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5.0 out of 5 stars
Caveat, Jun 12 2003
By A Customer
Although they are, by now, superfluous, I add my five stars to the constellation that's already gathered around 'Till We Have Faces' in part to underline the comments already made by many reviewers and in part to hide from you what those comments betray. For 'Till We Have Faces' is a tale whose telling is as much a reason to read the book as the tale itself. It is a story whose characters, places, and very language will haunt you in the most wonderful ways--its sounds and smells will seep into your subconscious and change the way you see and feel. It is story-telling at its most vivid and lucid and profound. Above all, I wish to emphasize that this is a book about mysteries, religious, psychological and philosophical. Consequently, the very way in which the story unfolds leads the reader (and the main character!) into a darkness suddenly illuminated by a dazzling revelation. And so this is why I began my review by saying that one of my goals was to hide from you what other reviewers give away. If you want to experience the mysteries and revelations of 'Till We Have Faces' with all the intensity felt by Lewis' heroine Orual, please stop reading the reviews here. Read on, though, for marvelous plot summaries and reflections on the book. But no matter what you choose, please READ THIS BOOK for a story that is as achingly beautiful as it is richly insightful.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of Lewis's best fiction, Jun 11 2003
CS Lewis, the master Christian apologist, was also a fabulous storyteller, as well as a sort of Classical scholar. This book is a synthesis of his theology, his love for the classics, and his storytelling ability. It is a reworking of the Psyche/Cupid myth, spun by Lewis in such a way as to teach important moral values--values which Lewis propagated in his Christian writings, but which he proves (in this book) to be important to all cultures. One of the most compelling things about this novel is that it is set in a 'barbarian' society, with many gods comparable to those of the Greeks. Even in the midst of this foreign religion, however, Lewis manages to teach his Christian moral values with surprising success.
In a nutshell, this is a story about too much love. Orual, Psyche's sister, loves Psyche more than anything. Her love, however, is a selfish love, and Orual ends up destroying her sister because of that love. The central message of this book (to me, at least) is that people often treat their love protectively, and that jealousy often prompts people to hurt the one they love in an effort to keep the beloved all to themselves. The result, in this story and in others, is that someone (like Orual) who claims to love another person (like Psyche) ends up being the person in the world who hurts them the most. This culminates, in the novel, with Orual using Psyche's love for her as blackmail to get Psyche to destroy her life with the god Cupid.
Readers familiar with Lewis's 'The Screwtape Letters' and 'The Great Divorce' will recognize this familiar theme of love gone too far. As always, Lewis provides insights in this book that are both profitable and that hit close to home for many of us. This is a great work of fiction by CS Lewis, both for its theological content and for the narrative itself. I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it, and both enjoyed and profited from the reading.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Redeeming Humun Sorrow: C.S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces", May 29 2002
Most fortunate was the day I stumbled across this book while rummaging through my mother's library. Of all the books I have read thus far, I believe "Till We Have Faces" the most poignant and the most profound. C.S. Lewis uses the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche as a basis for his tale of two sisters, one guiltless and beautiful, the other good but ugly of face. He employs their lives as an allegory of the incarnation and sacrifice of Christ to answer the timeless question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people.
Superficially, "Till We Have Faces" is a grave and at times grim fairytale of the sister princesses Orual and Istra in the dark primeval kingdom of Glome. The book is constructed as the complaint of the homely Orual (who comes to represent a virtuous, but flawed mankind) against the gods for the sorrows of her life.
Through the embittered Orual coming to see her own selfishness of heart and how futile it is to try to fathom the designs of the divine with mere mortal reasoning, Lewis does not belittle human sorrow or suffering in comparison to the greatness of God, but rather attempts to represent salvation as a power to heal the deepest wounds and the greatest sorrows.
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