A review by juliasilge
A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

3.0

I first read this book when I was in high school, and I liked it more at that stage in my life. In the first 1/4 or so of the book this time around, I thought I was going to hate it because the romance seemed melodramatic and immature and the privilege of the author (economic, class, etc) grated on me. I came around eventually, though, after getting further into their story of love, marriage, conversion to Christianity, and then death and grief. I felt kind of similarly about the role of C.S. Lewis in this book. I am a big, big fan of C.S. Lewis. At the beginning of this book I felt like, "Hmmmm, name-dropping much?" but by the end I came around to the importance of Lewis' role in Vanauken's life. Perhaps 3.5 stars.