“I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. “We are under the harrow and can’t escape,” he writes. Written in longhand in notebooks that Lewis found in his home, A Grief Observed probes the “mad midnight moments” of Lewis’s mourning and loss, moments in which he questioned what he had previously believed about life and death, marriage, and even God. It gives us permission to admit our own doubts, our own angers and anguishes, and to know that they are part of the soul’s growth.” Lewis, who has been such a successful apologist for Christianity, should have the courage to admit doubt about what he has so superbly proclaimed. This is a part of a healthy grief which is not often encouraged. In her introduction to this new edition, Madeleine L’Engle writes: “I am grateful to Lewis for having the courage to yell, to doubt, to kick at God in angry violence. Lewis’s wife, the American-born poet Joy Davidman. Pick it up and learn from it.Written with love, humility, and faith, this brief but poignant volume was first published in 1961 and concerns the death of C. Still, his voice added to Lewis' voice produced a remarkable work worthy of consideration, especially if one is going through grief him/herself.
His accent does not get in the way, and even adds a small amount of charm to the narration, but at the same time, he is British and in passages that rubbed me the wrong way. He reads well, adds the correct amount of emphasis where needed. Give him the benefit of the doubt and trust him as he finally concluded that he must trust Him for all outcomes.
This Lewis does, but the journey is painful, and full of personal introspection. This book is a book of Faith, but in order to get there, one has to cross the chasm of Doubt. You will find yourself identifying with Lewis' travails and, hopefully, when done you will find new joy and a renewed hope at the end of the journey. I usually warn someone not to read/listen to a book if one is depressed. In the end, he reconciles himself to fate and to Fate and Faith, but the journey is long, and the days of pain numerous. Lewis spares no feelings as he lashes out at this world and the Other World for taking the one woman in his life that had made a difference. I've both read and listened to this very fine if sad tome and in both media the hurt and pain that Lewis feels on the death of his beloved H comes through in spades.
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