Reviews

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

ashlurtis's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I’ve had this book on my shelf for years, but have only recently begun experiencing C.S. Lewis. This is a quick little read, packed full of interesting theological struggles and various pictures of human folly. 

As someone pretty steeped in scripture, I found this read comforting and illuminating. It’s small enough to not be overwhelming, but still dense enough to provoke thought. This book makes me want to explore Lewis further.  

jamoor7's review

challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

ixthus68's review against another edition

4.0

Deceptive title, but great book

If I had understood the premise of this book, I would have read it long ago. Parts of it were a little tedious for a modern reader, but the premise and the final bits really spoke to me.

maryellis_me's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

phlyarologist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

josh22's review

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

taya_bel's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. What a splendid book. I was not expecting the writing and narration to be so good given that I found ‘the Screwtape Letters’ to be slower and harder to read through.

This book was so good that I annotated it, which I never do for books!

I was not expecting that ending. I was NOT expecting that ending to be the narrator choosing whether or not to stay in Heaven or not.

A beautiful story and a definite to reread for me in the future.

Also, the copy of this book I discovered by mere chance. I got it for $1 at the Word bookstore!! I will definitely be reading more of Lewis’s lesser-known books.

Note to self: I read this book solely via my physical copy

rsuray's review against another edition

4.0

A solid 4.5 for me. To me, the book is split into two non-chronological "parts:" the Chronicles of Narnia-esque confrontations between the Ghosts and Spirits, and the abstract conversations between the narrator and MacDonald. I originally read this book in high school and loved the blatant moralistic metaphors that Lewis offers with the Ghost characters, but I found the abstract conversations comprising the last third of the book confusing and a little hard to follow. This time around, the latter was my favorite part. MacDonald and the narrator (presumably Lewis) go back and forth on good versus evil and how there is actually a lot of gray area to a "good" or "evil" decision due to life's never-ending deviation from the "original good." I found myself rereading a lot of paragraphs and pondering more over this 150 page book more than volumes of much larger mass. In the Preface, Lewis warns that the book is meant to be fantastic, though with strong moral overtones. He states that he wishes to "arouse factual curiosity about the details of the after-world." He certainly succeeded in arousing factual curiosity with me, and this book continues to be a refreshing favorite.

darcyjanea's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

madiduffy's review against another edition

2.0

went completely over my head, unfortunately