The Great Divorce
by
C.S. Lewis
Amazon Description:
The Great Divorce is C.S. Lewis's Divine Comedy: the narrator bears strong resemblance to Lewis (by way of Dante); his Virgil is the fantasy writer George MacDonald; and upon boarding a bus in a nondescript neighborhood, the narrator is taken to Heaven and Hell. The book's primary message is presented with almost oblique tidiness--"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'" However, the narrator's descriptions of sin and temptation will hit quite close to home for many readers. Lewis has a genius for describing the intricacies of vanity and self-deception, and this book is tremendously persistent in forcing its reader to consider the ultimate consequences of everyday pettiness. --Michael Joseph Gross
Added on: Saturday, July 29 2006
Recent Reviews:
You have to be a Gaia member to post reviews. Join now!
Recent Quotes:
This book deserves a better review, but I saw that there wasn't one, and this is my favorite book of all time, so I'll give it a shot. However, what I would really like to say is GO READ IT. It's short and very insightful.
C.S. Lewis has a great ability to write fiction with a message, but without compromising the quality of the fiction. This work of fiction has a story, but it is more interesting to read it for what it says about the human condition and the relationship of Man to God.
The characters in the book who end up in hell are not currently in firey torment, just a grey town where nothing is really solid and real. Given the option of living in the vibrant heaven, they chose their own mediocre sad existence. They don't want to love others or admit that they are wrong or give up their own unhealthy addictions. They are freely offered citizenship in the Kingdom of God, but they reject it.
This is not meant to be Lewis's description of what heaven and hell are really like, but it is a description of the human heart. The narrative structure mirrors Dante's Inferno; Lewis is the traveler/narrator and he encounters his mentor author George MacDonald in heaven. Echoing Milton's endeavor to “justify God's ways to man”, Lewis here presents a view of life and afterlife that is not common in our culture. Instead of presenting the Christian God as one who throws people into hell, he shows that people are given the option of heaven, but simply do not want it. We small creatures would prefer to be kings of our own small kingdom of self than enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Joy