Rating: 
Summary: Very Worthwhile...
Review: This is certainly a very enjoyable book, particularly for those who are already fans of Lewis. Feminists will be outraged (they should read it nonetheless); Lewis' unique understanding of the nature of masculinity and femininity are very much in evidence here. I found the book rather moving in certain places, especially the growth in understanding that we go through with the heroine, as she develops from secular (liberal) humanist into a Christian. Lewis' deep intuition around the relationship of human (conjugal) love to divine love is (I think) spot on, and probably the most interesting aspect of this book for me (the significance/danger of the "Baconian" attitude towards nature is more cleanly expressed in _Abolition of Man_). However, the ending of the book seems a bit too easy and optimistic.
I picked up this book because, as Lewis says in the preface, "it has behind it the serious 'point' [he had] tried to make in [his] _Abolition of Man_." The latter book is an absolute masterpiece, and I would highly suggest that it be read before _That Hideous Strength_. Nonetheless, this is an excellent fantasy novel, and much superior to what generally falls into that category.
Rating: 
Summary: Gets better with each read
Review: When I first read That Hideous Strength, I was too young to understand many of the themes presented, and in trying to enjoy it as simply a story, I finished it feeling confused. When I returned to it a couple years later, I found it incredibly in-depth and rich with wonderful themes, tying in earlier references from Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra as it built up to one grand conclusion.
This is NOT a light read, but if you have the patience to read slowly and savor each nuance, it is well worth it. It requires the same reading style that true fans of Tolkien's LOTR trilogy develop in order to absorb the masterful work properly.
I would not recommend this book to anyone younger than late teenage years or older, as many youth are not prepared to deal with the themes (that Lewis presents) in a matter-of-fact way, and are more likely to react strongly to dated attitudes towards women (sadly, many readers do remain that way even as they chronologically age). More mature readers are able to look past those as typical of the times in which Lewis lived, and learn from his full story, which is an excellent lesson for us all.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and idiosyncratic satirical fantasy
Review: Lewis's writing these days is widely regarded as of exclusive interest to the God Squad and that is a pity. Certainly this is a work of pretty straightforward religious propaganda, a supernatural thriller written by someone who takes the supernatural stuff with the utmost seriousness but, hey, so is "The Exorcist" and that needn't disqualify it from entertaining the unconverted. This novel is the last and the only earthbound instalment of Lewis's Space trilogy. It's a theological; thriller in which the forces of darkness are seeking to destroy humanity through the agency of the sinister National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments or NICE. The plot had two distinct threads. One involves Mark Studdock, a young don at the rather All-Souls-like Bracton College in the fictitious English town of Edgestow (which Lewis in a preface insists is not based on Durham). Mark is a weak man with a desperate desire for recognition and inclusion and is all to easily sucked into the unpleasant world of NICE. He fondly imagines they are headhunting him in recognition of his many talents but in fact they are mainly interested in him as a way to get at his wife, Jane, whose visionary dreams they perceive, rightly, as a threat. And Jane is the subject of the second plot line. While Mark is being sucked in to the world of the baddies at their headquarters at Belbury, a former blood transfusion centre, Jane is falling in with the goodies, a disparate band of desperately nice people at the manor at St Anne's, under the leadership of the charismatic Director, the Ransom of "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Perelandra". The St Anne's parts of the story are the less impressive. Ransom has been turned by his experiences on Mars and Venus into an outrageously charismatic, ageless and near-superhuman religious leader who is really a lot less interesting than the very human Ransom of the earlier stories and who spends most of his time delivering rather dull and condescending anti-feminist lectures to Jane. (We are constantly told she would ordinarily have found such lectures insufferable but he is just so charismatic, you see...) Recently fashionable stuff about the wisdom of being a "surrendered wife" really just recapitulates Ransom's line here though Lewis surely writes far better than more recent advocates of such doubtful ideas and perhaps succeeds making them as attractive and compelling as it is humanly possible to make them. The Belbury-Mark story is a lot more fun and comprises a splendid and acute essay in political satire. The picture it paints of a grimly rotten beaurocratic institution guided by what pass for "progressive" social ideals is one of the nicest things Lewis ever wrote. (Lewis's intellectual agenda here echoes in a fictional context thoughts he develops in "The Abolition of Man", one of his most interesting non-fiction essays.) Particularly well done is Belbury's "Deputy Director" Wither, whose talks a wonderful and hilarious form of verbal anti-matter that is all too recognisable as only a slight exaggeration of the worst sort of British public sector Managementspeak. The news management techniques espoused by the NICE are again satirically telling and in a strikingly contemporary way: New Labour, one fears, would have loved the NICE with their fascination with spin and "modernization". Perhaps the best and most insightful thing about the book is the characterization of Mark Studdock, an extremely telling, frighteningly plausible portrait of a man drawn into collaboration with evil not by wickedness but by weakness, a desperation to belong, to feel himself accepted in the world of those who wield the power and pull the strings. It's enormously unlikely that Hitler's Germany or Mao's China contained enough simply wicked people to sustain such poisonous regimes. But it is also enormously likely that they contained many many people who were foolish and weak in just the ways Mark Studdock was, people whose collaboporation makes them appropriate objects more for pity than for hatred. The climax is inevitably rather over the top, involving as it does the resurrection of the Arthurian druid Merlin whose ancient powers are crucial to determining the outcome of the conflict. Obviously things get a bit bonkers at this point but Lewis is rare among thriller writers for his scholarship and has the erudition in matters Arthurian to carry it off as well as anyone ever could. A real curiosity then, strange and sometimes a bit nuts but also very well-written, satirically telling, often psychologically and politically insightful and very readable.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disapointing
Review: I am a huge fan of most of C.S. Lewis' work. I had to force myself to finish this one. His view of life (esp in regard to the main female character) was SO offensive and sexist, I threw the book across the room several times. I wish I had never read it so I did not know how far his views on women and there place went. I guess according to him the largest sin of a women is to be independent and get a job. Give me a break.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and delightful fantasy
Review: I've read the 3 books from this series and they are all excellent. I really enjoyed That Hideous Strength, but it's almost impossible to explain how well it was written. It will sound a bit farfetched from my descriptions, but somehow it keeps all its varying aspects perfectly blended into the story. Overall it is an engaging fantasy mingling with sci-fi. It tells the story of a young couple who are caught between good and evil. On the side of good is the old-fashioned England, the spirits of the deep heavens, and characters like Mr. Bultitude and Ivy Maggs that charm and delight. McPhee is hilarious while Ramson himself is wise and yet human. On the side of evil there is the movement towards 'social progress' with characters like Frost and Withers that fascinate with their perverse logic. Lord Feverstone is a familiar smiling bastard while The Fairy is repulsive and pitiful. Caught between these are Jane and Mark, the pragmatic newly married couple whose failure in love provides interesting fodder in and of itself. It covers the moral aspects of forward progress really well, the old-fashioned English village with all its quirks is pitted against the facist social purity of labratory and government merged. Then add an appearance by Merlyn and old magic, giving it an interesting Arthurian slant I've never seen done before. I admit that a few of the essay-style conversations about morality were wordy, but I loved this book. The descriptions are beautiful and enticing, and even briefly appearing characters are meaningful. It is at once engaging and fascinating and fun at different levels. I highly recommend it, and the series!
Rating:
Summary: Progressives gone wild
Review: A great, fun "fairy tale" with lots of meaning-
Long live Merlin!
Rating:
Summary: The Trilogy Concludes
Review: The final volume of Lewis's Space Trilogy is a major departure from the first two volumes, which really serve as a prologue for this novel, wherein the forces of God and Satan (or their allegorical equivalents) face off in final battle. Dr. Ransom, the hero of the first two books is a secondary - although quite significant character - in this book, and he doesn't even appear till over a hundred pages have passed. Instead, the story focuses on Jane and Mark, a newly married couple with difficulties already developing in their relationship. Although they are a couple, they are apart for most of the book, each involved in their own adventures. Mark is lured into the service of the sinister organization NICE, where he is convinced to do small services that seem legitimate enough but are designed to further their agenda. Meanwhile, Jane, plagued by clairvoyant visions, winds up joining with Dr. Ransom's group, which is out to save the world from NICE. Jane and Mark, physically separated and emotionally estranged, find themselves also on opposite sides in a cosmic conflict between good and evil. Although this is a high-stakes battle, it is not overly supernatural, as the forces of good and evil operate with human agents/pawns. And Lewis is not as interested in the adventure aspects of his story as using it as a vehicle for presenting certain theological (especially Christian) concepts in an entertaining manner. The end result is a story that is a bit dry in spots but generally good. This story is more sophisticated than the Narnia books, which are aimed towards a younger audience, but this trilogy is also not as much fun as the Chronicles of Narnia. If you read this trilogy expecting Narnia, you may be disappointed, as you will if you are expecting what is normally considered science fiction. On the other hand, if you want to read a thought-provoking fictional work, this may be to your liking.
Rating:
Summary: This book could be a mirror
Review: Hidden in this excellent science-fiction novel is a startling look at our own society. I found myself discovering parallels to my own experience with "N.I.C.E." institutions such as major American universities and the like. A fascinating and frightening read. You'll want a good chair for this one -- let it sink in and experience it fully.
Rating: 
Summary: The 'religious' beliefs regarding women's rolls are too much
Review: I very much enjoyed the first too books in this trilogy, but this third book has some problems. While the sci-fi purist concept of a 'corporation' taking over and essentially looking to sterilize the planet and 'create the superior being' is well founded, Dr. Ransom's character really does little in this book other than 'sit and wait' for the higher forces to come to put a stop to it. The addition of Merlin was interesting insomuch as his dialog with Dr. Ransom, but the way in which he is sent to resolve the conflict at hand is a bit much, and to be honest entirely to grusome. Also, there is really little to no reason to empathize with the character of Mark, and Lewis' treatment of Jane is typically patriarchal to the point of (personal) insult. Even the fact that her name is "jane" (very non-entity-like) compared to "Mark" (apostle), is a bit much. But of course, that was part of the 'message' I was supposed to receive I suppose (being a female reader).
Rating:
Summary: An Unusual Twist to end the Trilogy
Review: While not as good Perelandra, That Hideous Strength is certainly worth reading. Although the first ~40 pages are confusing and a little boring, the story quickly begins to pick up when the frightening designs of the N.I.C.E. are revealed. Mark, a young sociologist at a British University is offered a higher position with N.I.C.E., a sort-of-facade organization with a dark social agenda. Most interesting is the progression of thought by which Mark realizes his humanist or materialist presuppositions can lead to some shocking conclusions if followed through to their extreme. Intertwined are several connected storylines that sometimes delay the suspense of various climaxes within the story. While this was somewhat annoying, Lewis's witty writing kept me intrigued. Overall it was interesting how Lewis wove together philosophy with fantasy, and I was amused at his reference to Tolkien's land of Numinor as a historical reality.
|
