Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold

A moving myth told anew, plumbing the depths of the self-centred human heart. While I feel I need to look closer at the original myth that Lewis is playing on in greater detail to catch all of what he is doing in its retelling, I would totally recommend the book for the heartbreaking, tantalizing moments that the protagonist forces on herself. Lewis's Orual is frustrated that the ethereal world of the god who loves her sister, and Orual's own world poisoned by her insecurity, cannot even interact with one another. Lewis can really write about jealousy; sweet scenes of sisterhood between Psyche and Orual rot into the gall of confusion and disappointment with a turn of the page. I feel that Lewis is at his best writing in the domain of mythology; his Wellsian sci-fi phase during which he wrote the Space Trilogy was an interesting venture, but back with gods, curses, and ancient courts he is really in his element. There are also profound philosophical, theological, and scientific issues that the novel throws up, to do with perception of the gods and their motives. And all these issues Lewis ties expertly to Orual's first sin: her selfish, half-baked attempt to see what her beloved Psyche sees, while Cupid steals Psyche's heart. "Narnia for grown ups" is a handy label, and in defense of it there are present in the novel majestic palaces hidden in plain sight (c.f. Voyage of the Dawn Treader) along with other regular Lewis elements like a the strong moral of not letting jealousy crowd in and ruin a perfectly beautiful love. Yes Orual progresses plenty during the course of the novel, but only through standing in the painful bare light of the denouement - and anyone who has ever mixed love and jealousy faces their own judgement day right along with her. This is a beautiful rendition of an ancient story, done in a way over which Lewis had been pondering for a long time. "Till We Have Faces" is how you do fiction, in case you was wondering.

Great book. Well worth the money. A book I'll return to again.

Wonderful re-telling

To me this story illustrates how angry one can get with God when they are not troubled with the doubt of the existence of God but rather, knows God is real yet despises how He makes decisions. It shines a light on the fallibility of mans owns morals and understanding of love, which I feel is so necessary in modern society. I loved it and it moves me. I have read it three times and every time something new emerges. It was also C S Lewis' favourite book which says more about it then I ever could. The story centres on a great strong female lead, her love for her sister and rule of her people. Go for it, read and enjoy.

I read it in a couple of sittings, makes most of Lewis' other writings look comparatively immature. A true classic.

I read that this was one of the best novels of the 20th century and I would agree, very thought provoking and different.

It's a lovely story, gripping and deep at the same time. However there were 2 pages missing, fortunately it was at the beginning and I think I didn't miss anything too important...

Very pleased with my purchase thank you