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Summary: Disappointing
Review: A disappointment, though not without interest. Lewis's purpose is to tell the story of his conversion from atheism to Christianity. But there is little here to challenge or even interest the open-minded atheist. It seems to me that Lewis converted largely for emotional reasons, apparently because he believed in some kind of Hegelian Absolute. The last two chapters are so vague and poetic (or perhaps poetically motivated...?) as to be very tough to read when trying to find out why he believes and what relevance his conversion might have to me. I never really got clear answers to these questions. Lewis is always readable, but this was disappointing on intellectual grounds (which is true of all his apologetics).
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Summary: Lewis is deeply intelligent.
Review: A wonderful writer.
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Summary: A Masterpiece: One Man's Journey to God
Review: C.S. Lewis has written a masterpiece on the subject of one man's conversion to Christianity. Not only that, it is a must-read for any fan of Lewis, for it sheds a great deal of light on his early life and biography. It follows Lewis from childhood to his conversion to Christianity as an adult professor, tracing the influences on his philisophical and religious thinking along the way. It is in my mind a modern Augustine's "Confessions". Lewis writes, as usual, with great candor and his usual lucid, easy to follow prose that takes complex issues and makes them understandable to everyone. This style has made him one of the finest Christian authors. His 'Mere Christianity' and 'Screwtape Letters' are other examples of his books that challenge a reader's religious philosophy. Of course, Lewis is more famous in most circles for his 'Narnia' books, which are also great, but it is his philisophical and deeply personal treatment of Christianity that makes him one of the greats.Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to see how one man made his journey to belief and/or wants to learn more about C.S. Lewis, the man.
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Summary: CS Lewis describes his intellectual journey towards "Joy"
Review: I have not read much CS Lewis (only a few books), so I will not pretend to be an expert about the man, or his writing. I figured that Surprised by Joy would be excellent since it provides a first hand account of the spiritual conversion of CS Lewis. I was not disappointed - it is an interesting read.
I particularly like the fact that Lewis not only describes the environment which influenced his perspective of the world and early decisions in life (his family, the death of his mother, his schooling, etc.). But, he also traces his intellectual journey back to God. The influencers are many - the books he read, the friends he made, the discussions he had, and the observations he made about life. Considered by many to be one of the best thinkers and writers of the last century it was fascinating to see the progression of Lewis' thinking about the world in which we live and the God who made it.
I highly recommend this book for any CS Lewis fan (I am rapidly becoming a bigger one), or any one who is having an intellectual struggle with believing that God exists. This book may help you unpack some of the baggage that the world presents about this topic. A short word of warning - if you are looking for some "light" reading this book is not a very good choice. I am not surprised that some reviewers found the book boring - it is not suitable for all tastes.
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Summary: Classic C.S. Lewis.
Review: I'm a huge C.S. Lewis fan, however like most people who reviewed this book, I did start to trail off when reading the middle chapters of this book. In the first 8-10 chapters of this book Lewis focuses on his life as a child and the pages seem to fly by. The same thing goes for the last 4-5 chapters where we finally get the details of his coming back to Christianity. However, the few chapters in the middle of the book are filled with Lewis' definitions and opinions on a lot of different topics and though they are relevant to the mindset of Lewis' thoughts, the chapters do not follow along with the story-telling element he so well utilized in the other chapters of the book. Not that that's a bad thing, but for those reader who were expecting to read a certain type of book from beginning to end (myself included), it's kind of confusing to adjust to and is probably a major reason why some people don't recommend this book. Now don't get me wrong, this book is very touching and is a very worth-while read. However, if you plan to read this book, you may also want to make sure you're ready to read two different types of writing in the same book. Check out my other reviews for great Christian CDs, Books, movies, etc.
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Summary: Introspective and Informative
Review: Lewis says the two families from which he sprang were extremely different in both temperament and origin. On his dad's side there was the Welsh lineage. He describes them as being sentimental, passionate, and rhetorical. While the Hamiltons, on his mother's side were less passionate, more critical and ironic. On both sides, his parents were "bookish" people. He says his brother was a blessing to him, although the two of them were different also. I love the description of the house full of books in which he grew up. He writes: "My father bought all the books he read and never got rid of any of them. There were books in the study, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedroom, books piled as high as my shoulder in the cistern attic, books of all kinds reflecting every transient stage of my parents' interest..." He talks about staking out his claim in the attic and making it his study. Early on he became a reader and writer. It was a love affair with communication. He discovered his gift and pursued it from then on. This book traces the stages of his spiritual journey as well. He is very straightforward in describing what was going on in his mind at various stages. In reading about his unique experiences one acquires insight that can be beneficial in reflection on one's own life.
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Summary: a must read
Review: one of the best books by my fav author of all time. well worded, insightful, instructive, inspirational - how many more 'i' words do you need? please, take my word, and read this book.
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Summary: A masterpiece Read this work of his first
Review: Owning all of C.S.Lewis' non-fiction works I believe this is the first book most people should own, simply because it shows his journey from being an atheist and a serious one at that, to becoming not only a Christian, but in many peoples opinion, including mine, the greatest Christian scholar on the twentieth century or many centuries. It is a book I recommend to any academia minded person who wants a literate and challenging work that lays out how a serious atheist and secular scholar can evolve into a scholar who also happens to be a Christian. Chapter fourteen titled Checkmate is where this really gets explained. The other interesting thing about this book is how it got me reading other works from the many people C. S. Lewis mentions as catalysts in his journey. People like George Macdonald, and G K Chesterton. Thus my home library has expanded a lot.
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Summary: A confession...not to be confused with confusion
Review: Recently having had the opportunity to also read confessions penned by Augustine and Tolstoy, I must say that, like Augustine, Lewis gets to the heart of the matter without getting lost in the Confusion that I consider the true title of Tolstoy's short autobiographical essay. While Augustine reveals the evolutionary development of this faith, however, be forewarned that Surprised by Joy does not seriously appear to be a true confession until the last two chapters, called Checkmate and The Beginning. Just do not get into the mindset that the reader can skip to these chapters without having first read the prior thirteen - everyone's life needs to be considered in context, including that of Lewis. Simply put, Suprised by Joy remarkably describes one individual's journey from Atheism to Theism to Christianity, without the distractions of the ancient world, and sometimes difficult language, found in Augustine.
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Summary: THE UNIMAGINABLE POSSIBILITY OF JOY...
Review: Surprised By Joy is a moving and thought-provoking intellectual, and ultlmately (stemming from the transformation of the intellect over time) spiritual autobiography. Like most of Lewis's works it is an engrossing book written in envigorating and lucid prose. Of all the books coming out of the growing "Lewis industry" there are none that do a better job of biography than this short work by the man himself.
Lewis tells the story of his life up until he found true joy in following Jesus Christ. From his misty early memories of playing with his brother, to his time in school, Lewis gives his personal history a rigorous and reflective once-over. Along the way, he encounters many sign posts, all of which lead to his eventual encounter with Christ.
In school I once had a class on Christian Mythopoeic authors. We studied four: George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams at length. Each of us were given two huge projects on which our grades depended. Mine were to research and present on C.S. Lewis and Frederick Buechner.
I got to know the works by and about both men quite well.
Many Lewis biographers focus a lot of their time on Lewis's schooling experiences. This is probably because of their salacious "shock value." But focusing solely on those experiences without getting the point of what Lewis is saying in this book (as so many do) is a massive example of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
True, Lewis, like any autobiographer, has some axes to grind (and in my opinion is more than just in doing so), but he also has a most vital message to share:
Behind all of our longings, even our sufferings, is the unimaginable possibility of true, pure, radiant joy.
On another note, I found that Surprised By Joy is itself a great reading list for works in the "Northern" and mythopoeic fields. Lewis was nothing if not well read, and he shares his intelectual evolution (and the works involved) in this book.
I will leave you with a favorite quote of mine from this book. The set up, is that a former schoolmate of Lewis's (who became the Archbishop of Dublin) and Lewis are sitting together at the funeral of a horrid man who had once been their very abusive schoolmaster:
"Speaking of Oldee's death, I said to him, "Well, we shan't see him again."
"You mean," he answered with a grim smile, "we hope we shan't."
I give this book my full recommendation.
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