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Summary: No "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"
Review: Lewis' title would seem to be an answer to Blake's work "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," but his method is Dantean. Like Dante, Lewis attempts to portray the spiritual existence of souls in Heaven and Hell in a physical manner. The vision of Hell as a somewhat dingy city is inspired, and the idea that the souls there don't even recognize that they are separated from God is a grand revision of Dante.Still, like many allegories, the work gets heavy handed at times. It is always clear who is right in any discussion--and that's fine, but to me there are about 2 too many such colloquys. Nevertheless, this is yet another venue into Lewis' theology, and though it isn't as forthright as some of his other works, the addition of fictional ideas makes it an enjoyable read.
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Summary: Great book
Review: This is an excellent book! As there are already many good reviews here, I would only add a quote from the book that I like very much: "Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself." If this is at all true, it sure offers a fine perspective on living!
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Summary: Particularly Poignant
Review: In reading this tale of a visit to the lands outside heaven, one cannot help but see himself and those around him in the characters in book. Mr. Lewis offers his wisdom and beliefs to the readers of his book. A very intelligent and striking exploration of Christianity, I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to develop religious sophistication.
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Summary: C.S. Lewis's best book
Review: I have read "The Great Divorce" about 6 or 7 times and I get something out of it every time I read it. It is a beautiful, incredibly insightful book about the nature of Heaven and Hell.
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Summary: The Question of Solidity
Review: The interaction between the Ghosts and the Solid People in "The Great Divorce" is heartbreaking to me, because it reminds me of how I desire to cling to pieces of Hell and still enter Heaven. Yet, in order to become a citizen of God's kingdom, you have to surrender yourself wholly to the forgiveness and grace of Christ, which I believe is one of the major themes of this book. C.S. Lewis asks a question that could possibly be the most important one we answer in our lifetime: what are you willing to sacrifice in order to obtain the eternal happiness of Heaven and the glory of God's presence?
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Summary: What is Heaven and Hell, anyway?
Review: The brilliance of "The Great Divorce" is Lewis' focus on the spiritual aspects of Heaven and Hell and not just the literal aspects. The very day I became a Christian, the thought entered my mind that the very worst things about Hell had to be the absence of love and the absence of Christ. That was as far as my thinking went. Lewis took me much further with this book-- The lustful man lives in a kind of Hell already. The woman with a forgiving and humble heart lives in a kind of Heaven already. In the Bible, believers are described as already seated with Christ in Heavenly places-- spiritually, they have already arrived at their eternal destination. The converse is true of unbelievers. They dwell in the dark shadows of the underworld-- willingly without love and without Christ, burning in the flames of their own selfishness. An excellent read!! Lewis mentions his predecessor, George MacDonald, in "The Great Divorce." I have read that Lewis derived much of his theology from MacDonald's interpretations. I recommend MacDonald's book "Phantastes," the very book which Lewis partly credits for his conversion. I also recommend highly, and I do mean highly "Castle of Wisdom" by Rhett Ellis.
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Summary: Beautiful!
Review: Beautifully written ideas about Heaven and Hell as a state of mind; I absolutely LOVED it. It puts a peaceful, truthful perspective on struggling for peace. I want to read it five more times!!!
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Summary: God First
Review: One reviewer wrote that he felt the book said "To enter into Heaven, the only prerequiste was to give up a vice. That was all. Some lust, some apostasty, some selfishness and false love. " In all respect, I beg to disagree. I feel Lewis was saying that In order to get the desires of your heart, ( The mother Pam wanted to be with her som Michael for example)The first desire of your heart should be for God. "Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God, and HIS rightiousness, and (then) all these things will be added. God wants to give us everything, but he is unable to until we give up our nothingness.
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Summary: Can Anyone Equal Lewis?
Review: We who still live on Earth will probably never see another C.S. Lewis. The man was in a category all by himself. Most writers live to write ONE great work...Lewis wrote many including the Narnia Chronicles (NOT just for children!), The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity and many, many others. The Great Divorce is my second favorite Lewis work, just (barely) behind Till We Have Faces. Lewis introduces the work by citing Blake's concept of the marriage of heaven and hell, then writing about their divorce. Many of the details of the book have been cited by other reviewers, so I will only add that the book is a wonderful, thoughtful portrait of the human condition from the mind of a brilliant thinker. Enjoy.
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Summary: "The Great Divorce": Lewis's finest pieces of literature!
Review: "The Great Divorce" is the first work of Lewis involving Christian theology that I have delved into. Needless to say, while the story is put forth much the same way as Lewis's space trilogy, it does carry a large amount of theological speculations on heaven and hell. I believe the best way for an author to communicate his feelings with the reader is this way, by presenting a fictitious reality and injected into that reality the truths of our own reality. In this respect C.S. Lewis has certainly hit a home run. The story involves a man, presumably and through my thought Lewis himself, traveling on a bus ride into heaven. While there, he experiences events beyond human comprehension, coming across many instances of people rejecting the grace and goodwill of God, and instead choosing to live their live down below in the town which the narrator first departed in the bus from. Obviously, this town is hell. Milton was indeed right with his statement from Lucifer just before he was throw into the pit, "It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven". This is the ideology of many of Lewis's characters in this book. While in the wonderful land, the narrator meets with George Macdonald (a hero of Lewis's throughout his life, both before his conversion and after.) McDonald takes the narrator on many trips around the land, witnessing discussions between humans and angels. Every writer has at least one great work: C.S. Lewis was blessed with the ability to produce many. "The Great Divorce" is perhaps one of his most insightful works of fantasy/fact ever conceived. It reminded me very much of the book of Revelation, in which the Apostle John records his experiences on a deserted island. By the end of Lewis's tale, we find out that the whole thing had been a dream injected into his mind by God. We finish the tale with the promise of the narrator to George McDonalds to tell no one of his events. Classic Lewis style. This is a definite read for Lewis scholars and fans alike, and is suredly one of C.S.L.'s finest pieces of literature.
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