Reviews

It is comforting to read someone write about grieving in such a raw, yet highly intelligent and thoughtful way. He discusses so many of the things that when we are grieving, we are too overwhelmed with emotion to really be able to put into words. I don't know that this is a book for the freshly grieving- it's more of something to read later and think, 'yes- that's right,' and be comforted that it's a journey. "I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process. It needs not a map but a history, and if I don't stop writing that history at some quite arbitrary point, there's no reason why I should ever stop." P. 59-60 If faith, Christianity or arguing with God would bother the reader, then this isn't the book for them.

josiahrichardson's review against another edition

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4.0

This was superb in parts and teetering on the edge of abysmal in others. Maybe due to a man grieving. We as a species don't exactly think straight under stress. Much less under heart-ache.

Lewis recounts the ways that he had walked through the passing of his wife, H. She was more than the foundation to Lewis- she was Lewis. Or maybe the better version of Lewis, he might say. Nobody loves you more than you do. So finding someone that is like you, but better, is dangerous. The danger is more of a risk than anything else, a risk to be vulnerable. You trust yourself, you obey yourself, and you ultimately value yourself more than anything. This is why the Apostle Paul mentions that the relationship between the man and wife is one flesh. The union that should be created when a man and woman say "I do." should look like the merger of two people into one. It is just that, in fact. It is no wonder that the separation of that union is so painful. Not only to see one be pulled to glory, but also to feel the absence of the other half. Lewis masterfully chronicles this process as only he can, and is quick to correct his thoughts and heart which wants to focus on what he lost rather than what she gained, so to speak.

This was a private ordeal, however, and lewis wrote this without his name on the front of the book. He didn't want the attention - he just wanted to grieve. This was such a poignant look at grief that Lewis' friends suggested he read this book to help deal with his own loss, not knowing that Lewis was the author all along.