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Description: The Great Divorce is C.S. Lewis's Divine Comedy: the narrator bears strong resemblance to Lewis (by way of Dante); his Virgil is the fantasy writer George MacDonald; and upon boarding a bus in a nondescript neighborhood, the narrator is taken to Heaven and Hell. The book's primary message is presented with almost oblique tidiness--"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'" However, the narrator's descriptions of sin and temptation will hit quite close to home for many readers. Lewis has a genius for describing the intricacies of vanity and self-deception, and this book is tremendously persistent in forcing its reader to consider the ultimate consequences of everyday pettiness. --Michael Joseph Gross
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Review Summary: One way ride to forever |
Date: 2008-09-11 |
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Details: With each and every book I read by C.S. Lewis, I become an ever more admiring fan. While I cannot say this is my favorite of his works (for that spot, I reserve "Mere Christianity," followed by "A Grief Observed"), it is as fascinating and insightful a ride as any of his. C. S. Lewis is exceptional in his ability to take the most complicated human issues and make them understandable.
Blending into a queu awaiting a bus ride without fully understanding to where or why (how many of us blend sheepishly with the masses this way?), the narrator, George, takes a fantastical ride through heaven and hell. Just two possible end points on this trip, and with that, Lewis makes it clear: as much as we try to rationalize and wiggle, there is no gray area in life, or, in this case, the after life. You choose. Black or white, good or evil.
With a cast of colorful characters, ghostly figures and helpful angels who only wish to give the undecided one final chance to decide, we ride along with those who, we soon realize, resemble everyone we know. Including you and me. The whiner and the complainer, the cheater and the liar, the rationalizer, the egotist, the shortchanger. Even the overly devoted mother, who, upon closer examination, clings to her son more to serve her own selfish needs than to let him go in a loving manner for his wellbeing is not the marytr she believes herself to be.
It is not in the big falls that we lose our way to heaven. It is, more often than not, in the petty details of our lives, all those grand intentions come to nothing, all those shortcomings and shortcuts taken, all those more challenging routes avoided, where we take wrong turns that will land us only in hell. A stern Father reminds us, "Your will be done," rather than His. And so, for all who did not trust in Him, but stubbornly held to their own willful ways, the bus has only one last stop.
As amusing as this little tale (novella) is to read, the message is heavy duty. If you don't recognize yourself in at least a few of these lost souls, look harder. And then give your future bus stop some careful thought... |
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Review Summary: Great insight into the Great Divorce |
Date: 2008-09-07 |
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Details: I have found the Great Divorce to be a book for all time. I saw so many people on that bus that I recognized and after a while, I recognized most all of them were a part of me or my life. I got some great insight into how we think when we think of others and how others must see me. Often we think in terms of who will be going to Heaven and who will not in our own human and limited way of thinking. C.S.Lewis puts an interesting and very introspective point of view on this often discussed theme using Christian theology in allowing us to ride in and off the bus with so many others. I think I saw how narrow we can be in our judgement concerning who will or will not be allowed beyond the gates of Heaven. Great book and one I recommend hightly. |
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Review Summary: Outstanding book. |
Date: 2008-08-23 |
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Details: CS Lewis great theologian or great Christian apologist as some would say was one heck of a writer.
The Great Divorce C.S Lewis good as a stand alone story or as a more deeper spiritual book. I continue to be blown away by how good C.S Lewis is one of those authors where sometimes you get the strangest sensation that he is actually speaking directly to you.
The Great Divorce serves to remind all of us that while sin does indeed have an eternal penalty the first commandment for all Christians is love. |
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Review Summary: Short and sweet |
Date: 2008-08-08 |
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Details: I read a review on here that said: "If you read this book HONESTLY, you will find pieces of yourself as well."
This statement cannot be more true. This book is an adventure, a page turner, an experience of self-inquiry and self-reflection, and shows human nature and egoic nature in the most recognizable forms. |
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Review Summary: Life lessons |
Date: 2008-07-30 |
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Details: This is one of only two books I usually re-read annually (the other is Elizabeth Goudge's "The Dean's Watch"). As the official review says, some of the vignettes hit quite close to home. I have a couple of them engraved in my mind such that I can catch myself when I am tempted to succumb to selfish behavior. |
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out of 222 Reviews
