Rating: 
Summary: If you like C.S. Lewis . . .
Review: . . . like I do, I strongly suggest We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. Like Lewis, Caldwell takes an intellectual aproach to the concept of Christianity. His novel is very much in the vein of The Screwtape Letters and The Great divorce. I highly recomend it for discriminating Christian readers.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting & unique
Review: An interesting and rewarding read, but difficult in sections. Overall the good points, and unique views were worth it. I thought the author had some well thought-out ideas but meandered on the supporting arguments. The main idea being the ancient Greeks had four words for love depending on the type of love. C.S.Lewis analyses these types of love; Affection, Friendship Eros, and Charity. I suspect most readers will be surprised when they read what is included in each classification. I would recommend an audio version of book. The supporting arguments are better suited to the ears, which are more adept and can selectively tune-in. I plan on reading other books by C.S. Lewis. Hopefully the main thoughts put forth in the next book will also outweigh a writing style that does not seem to agree with me.
Rating: 
Summary: the more you put into it...
Review: As other reviewers have stated, C.S. Lewis takes a look at the four Greek words for love (storge, affection; philia, friendship; eros, romantic love; agape, charity). In addition, he defines some terms such as "Gift-Love", "Need-Love", "Appriciation-Love" and uses these in describing various attributes and potentialities of the Four Loves. Lewis winds these terms and some other ideas throughout his writing and builds upon his ideas in his definitions of the various loves. I felt like I needed to totally comprehend each section before moving on, and while his ideas are not enormously complicated, they do require time and a hungry frame of mind to get the most out of the reading. It definitely would have helped me to take notes. Lewis also used a lot of literary illustrations with the reasoning of the literature being more of a common ground with the reader than his personal experience; unfortunately, the literary cannon seems to have changed a bit - I don't know too many other people who have read Ovid or Tristram Shandy and can remember them well enough for these illustrations to make a whole lot of sense. The ideas being illustrated are still communicated well enough without the illustration, but several times I had to read the same passage more than once to get it to click. His other books I have read (Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Screwtape) were easier, but this one is definitely rewarding. My favorite section was Charity (agape) at the end of the book, which provided a beautiful description of God's Love and how it should basically light all the other loves on fire. Lewis sees Christianity as a light by which he understands, and he advances some enjoyably comforting, convicting, and profound ideas in this book.
Rating:
Summary: a decent work about great ideas by a great writer
Review: C.S. Lewis is a great writer and one of the great accessible Christian minds but I think he got lost in his own theory in this one. This book has some great ideas and is very clarifying in the many senses of Christian love but Lewis gets very verbose and muddy in his heavy essay writing in the Four Loves. I think Lewis does better when he suggests or leads the reader to answers rather than writing and supporting his philosophy and theology in a straightforward manner. The Four Loves is still a worthwhile read but for a great Christain C.S. Lewis read try the Screwtape Letters first.
Rating:
Summary: a prism and a map...
Review: C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves was not a book that I expected to reshape my thinking. I first picked it up while following the reading guide at the end of Lindskoog's Mere Christian. I thought it would be a fun read during valentine's season. One often is most vulnerable to the trap when one is not alert... And so, once more, C.S. Lewis has changed my thought on a broad portion of life. He's done it to me before--the Narnian Books, Mere Christianity, An Experiment In Criticism--have all been books that have greatly shaped me. Now I can add the Four Loves to the list. One does not often sit down and ponder the different kinds of love. One may have generalized "loved ones" such as family and friends, we may "love" certain activities or places, we may even say we are "in love" ... but do we stop to consider our words? Lewis spends time surveying the lay of love's different lands. Building on blocks of seemingly deepening emotion, he moves from looking at affection to friendship to erotic love (Eros) to the love of God (Agape). Each is looked at in detail, their meaning and impact on life is explored. The most helpful thing about this book is that Lewis allows the reader to think about how they deal with their own loves in life. Does one stress a certain kind of love in an unhealthy way? Do we ignore the possibilities of one love because another kind holds too much sway in our lives? I believe Lewis makes the case that God's love should be primary in the lives of humans. The other loves, though they can be wonderful in their place, can be used unnaturally and ineffectively to try and fill in for Agape if it is not felt. A healthy life will involve all four loves. Yet they must be rooted and grounded in Agape. My own favorite passage in this book is in the friendship section. Dispelling the myth that an intense friendship between two people is always the best, Lewis notes that after his friend Charles (Williams) died, his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien was something less than it was when Charles was still around--he could no longer appreciate Tolkien through the eyes of Williams. The passage is personal, poignant, and true to my own experience. The Four Loves is a remarkable book. I give it my full recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: What Now My Love?
Review: Doing a book review on CS Lewis' "The Four Loves" brings forth an entire new meaning on 'a writer's block'. To expound this extraordinary Lewis' work on the four New Testament Greek "love" words - storge (natural affection), philia (friendship, love), eros (attraction, sexual love), and agape (love, charity) - amounts to nothing more than a leaky version of the Cliff Notes at best. There are Lewis' scholars who could do far more justice to this work than I. The long and short of "The Four Loves" is this. The three "loves" (storge, philia, and eros) are stemmed from agape (God's perfect love). Each is fractured and flawed since the Fall. Underlying all that we do, in both good and not so good, are these shades of loves. All are a fragment of and a divagation from the origin. The agape. Our forms of love have fallen short and are in need of mending. Only God's love mends. If your affectionate other were to ask after a romantic candlelit dinner, "What now my love?" Don't sing. Lean forward and cup her hand, you segue to say, "Eros makes promises. Romance must die in marriage, and that marriage requires affection." Saying this may or may not take you to places you've never been - for the better or for the worst. Your look of love, however, could only change for the better. Thanks to Lewis.
Rating:
Summary: Work of Genius
Review: First off, this book is not for the simple minded. I had to read over some paragraphs a couple of times to understand what Lewis was saying. But nevertheless it is thought provoking, insightful and very engaging. This goes down as one of my all time favorite reads. Excellent book!
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully Illuminating and Pleasantly Poignant
Review: The inherent bias in my review is that I rate Lewis in context with his other writings. He represents the ultimate pop-theologian who speaks with cutting erudition. Lewis possessed an uncanny power to speak to all Christian denominations through his powerful prose style and unpretentious approach to the ideas of God and the Christian religion. His works make it hard to believe that he was not a trained theologian. With all that said, I dare say he has not written a book that was not great. Perspective with Mere Christianity (among others) dictates that this book receive 4 stars (A "4-star" rating for him supersedes "5-star" for many others.). Let me not be misunderstood, his ideas are powerful and his approach is classic Lewis, but the profundity found in Mere Christianity is not present at the same intensity. That is most probably given the fact that most Christians (as I) who read this book probably have given at least some thought to the four loves before this book. The problem may therefore be my own desensitization.
The chapter on Eros perhaps engages the reader best as the word draws the interest while Lewis forces the reader to gaze upon the issue in a new light. The chapter (along with "Affection" and "Charity") gives the reader a new understanding of familiar themes of love while gifting a new respect and awe of the unique characteristics of the different manifestations of love. The gestalt of the book ultimately drives the reader to a new respect for the Creator of love as well as an appreciation for the complexity found in the four faces of unity that love expresses.
May we only continue to strive to reach for love--both as "need-love" and "gift-love". Then we fully can (with God's grace) appreciate the depths of humanity and the spiritual end of mankind.
Rating:
Summary: Good Companion to Aristotle
Review: There have been many good things and helpful reviews already written about this book so there's no reason for me to go on about how wonderful and insightful it is. My comments are more directly related to those who have a wish (or are assigned) to read Aristotle's work "The Nichomachean Ethics". I read the Ethics for a philosophy discussion class my freshman year and was intrigued by mush of what Aristotle had to say about love and human behavior. While it is a very insightful work, the Ethics is extremely difficult to read, and takes much time and pastience. About a month after completing the Ethics, I happened to pick up Lewis's "The Four Loves" in my college's bookstore, and I couldn't put it down. What surprised me most upon reading it, however, was that much of Lewis's understanding of the human loves came directly from Aristotle. I went back and reread the Ethics and found (not surprisingly since Lewis was a classics scholar) that for his understanding of friendly and passionate love (for Aristotle philos and eros), Lewis's arguments followed Aristotle's very closely, and were much more clear and easy to understand. On top of this, his additions of affectionate love and agape or godly love (a Greek thought to be sure, but not in Aristotle's time), expanded upon the notions of love and offered a fuller treatment than Aristotle. I say all this not to disuade anyone from reading Aristotle or thinking that Lewis was an Aristotle knock-off, on the contrary, both these these works should be read, and in opinion my opinion they complement each other very well and aid the reader in more fully understanding both works: understanding Aristotle because Lewis presents many of his same arguments only more clearly, and understanding Lewis by seeing the evolution and expansion of his thought from the Greek concepts. And even if you don't feel like tackling Aristotle, "The Four Loves" is a work worth reading in and of itself (just don't think that you can get away with substituting this work for the Ethics, since the Ethics goes far beyond a discussion of love).
Rating:
Summary: Characteristic Insight
Review: There is really some dynamite material in here. C.S. Lewis explains in typical style and clarity all that is right and wrong with love. Dealing with affection (that warm, fuzzy, it-sure-bugs-me-how-you-twiddle-your-thumbs-but-it's-endearing-in-a-funny-sort-of-a-way type of love you experience after knowing people for a while), friendship, Eros (romantic love, not to be confused with Venus (sexual passion), which is only an element of Eros), and charity, the highest of the loves, Lewis explains the glory of each, and the temptations that arise because of the glory. Much of the book is just hilarious, since he points out little faults common to us all, and he makes it easy to laugh at ourselves. But he also offers much practical advice, good for understanding and enriching our relationships. Main thesis of the book: If you make love God, love becomes a demon. Love is a great gift from God, but because love is so lovely, it's a great temptation to serve it as the whole end and purpose of life. But if this occurs, love becomes a demon, and turns against you. Keep God at the forefront of your mind and your relationships, and love can be kept rich and sweet in its proper perspective.
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