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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
This was my least favorite of the trilogy I think. There's a lot of wild, funky stuff colliding throughout, but it didn't quite come together for me. It feels even more than the first two books like very little is happening with the narrative and most of the text is lightly veiled theological commentary from Lewis--which is still somewhat engaging. Perhaps the best (or most intriguing) aspect of the book is how Lewis sets it in the same universe as Tolkien's Middle Earth & Arthurian legend.
The book seemed to lack continuity, especially toward the end. Sometimes I had a hard time figuring out what was happening.
There is no simple category to put this book in...the best I can do is that it has the feel of an English gothic, with Christian and dystopian themes, sci-fi elements, and fantasy. It is fantastic, yet extremely strange. Its definitely not for everyone, but for those who this book is specifically made for, it is worth it.
Definitely my least favorite of the trilogy. Random characters and events break up the flow of the story. It was hard to care about many of the characters.
Took its sweet time to get going, but once it did, it was very engrossing. Easily my favorite of the Space Trilogy.
C.S. Lewis leaves me astonished with his creative allegories every single time. He definitely threw a few curveballs in this reading by implementing characters from foundational English legends.
I confess, I really didn't enjoy That Hideous Strength. Firstly, it wasn't set in space and secondly, Ransom isn't the main character. Instead, you've got Mark and Jane, the most singularly boring MCs ever. Mark was embroiled in social dramatics at the university, some of which hinted at future relevance to the space plot. Jane, meanwhile, is every bit as boring as Mark and having strange dreams about serial killers. Again, WHAT?
I made it about 140 pages through before packing it in and calling it quits. Boring.
I made it about 140 pages through before packing it in and calling it quits. Boring.
I've just finished reading [b:That Hideous Strength|100933|That Hideous Strength (The Space Trilogy, #3)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348645618s/100933.jpg|964487] again. I've lost count of how many times I've read it, at least six or seven times, and each time I find something new.
It has been described as C.S. Lewis's attempt at a Charles Williams novel, and that is a fairly accurate description. The first time I read it, as a teenager, a lot of the literary allusions went right over my head. Mr Fisher-King, for example. I first became aware of the significance that when reading a novel by [a:Robert Holdstock|72538|Robert Holdstock|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1374526882p2/72538.jpg], either [b:Mythago Wood|126192|Mythago Wood (Mythago Wood, #1)|Robert Holdstock|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1308639607s/126192.jpg|121534] or [b:The Fetch|3920088|The Fetch|Laura Whitcomb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347514519s/3920088.jpg|3965558], and the significance escaped me there too at first. Now I've been reading a bit more Arthurian literature, and suddenly a lot of the references make more sense, just as reading [b:The Mabinogion|455219|The Mabinogion|Unknown|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1334993150s/455219.jpg|162739] helped to make sense of [b:The Owl Service|83829|The Owl Service|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328875903s/83829.jpg|80927].
But the book that made a lot of things fall into place this time round was [b:The Cult of Rhodes|5370054|The Cult of Rhodes Remembering an Imperialist in Africa|Paul Maylam|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1332826772s/5370054.jpg|5437568], which I read about three months ago, and reviewed here The cult of Rhodes.
Right at the end of That hideous strength Professor Dimble is talking about Logres and Britain. In Lewis's mythology, and one could perhaps say in the Inklings' mythology, Logres is Britain's better half, or better self. Each nation has, as it were, a guardian angel and a tempting demon, and in the case of England the former is Logres and the latter is Britain.
Dimble describes this as a haunting:
I had to look up Sidney, and I'm pretty sure it refers to Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586).
But what struck me most was the casual, almost passing reference to Cecil Rhodes.
Rhodes came in for a lot of publicity last year, over 100 years after his death, when a group of students at the University of Cape Town demanded that a statue of Rhodes be removed from the campus. And there were similar demands about a statue of Rhodes in Oxford, where Lewis taught.
As I said, I've read That hideous strength six or seven times, but it was only this time around that it stuck me that Cecil Rhodes might have been a model for one of the villains of the piece, Lord Feverstone, alias Dick Devine. And if I hadn't recently read The cult of Rhodes I might not have noticed it.
Dick Devine appears as a villain in the first book of Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy, [b:Out of the Silent Planet|25350|Out of the Silent Planet (The Space Trilogy, #1)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1310984018s/25350.jpg|879622], and reading that with a picture of Rhodes in the back of one's mind makes a lot more sense. Lewis isn't writing allegory here; it's no good looking for one-to-one correspondences between the life and career of Cecil Rhodes and the life and career of Dick Devine, but there is a lot of similarity in their values and their goals.
It has been described as C.S. Lewis's attempt at a Charles Williams novel, and that is a fairly accurate description. The first time I read it, as a teenager, a lot of the literary allusions went right over my head. Mr Fisher-King, for example. I first became aware of the significance that when reading a novel by [a:Robert Holdstock|72538|Robert Holdstock|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1374526882p2/72538.jpg], either [b:Mythago Wood|126192|Mythago Wood (Mythago Wood, #1)|Robert Holdstock|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1308639607s/126192.jpg|121534] or [b:The Fetch|3920088|The Fetch|Laura Whitcomb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347514519s/3920088.jpg|3965558], and the significance escaped me there too at first. Now I've been reading a bit more Arthurian literature, and suddenly a lot of the references make more sense, just as reading [b:The Mabinogion|455219|The Mabinogion|Unknown|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1334993150s/455219.jpg|162739] helped to make sense of [b:The Owl Service|83829|The Owl Service|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328875903s/83829.jpg|80927].
But the book that made a lot of things fall into place this time round was [b:The Cult of Rhodes|5370054|The Cult of Rhodes Remembering an Imperialist in Africa|Paul Maylam|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1332826772s/5370054.jpg|5437568], which I read about three months ago, and reviewed here The cult of Rhodes.
Right at the end of That hideous strength Professor Dimble is talking about Logres and Britain. In Lewis's mythology, and one could perhaps say in the Inklings' mythology, Logres is Britain's better half, or better self. Each nation has, as it were, a guardian angel and a tempting demon, and in the case of England the former is Logres and the latter is Britain.
Dimble describes this as a haunting:
How something we may call Britain is always haunted by something we may call Logres. Haven't you noticed that we are two countries? After every Arthur, a Mordred; behind every Milton, a Cromwell; a nation of poets, a nation of shopkeepers; the home of Sidney -- and of Cecil Rhodes.
I had to look up Sidney, and I'm pretty sure it refers to Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586).
But what struck me most was the casual, almost passing reference to Cecil Rhodes.
Rhodes came in for a lot of publicity last year, over 100 years after his death, when a group of students at the University of Cape Town demanded that a statue of Rhodes be removed from the campus. And there were similar demands about a statue of Rhodes in Oxford, where Lewis taught.
As I said, I've read That hideous strength six or seven times, but it was only this time around that it stuck me that Cecil Rhodes might have been a model for one of the villains of the piece, Lord Feverstone, alias Dick Devine. And if I hadn't recently read The cult of Rhodes I might not have noticed it.
Dick Devine appears as a villain in the first book of Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy, [b:Out of the Silent Planet|25350|Out of the Silent Planet (The Space Trilogy, #1)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1310984018s/25350.jpg|879622], and reading that with a picture of Rhodes in the back of one's mind makes a lot more sense. Lewis isn't writing allegory here; it's no good looking for one-to-one correspondences between the life and career of Cecil Rhodes and the life and career of Dick Devine, but there is a lot of similarity in their values and their goals.
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence
Nudity, not sexually descriptive
Tried reading this years ago to finish up the trilogy and couldn’t get into it (no surprise). I will definitely need to read it again (maybe not as an audiobook played at warp speed during a road trip) to really “get” everything, but it was solid and sobering all the same.
And of course Lewis had to be Lewis and make me begrudge being single. Curse him.