes back to the same, solid truths that he held before and is able to approach them with eyes more widely opened by grief. |
| |
| "An Uncomfortable But Rewarding Read" | 2009-08-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1JYC8NY9JZ3H8 |
"A Grief Observed" is a collection of notebook entries penned by Lewis after the death of his wife. In the introduction Madeleine L'engle writes, "I am grateful to Lewis for having the courage to yell, to doubt, to kick at God in angry violence. This is a part of grief which is not often encouraged." When I first encountered Lewis' yelling and kicking, I was not thankful. I was uncomfortable. I didn't want one of my heroes in the faith talking to and about God like this. I wanted him to grieve with sure and steady faith. My discomfort with grief and all that it brings with it was being revealed. As I finished the book I was grateful to have had my own faith poked and proded and my heart exposed. Whereas I didn't agree with all of Lewis' doctrine, I appreciated his willingness to take it out and look at it again.
I would offer one recommendation to anyone reading this book. Try to read it in one or two sittings. In doing so you will be able to better see the process of Lewis' grief. You will see that as the process of mourning unfolds there are still questions and doubts, but there are also honest admissions of immaturity and self-pity. You will see how Lewis looks back at earlier entries, written in deep darkness, and sees them more clearly as the sun was beginning to rise. His willingness to deal with his own questions and doubts is refreshing as he comes back to the same, solid truths that he held before and is able to approach them with eyes more widely opened by grief. |
| |
 "jjbrent" | 2009-07-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: AWKSHLA7D28E2 |
| Though I am a fan of CS Lewis, I found his meditation at times unnecessarily abstract, at others repetitive or self-indulgent. |
| |
Expedited Available
