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A Grief Observed

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Author: C. S. Lewis
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$11.95~~
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Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 112
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.3

ISBN: 0060652381
Dewey Decimal Number: 242.4
EAN: 9780060652388
ASIN: 0060652381

Publication Date: February 1, 2001
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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
C.S. Lewis joined the human race when his wife, Joy Gresham, died of cancer. Lewis, the Oxford don whose Christian apologetics make it seem like he's got an answer for everything, experienced crushing doubt for the first time after his wife's tragic death. IA Grief Observed/I contains his epigrammatic reflections on that period: "Your bid--for God or no God, for a good God or the Cosmic Sadist, for eternal life or nonentity--will not be serious if nothing much is staked on it. And you will never discover how serious it was until the stakes are raised horribly high," Lewis writes. "Nothing will shake a man--or at any rate a man like me--out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself." This is the book that inspired the film IShadowlands/I, but it is more wrenching, more revelatory, and more real than the movie. It is a beautiful and unflinchingly honest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings. I--Michael Joseph Gross/I

Product Description
PWritten after his wife's tragic death as a way of surviving the "mad midnight moment," iA Grief Observed/i is C.S. Lewis's honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This work contains his concise, genuine reflections on that period: "Nothing will shake a man -- or at any rate a man like me -- out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself." This is a beautiful and unflinchingly homest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings./P

Customer Reviews: Read 95 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

If you have lost the love of your life November 25, 2008
When my husband died after a long illness, someone recommended this book. One of the hardest parts about beginning to grieve is putting your feelings into words. C S Lewis does so here in his memoir of losing his beloved wife. This quick read helped me make sense of what I was feeling and that I was not alone feeling like this. I give it as a gift to people who suffer and extreme loss.

3 out of 5 stars

Book review November 24, 2008
Good read of a classic, but a little dated. A few nuggets to treasure, but his bereavement was unusual in that he knew she was dying at the outset of the relationship. Not so useful for long term relationships suddenly hit by illneess or sudden death.

5 out of 5 stars

Joy in hope does not preclude fear, sorrow, and longing November 13, 2008
Not every author invites readers into the intimacy of his own most personal and profound loss. But not every confirmed bachelor and university professor marries for immigration rather than for love, and later realizes that his heart belongs to the person to whom he is already married, only to formally take her as a real wife during her hospitalization and treatment for a form of cancer that will eventually end her life. But C.S. Lewis is special, and so are his readers.br /br /This personal diary, originally published under a psedonym, offers reassurance that knowing God is good does not preclude feelings of deep sorrow, fear, and uncertainty in the loss of a loved one. Lewis explores the social, emotional, and spiritual earthquakes that are caused by the death of his wife. Losing his intellectual sparring partner, his bedfellow, his friend, and his lover shakes him to the core, yet he clings to Christ as the only source of eteral hope for himself and for his wife Joy.br /br /During a season of grief, I read this book every few weeks. It's a classic and not to be missed, not because it's entertaining, but because it acknowleges deep longings and desires that are intended by our Creator to lead us to Truth.

5 out of 5 stars

Raw and true September 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

CS Lewis looks death into the face; he does not flinch and does not console himself with platitudes. He had lost the love of his life and his pain is palpable to the reader. This is a raw and honest book but it is not at all depressing: At the end of the book, Lewis begins to recover: his wish is simply that, on his own death bed, his lover will come back to him and give him the consolation of seeing her face again.br /br /Rather surpisingly, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer myself three weeks after doing this review. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord! If you read this, say a prayer for me that I may die with courage and joy!

3 out of 5 stars

Not, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" September 10, 2008
Lost a child. C. S. asks me to work very hard. I can't do it. Kushner gets to the heart of grief.

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