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Summary: Very well worth reading- stays with you
Review: Deep insights into the ideas of Heaven and Hell. Also a neat little story. A quick read.
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Summary: Surface fantasy is framework for peak into human heart.
Review: Lewis' "The Great Divorce" is a book that I have owned for years but only recently read. I don't know why it took me so long, but now that I have read it I want to read it again all the more. I guess that is a sign of a good book. Many of you reading this review are no doubt familiar with Lewis the philosopher, theologian, writer, and speaker. Suffice to say he remains one of the most esteemed and brilliant thinkers and writers of the last century. This book easily compares to the best of his work. The idea of using a fantasy-land constructed around a bus trip to try to give us some look into the unknown is pure Lewis. A dark, desolate, rainy bus stop gives us a mental picture of hell that reminds me of the films "Blade Runner" and "Dark City". The descriptions of a heaven-like place given in the book remind me of the house of Elrond and the elvish city in the recent "Lord of the Rings". The book essentially follows the author as he tours both of these worlds-seemingly seperated by a million miles. With George MacDonald as his guide, the author witnesses many interactions between those in the 'heavenly' world and those arriving from hell on a bus. The heavenly beings-who are solid-attempt to convince the spirits aboard the tour to remain with them and allow themselves to be made whole by the overseer of the heavenly realm. Unfortunately, most of the spirits prefer to deal with their various troubles 'some other time' or not at all. Wishing to remain as they are, they refuse the help of the heavenly beings. We witness spirits literally and figuratively in chains of pity, anger, pride, arrogance, and fear. The answer to all of these maladies is offered to them with outstretched arms, they need only accept the gift. The most powerful exchange in the book comes between a spirit who arrives with a little red lizard on his shoulder. (Readers of Lewis will recognize this from his earlier essay 'Horrid Red Things' in "God in the Dock"). The lizard embodies the spirit's struggles with lust; it continuously goads him on. As the spirit comes into contact with one of the heavenly angels, the angel states that if the man will only ask him to, he will kill the lizard. The lizard immediately warns the spirit that the angel is capable of this and reminds the spirit that if this is allowed, he-the spirit-will never enjoy the pleasures of lust and sin again. The spirit hems and haws, asking the angel many questions. Each time the angel responds "...MAY I KILL IT?" It is heartbreaking to read as the spirit decides to allow the angel-hands hovering just around the neck of the lizard-to kill it, only to relent when he realizes that he himself will be hurt in the process of obtaining freedom. The angel responds: "I never said it would not hurt you, only that it would not kill you." This seems eerily similar to so many of us in the 'real' world who, when offered freedom thru Christ and the solutions to our myriad of social, emotional, spiritual, and physical struggles, raise an angry hand to God and reject His offer. How many of us want our problems to be fixed, our wounds healed and our pain dealt with-without any pain!? How many of us prefer to hold onto the very things that are destroying us? Keeping us from God? A brilliant treatise on the ability of the human-in this case the spirit of departed humans-to rationalize and justify our behavior, whether it be an overbearing, controlling mother, a frightened woman, a man diseased with lust, those consumed by career, or any of the other characters in the book. Look deeper because there is a message for everyone in this book. A powerful allegory of the struggle to make the Gospel known to others. Recommended.
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Summary: What you can't take with you; can lead you to a bad choice.
Review: Ah ! If only it were that easy. Rationalization won't get every thing. In addition to the plausibility of the plot, there are fascinating discussions about the size of a place you don't wanna go. After "That Hideous Strength", I'd say this book is Lewis' best. I still get funny looks when I tell people I am a Behavioralist. But, as this book and "That Hideous Strength" demonstrate, it's all behavior. Our rationale means nothing compared to our behavior. P.S. I think Lewis would've loved Harry Potter
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Summary: C.S. Lewis' greatest achievement
Review: C.S. Lewis takes a visionary bus ride from hell to heaven with his fellow dammed souls. Each is met by someone and given the oppurtunity to walk freely into heaven, although most choose to rule in Hell rather than reside in heaven. Lewis witnesses the choice itself being made in various manisfestations, and is given a tour by George MacDonald - Lewis's own spiritual guru in real life.
This book is not a metaphysical treatise on heaven and hell, it is a clever and insightful look into our free will and why we choose ourselves over God, why we keep our misery when we are offered joy. You will be profoundly affected by this book and it will shape the eternal choices that you make. It is the only C.S. Lewis book that I have read over and over again and learned something new each and every time.
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Summary: Great Alegory...
Review: After Screwtape, this is my favorite work from Lewis (and it is a close call). The book is short, but I read slow (especially something as weighty as Lewis). I could not put this book down until I finished it. NOTE: Lewis himself made it clear that this book is not about the mechanics of the afterlife. It is about the cancerous nature of sin and how it interferes with out relationship to the Most High. If this entire story were taken literally then there would be discrepencies between it and scriptures concerning the attitudes of the damned souls, the nature of Hell/purgatory and the call to salvation. I suppose I should explain: 1) Most of the visitors from Hell refuse heaven and can not enjoy it because they are unwilling to repent of their sins. Jesus tells a story of a soul in Hell that yearned for just a drop of water (relief) from heaven. Souls in Hell will yearn for heaven and despise Hell. 2) Purgatory is not an idea found in Holy Scripture, and Lewis is dodgy about where the visitors are from. That aside, there are no visitors from Hell to even the outter realms of Heaven. It is true that Satan visits God's thrown room and raises accusations against us, but he has not yet been thrown into "the pit". He is called the "Prince of this World". 3) Salvation is an act of faith. Old Testement Believers had faith a Savior would come. New Testement believers have faith he came (and will return). Once you die you meet him. That's not faith. It's sight. To quote the famous hymn, "if you terry till your burried you will never come at all". Those are not the point of the book. And the points it makes about sin and human nature are excellent!
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Summary: Witnessing tool
Review: Perhaps you've read the Great Divorce and never really considered what a great way it is to introduce folks to your faith. For those in your life who consider themselves above your faith, offer them a time tested and revered author. The name certainly doesn't give away your motive. C.S. Lewis is considered a great author in almost all circles, and the book is just unclear enough to keep them holding on through the entire reading. Lewis' writing style and use of the King's English are also seemingly sophisticated and offers another reason for your unsaved friends to read the book. If you've never read the book, jump in. It's short and somewhat whimsical. It conveys a serious message of understanding your relationship with the eternal life given to each person. Where is your eternal life to be spent?
Rating: 
Summary: The Great Divorce
Review: This is a very intriguing and thought-provoking work of Lewis's and it has helped me rethink my faith in Christ and influenced my concept of Heaven and Hell.
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Summary: Mallowcups for Clive
Review: If it would have been anything other than an allegory, it may not have snagged my attention. A friend foisted it on me, and now I'm the one foisting. From "The Great Divorce", I came away with this: "Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about him." For this alone, Mallowcups for the master.
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Summary: THE GREAT DIVORCE
Review: As Lewis explains in his preface, The Great Divorce is a response to the attitude of William Blake, among others, that someday there will be an ideal union of the secular and divine, or Heaven and Hell. Unable to see how this could ever be, Lewis wrote The Great Divorce to explore the issue further. The result is a religous allegory of the highest caliber and impeccable, nearly frightening, insight. As with all allegories, The Great Divorce relies on symbolism to make its point. Lewis admits his book is not to be taken literally as a tour guide of either Heaven or Hell, but merely as an artistic expression of his ideas. And the plot device works well--Lewis's intensely brilliant yet readily accessible and familiar writing style makes it easy to imagine oneself in the narrator's shoes on the uneasy bus ride out of Hell, hunkering under the great mountains of Glory, or even talking uncertainly with Ghosts or Spirits (oh yes, there is a big difference!). The Great Divorce is a fine read for anyone, believer or unbeliever. The former will find many challenges and assurances; the latter will discover new insights into the Christian faith not readily available from other sources. Above all, The Great Divorce is a Dante-esque tour of not only the Worlds Beyond, but just as importantly one of the often unexplored metaphysical World within us all.
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Summary: One of the Best Ever
Review: Few books about spiritual matters are as imaginative and illuminating as Lewis' "The Great Divorce"....my only criticism is that the title is puzzling and off-target. What is "hell", you ask....Lewis has an answer and it works for me...and it gives me hope....I'd recommend this books to anyone who wonders about what happens when this life is over....
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