Book Review: Surprised by Joy

‘Surprised by Joy’ by C.S. Lewis

This was a fascinating look into the young life of a modern pillar of the literary faithful. Lewis plunges in to the wonders, mysteries and sorrows that shaped him and travels through his life, setting up his conversion by the closing of the tale. If you are looking for a thorough go of his life, search on, this story is only about his younger years and leaves out detailed accounts of many aspects of his life.

The parts he does present are magnificent. I found the descriptions of the British education system very interesting. I wonder how we became so narrow minded in our approach on this side of the pond. Perhaps, we can say it’s the fruit of a government indoctrination program…I digress. Lewis searches his early relationships with depth, humility and balance. He presents the phases of his spiritual and intellectual growth without pulling punches or over-doing the critique of his own thoughts.

Lewis is brilliant and the depths of his interests and ability to swallow antiquity and mythological traditions is staggering. His account of WWI is sobering.

His description of Joy left something to be desired and he pigeon holed himself in the opening chapter by communicating to the reader that if you had never felt that kind of joy than you should put the book down and move on. I found, by the end, he makes his description of joy null and void. So the moment in the early chapter is unnecessary.

There was a real red flag in the section about buggery in his school days in the chapter entitled ‘The great Knock’. His strange dismissal and approach to social hypocrisy were weird, frankly.

All and all, he tells a very good story about the way God sovereignly brought him, through all the events of his young life, to the true Faith. We are grateful to him for it. The last two chapters, ‘Checkmate’ and ‘A New Beginning’ are superb reading; very edifying.

Quotable moments:
p.222 “…it matters more that Heaven should exist than that we should ever get there. “

p. 226 “For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name was legion.