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A Grief Observed
By C.S. Lewis
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A classic work on grief, A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moments,” A Grief Observed an unflinchingly truthful account of how loss can lead even a stalwart believer to lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and the inspirational tale of how he can possibly regain his bearings.
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Start ReadingBook Information
A Grief Observed
By C.S. Lewis
Description
A classic work on grief, A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moments,” A Grief Observed an unflinchingly truthful account of how loss can lead even a stalwart believer to lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and the inspirational tale of how he can possibly regain his bearings.
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This short book, written in the first flush of grief by Lewis, packs quite a punch as he describes, no, records his grief and anger at the loss of his wife. I read it while reading Julian Barnes "Levels of Life", another author's attempt to write out his grief at losing his beloved. One author a Christian, the other an atheist, both books are illuminating, honest and powerful. I believe Barnes has more in common with Lewis than he might think.
It's hard to rate something like this book. The text itself acknowledges the truth of the title: it is a single grief observed, not grief in general. Interest in C. S. Lewis and his life, or his point of view on faith, or interest in this book through recent grief of your own, is the best portal into this book.
I haven't lost anyone as near and dear to me as H. to Jack. I lost my grandmother recently, and I recognise some of the feelings he describes -- and oh, how much do I fear feeling them for myself in full force, one day.
He is analytical about his grief, thinking it through in stages, asking questions of God and trying to answer them for himself. Thus, it's not quite as painful to read as it could be. His son's introduction is quite painful, when he speaks of 'Jack' and his pain, so familiarly, so tenderly.
I hate the reviews of this that say it's all mind and no heart. Probably because I'm an analytical, 'cold-hearted' person myself -- I see myself in C. S. Lewis' observed grief -- and yes, I feel pain as much as anyone else, I just address it differently. Everyone grieves in different ways; no two griefs are alike.
Truly cheerful stuff to read on one's birthday.
I haven't lost anyone as near and dear to me as H. to Jack. I lost my grandmother recently, and I recognise some of the feelings he describes -- and oh, how much do I fear feeling them for myself in full force, one day.
He is analytical about his grief, thinking it through in stages, asking questions of God and trying to answer them for himself. Thus, it's not quite as painful to read as it could be. His son's introduction is quite painful, when he speaks of 'Jack' and his pain, so familiarly, so tenderly.
I hate the reviews of this that say it's all mind and no heart. Probably because I'm an analytical, 'cold-hearted' person myself -- I see myself in C. S. Lewis' observed grief -- and yes, I feel pain as much as anyone else, I just address it differently. Everyone grieves in different ways; no two griefs are alike.
Truly cheerful stuff to read on one's birthday.
In this slender volume, C.S. Lewis shares his personal experience with grief following the death of his wife. This is a grief that has him questioning his belief in God and exposing the raw, painful, angry emotions that accompany his grieving process. There are many ways to grieve, but one thing is certain - it has to be faced, and Lewis has done just that in this book. The harsh reality that everyone who lives will die means that we must all face grief at some time if we haven't already done so. His experiences with grief are not unique, but he is to be applauded for sharing his palpable pain in a way that may help others who suffer a loss of such magnitude.
Painfully honest account of Lewis's reaction to his wife's death. I do not enjoy it or find it comforting, but I respect it greatly.
Honest, hopeful in even the bleakest of times, another glimpse of Lewis' brilliance.
I know this is a classic per se, but I didn't like the book. It was hard to get into the book for me, and I found Lewis' writings distant. The book is about how C.S. Lewis deals with the tragedy of his wife's death; however, the forward lets you know that his wife had a terminal illness when he married her. I would've rather read Lewis' thoughts on that matter instead.
A great travel through Lewis' suffering of loss and grief. It really helped me face some of the issues I'm going through right now with dad's death.Not a normal book with any clear sense or structure. Just random thoughts and notes. Real gems come through every so many pages. It really gives a sense of the emotional and intellectual struggles of someone grieving.
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. A Grief Observed 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."
A wonderful short piece of work. I greatly enjoyed to hear honest questions being answered and appreciated that he took them very seriously. I belief time of doubt is so necessary but is often not talked about. I welcome it, however, and love when books like this and Disappointment with God by Philip Yancey tackle questions head on.
This was a brief look into the journal Lewis wrote in when he lost his wife, Joy, after 4 intensely happy years together. In this book he freely confesses "his doubts, his rage, and his awareness of human frailty". He is very open and honest about his feelings and his thoughts towards others and his God during this time.The second half of this book is an "Afterword" by Chad Walsh. This part of the book was very interesting because it gave me a look at C.S. Lewis' life and work before the death of his wife. I am glad I took the time to read more about this man and the love and grief he expresses after losing someone he dearly loved.
I first heard of this book on the “What are We Reading: Religion” thread on LT. It describes Lewis’ journey through grief after the death of his wife (“H”) from cancer. He writes very honestly of his anguish and loneliness and how surprisingly little consolation he finds in other people or his religion in the first days after H’s death."It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it? . . . I thought I trusted the rope until it mattered to me whether it would bear me. Now it matters, and I find I didn’t."Lewis’ initial goal in writing this book was to describe the “state” of sorrow but he discovers that it’s more of a process and by the end of the book, while he is still on his journey, he’s made alot of progress and, when he turns “to God, my mind no longer meets that locked door.”I haven’t experienced the kind of grief that Lewis describes nor am I religious so I was surprised to like this book as much as I did. I think it was a combination of how good a writer Lewis is and how honest he was about what he was going through that attracted me the most. In comparison to how detailed Lewis is about his initial grief, I was somewhat disappointed that it wasn’t clearer how he was finally able to move on to a better place. As he says, “there was no sudden, striking and emotional transition. Like the warming of a room or the coming of daylight. When you first notice them they have already been going on for some time.”
This is one of the most remarkable books I've ever known. It is, in my experience, the best work of short nonfiction in Christian literary history. Regardless, it is certainly one of the most poignant. I feel inadequate to explain further, but being so brief a book, I see no reason why you shouldn't read it.For those of you who struggle with completing nonfiction, I will tell you that you likely will have no such problem with "A Grief Observed". It's emotionally, psychologically, philosophically, and theologically compelling, applicable to personal experience, and fascinating down to each and every vivid sentence. I for one make it my intent, with delight, to read it many times again.
As Madeleine L'Engle says in her introduction, “each experience of grief is unique,” and Lewis was a quirky sort of fellow. His grieving for his wife, so dearly cherished during their far-too-brief marriage, is explored through the format of passionate journal entries. As with others of his works, I find that our thoughts on the issue of theodicy – the problem of pain and a benevolent, all-powerful God – aren't quite the same. Still, his experience of the progression of loss and pain, of struggle to reconcile belief and emotion, of fear of the loss of memories, etc., have elements which much surely be nearly universal, and his honesty is comforting.
A Grief Observed is the journal C. S. Lewis kept after losing his wife, Joy, to cancer. In it he pours out his feelings, as his faith is battered by the storms of grief. I felt a bit awkward reading it, kind of like I was standing around, gawking at a car accident. On one hand, you want to see what's happening, but on the other you don't want to intrude on another's misfortune and sorrow. Of course, reading a published book is hardly an intrusion on anyone. The book was an interesting way to consider my own beliefs without having to personally suffer the loss of my wife. --J.
Probably the best thing about this slim book is the raw honesty of Mr. Lewis' emotions and his thoughts. Without fear, he expresses his greatest fears and the most painful things about his loss of his wife. For anyone grieving, there is relief in the thought that we are not alone - that here is someone who knows all those hurtful thoughts and emotions and claims them and is able to move through them. There's hope in that.
I have been a huge admirer of CS Lewis for a very long time, and I also read a lot of Christian literature, apologetics, theology, and so on, which often reference CS Lewis and specifically this book. Even after all that though, this book was still absolutely not what I expected.
I read the entire book in one sitting (which isn’t the achievement that it may sound as the book is very short), and found it to be a very raw account of CS Lewis' grief. There were actually some parts of it where I almost felt I shouldn’t be reading it at all - as if I had opened a door, found a man wracked with grief and railing against God, and just stood there watching him for a while.
It was very interesting to see the change in him between the first and last chapters, but I was left feeling that the book was incomplete. I know that it isn’t supposed to be a 'story' with a beginning, middle and end, but I had hoped that there would be a kind of redemption - a rebuttal of his earlier arguments against God, an acknowledgement that there is a 'light at the end of the tunnel'. This was touched upon, but not with the same force that the original arguments were made earlier on in the book.
I would definitely recommend this book, but with a note of caution - this book is, very much as the title states, an observation of another person's grief. This may be helpful to some who have been recently bereaved, but might be quite distressing to others. If a person is already in a fragile state, they may not quite be ready to walk with CS Lewis in his grief too.
I read the entire book in one sitting (which isn’t the achievement that it may sound as the book is very short), and found it to be a very raw account of CS Lewis' grief. There were actually some parts of it where I almost felt I shouldn’t be reading it at all - as if I had opened a door, found a man wracked with grief and railing against God, and just stood there watching him for a while.
It was very interesting to see the change in him between the first and last chapters, but I was left feeling that the book was incomplete. I know that it isn’t supposed to be a 'story' with a beginning, middle and end, but I had hoped that there would be a kind of redemption - a rebuttal of his earlier arguments against God, an acknowledgement that there is a 'light at the end of the tunnel'. This was touched upon, but not with the same force that the original arguments were made earlier on in the book.
I would definitely recommend this book, but with a note of caution - this book is, very much as the title states, an observation of another person's grief. This may be helpful to some who have been recently bereaved, but might be quite distressing to others. If a person is already in a fragile state, they may not quite be ready to walk with CS Lewis in his grief too.
A Grief Observed. C. S. Lewis. 1961. This searing account of Lewis’ grief after the death of his wife is heartfelt like that of Julian Barnes in Levels of Life. The difference seems like Lewis may have scribbled his pain in a journal and later decided to publish it whereas Barnes may have written his pain for publication. The other difference is Lewis is a believer and Barns is not. Both books put in to words what I have felt. I am not sure that these books can be appreciated fully unless the reader has lived with the pain of losing a love.
not dogmatic, but still written by a man of faith, who is honestly sharing his struggles in grief. By the author's own admission, not all that is said in these pages is fully reliable, his thoughts are many and varied and confused at times. But this helps to understand the confusion and what grief can be like. And he is of course lucid in his style, and insightful, which helps greatly. A good book to have for reflection, and pastoral understanding, although not necessarily for comfort to those going through grief.
Wow, I never realized how pompous and narcissistic C. S. Lewis and his crowd were, including his wife and son; they created a huge rhetorical apparatus about how cultured and elite they were. The marriage sounds like it was mostly for show (though I'm sure they were friends), and therefore the bereavement paean seemed over-wrought and tiresome. Not recommended if you want to hear a real experience with death and dying.
Excellent excellent excellent. The afterword was alright, but Lewis' actual text was phenomenal. This is actually the journals that he wrote after the death of his wife Joy. Seeing him feeling and then examining his grief, and the implications it had on his faith, was so intriguing.
A punch in the stomach.
For someone who has suffered a similarly deep loss as Lewis, this book is a comfort. When I read this book, I often find myself underlining something that I have thought or felt or wondered as I've made my way through my own grief. If you've never experienced grief, this is the most realistic account I've ever read. "A Grief Observed" is a gut-wrenching book to read, but I find it utterly amazing every time I read it.
In "A Grief Observed," C.S. Lewis allows the reader to walk with him on his journey through grief. He was a brilliant scholar and Oxford professor whom people looked to for answers and meaning when suddenly his world was turned upside down by the loss of his wife Joy, who died of cancer in her 40s. In the book, he explores honestly the depth of his anguish and his search to find comfort and hope in the midst of the despair of loss.Lewis describes many of the multitude of emotions that grief can bring, and also the seemingly endless barrage of unanswered questions he found himself asking. Ultimately he finds comfort and hope in his faith, but not before journey through a time of anguish and questioning God- even expressing his anger and shock at the loss.If you have lost a close loved one, or know someone who has, this book may be a great source of comfort in the midst of grief. I facilitate a grief support group, and a number of people have found it to be very helpful in coping with the loss of a family member or close friend. I have also found it to be a helpful source of comfort and hope in facing some of the losses in my life.I would highly recommend it to anyone facing grief and loss, as well as for caregivers, clergy and counselors who work with the bereaved.
This book draws the reader in and through its brief snippets you can feel the pain, taste the profound grief Lewis suffered when "H." died. Don't look for tidy answers to why God allows suffering and grief. Rather look for the calm sense that even though we don't see God's purpose we can sense his presence and trust his promises. This is a wonderful read.
Lewis' "Pain" and "Grief" should be read together. Grief is Lewis' personal experience of natural evil in the world. In it Lewis absolutely rails against God for the death of his wife, and the injustice of it all.
I've read this book now two or three times, sometimes finding new kernels of information and other times reminders of lessons learned in the past.
I've been an atheist all my 64 years, but I recently lost my wife of many years to cancer. Having that in common with Lewis, got me between the covers of this slim book. Being able to relate so strongly to someone that I'd never enjoyed before, was an interesting experience. His raw writings on his loss and grief were very similar to my own journal writings of late. I felt closer to his angry words about a cruel god, than his return to his faith at the book's end, but we're all different when it comes to whatever faith we may have. I'm glad to have read his words. The drive to read the words of someone else who has suffered a similar pain is a strong force.
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. A Grief Observed contains his epigrammatic reflections on that period... This is the book that inspired the film Shadowlands, 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 read this back in high school (as many of Lewis' books) and couldn't put it down. How he changes talking about his grief and forming that into a love for Christ is nothing short of brilliant!
to be able to see inside someone's head and read their thoughts as an event is unfolding is incredibly interesting. c.s. lewis write about his grief over the loss of his wife to illness, while he goes thru it. enlightening, truthful, and emotional. WOW!