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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a good book, one that delves deeply into what it means to (and to not) love, and what happens when that love becomes an idol. This book is beautifully written, and I highly recommend it. C. S. Lewis continues to be one of my favorites, and books like this are why.
Re-read July 2024. I am once again floored by this masterpiece of a novel.
--
Original review (January 2021): I would give this book a six or seven star-rating if I could. Shatteringly beautiful, moving, haunting. I really enjoy Lewis—he is one of my favorite authors—and full-heartedly agree with him: this is his masterpiece. No book has even touched me or convicted me as much as this. Lewis has created a work of art that shows the human soul and its condition in a deeply rich, symbolic way, a masterpiece depicting all that it means to love, to sin, and to be redeemed.
Till We Have Faces is the ultimate result of Lewis's lifelong project to retell the myth of Cupid and Psyche. I will avoid going into too much detail so as not to spoil anything, but it "makes sense" of a fascinating Pagan myth from a Christian perspective. Like Lewis's other fiction, you shouldn't get hung up on the mixed religious metaphors and utilization of non-Christian religious figures; he's making a broad thematic point, and that's the important bit. It's fiction, not theology.
I loved and devoured this book (I read it over the course of three days, and the last ~50% in one sitting), and will definitely be re-reading in the future. The only tragedy is that this book is so comparatively unknown to readers, even Lewis enthusiasts, because there is just so much that I want to talk about.
This book is so beautiful, so good, so true. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. I hope you read it and think about it, too.
--
Original review (January 2021): I would give this book a six or seven star-rating if I could. Shatteringly beautiful, moving, haunting. I really enjoy Lewis—he is one of my favorite authors—and full-heartedly agree with him: this is his masterpiece. No book has even touched me or convicted me as much as this. Lewis has created a work of art that shows the human soul and its condition in a deeply rich, symbolic way, a masterpiece depicting all that it means to love, to sin, and to be redeemed.
Till We Have Faces is the ultimate result of Lewis's lifelong project to retell the myth of Cupid and Psyche. I will avoid going into too much detail so as not to spoil anything, but it "makes sense" of a fascinating Pagan myth from a Christian perspective. Like Lewis's other fiction, you shouldn't get hung up on the mixed religious metaphors and utilization of non-Christian religious figures; he's making a broad thematic point, and that's the important bit. It's fiction, not theology.
I loved and devoured this book (I read it over the course of three days, and the last ~50% in one sitting), and will definitely be re-reading in the future. The only tragedy is that this book is so comparatively unknown to readers, even Lewis enthusiasts, because there is just so much that I want to talk about.
This book is so beautiful, so good, so true. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. I hope you read it and think about it, too.
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hadn't heard about the myth of Psyche and Cupid prior to reading this book, so I didn't really know what to expect, or what was different/the same. The beginning I enjoyed, but I began to get in a slump as Orual (the narrator) got progressively more selfish and annoying. I understand that's kind of the point, but if the story hadn't shifted I would have had a harder time finishing. I also sped through the ending, so I didn't really understand completely everything that happened.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
And that's on feminine rage.
Orual is a madddd woman, and she wants you to know that you made her like that. I absolutely loved her femcel tendencies. She is such a bad person but I can also deeply empathize with her mortal decisions and messiness and effort and arrogance. Reading through the dramatic irony of knowing Cupid and Psyche's ending created that spicy nature vs nurture paradox, and self-fulfilling prophecies are always incredible storytelling. Orual's characterization as a foil to Psyche was so seamless that you would think she's a part of the original myth. Basically, I expected that this story might make me dislike Psyche, but I didn't expect it to make me like Orual.
The theme of religion in this book really popped off, too. I liked the parallels of the pagan worship of Ungit with the Greek worship of Aphrodite. I loved Orual's cynicism in faith, and her anger that gods and men only favor the beautiful. I loved that the book didn't sugarcoat that she was ugly, and how being ugly meant her story would never be divine. I especially love that her reasons for causing Psyche's ruin were not from jealousy, but from a sick and misunderstood form of love. This book is inspiring me to find others with unattractive main characters that abandon the hierarchy of attraction in its entirety; but hopefully ones that end a bit more optimistically.
My only critique is that the book really lost me at times, though. It reads very much like Siddhartha and some stream of consciousness bits really zoned me out for a couple seconds. It's very much a "I would've hated this as required reading in high school" vibe.
Orual is a madddd woman, and she wants you to know that you made her like that. I absolutely loved her femcel tendencies. She is such a bad person but I can also deeply empathize with her mortal decisions and messiness and effort and arrogance. Reading through the dramatic irony of knowing Cupid and Psyche's ending created that spicy nature vs nurture paradox, and self-fulfilling prophecies are always incredible storytelling. Orual's characterization as a foil to Psyche was so seamless that you would think she's a part of the original myth. Basically, I expected that this story might make me dislike Psyche, but I didn't expect it to make me like Orual.
The theme of religion in this book really popped off, too. I liked the parallels of the pagan worship of Ungit with the Greek worship of Aphrodite. I loved Orual's cynicism in faith, and her anger that gods and men only favor the beautiful. I loved that the book didn't sugarcoat that she was ugly, and how being ugly meant her story would never be divine. I especially love that her reasons for causing Psyche's ruin were not from jealousy, but from a sick and misunderstood form of love. This book is inspiring me to find others with unattractive main characters that abandon the hierarchy of attraction in its entirety; but hopefully ones that end a bit more optimistically.
My only critique is that the book really lost me at times, though. It reads very much like Siddhartha and some stream of consciousness bits really zoned me out for a couple seconds. It's very much a "I would've hated this as required reading in high school" vibe.
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes