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sonofthunder 's review for:
The Pilgrim's Regress
by C.S. Lewis
This book was randomly found by me in my latest perusing of the used bookshop down the street from me. I have of course heard of this book before and knew I needed to read at some point (as I desire to read all of Lewis's writings), but never got around to it until now. Helps when I just see it sitting on the shelf staring at me! Backstory aside, I started reading this a few days ago and finished earlier this morning. A totally enthralling (in the best and purest sense of the word) book. I really should not have doubted that Lewis would write something both beautiful and true, but this was something I was not prepared for. He wrote this book in the early 1930s - I believe it may have been the first book he wrote post his conversion to Christianity? - and I loved seeing how so many ideas and themes that he writes about in later works show up in this one! If you want to understand Lewis a bit better and get a grasp on how he views the world and the very nature of reality and religion, this is a must read. It is an allegory, yes. And is it easy to understand the meaning behind the tale? Not always, but I would posit that the struggle to understand makes the realizations all the more impactful. I wondered at times if this allegory was autobiographical, and after reading the afterword that Lewis wrote (which I simply love - the afterword is almost worth the price of the book itself!!), I understand that it is not meant to be autobiographical...but the experiences and the struggles that Lewis encountered on his journey to Christ are very much a part of this book. It is a personal book, but one in which Lewis attempts to lay bare the very truths of this Reality in which we live. This book is one full of longing and beauty. Lewis's explication of this "piercing longing", a desire for which the object is not always apparent, is a major theme of this book and one that fascinates me greatly. I hesitate to explain further here - Lewis's own words talk about this much better than I can. But - what does it mean to have a longing for something that cannot quite be grasped, a longing in which the longing itself is more sweet than the absence of any such longing and which any apparent grasping of the object for which longed often turns out to be a false end, pointing to something further and more Real than our eyes now can see? Lewis attempts to explain such, and though sometimes I wonder if he could not be a little more clear, this tale is one that still makes one sigh for the loveliness and truth unveiled. This book is one in which Lewis attempts to talk about so many different ways of understanding the world and our place in it and how ought we live our lives...and some of the things Lewis talks about feels foreign to me now (or I have no idea what he's talking about!) as our world almost one hundred years removed from the world in which Lewis inhabited is a bit different and the philosophers of his day are not ones I am much acquainted with. Nonetheless, the roots and fires at the hearts of men that Lewis discusses have not changed much and so this book is still relevant. Very much so. This book, being an allegory, is a story first. And the story is interesting and fascinating in and of itself. It is a good tale. But the truths that Lewis is attempting to point out are very much on the surface of the tale, not hidden, even if one doesn't always have the mind to understand! You can tell from this somewhat disjointed review that I am still processing this book and still trying to totally wrap my mind around it. That may be an effort of folly, as I don't think I ever will, as this book is talking about something that can never truly be known from a merely cognitive perspective. At the end of the day though, this book points one to the truth about this life that we live and the life that we are called to. There is a God and this God has revealed Himself to us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and only in repentance and giving oneself up and belief in Him can we be saved to that most beautiful life eternal. Lewis is not quite as direct as that last statement, but that truth is what Lewis points towards. He attempts to answer all the common critiques and arguments against Christianity (especially ones that he had himself struggled with) and I believe he does so admirably well. I want to read this book again. And I have just finished it. One of my favourite bits? Lewis has songs and poems strewn throughout the pages of this book, and these poems and songs are some of the purest expressions of longing and truth in this book - my heart sang while reading. I am very grateful I read this, and while I realize it may partly be because this book is one that I am almost primed to love - I love a beautiful tale that makes the heart ache with the loveliness and purest truth contained therein - I still think this book stands alone as being an almost inimitable production - an intermingling of one's own experience and history and emotions and longing with a piercing analysis of the thought systems and philosophies of this world, all told in an allegorical fashion and presented with poetical flair. The heart delights. Is it perfect? I'm sure not, and I'm sure I could think of little things that Lewis doesn't quite say correctly. But at the end of all things, this book is one that points to that far country that is more Real than all this ground we now trod. And that far country is green and beautiful and my own heart aches as I consider it is even now my home. And I can say this because I know that Man called Jesus whose love He loves me with which even now is my own.