Customer Reviews

C. S. Lewis: Writer and Scholar (Heroes of the Faith (Barbour Paperback))

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is some good news and bad news about this book.

To some readers, the bad news will outweigh the good news, as it does in the scathing Editorial review.

The bad news is that much of the dialogue is speculative. Often as I read the book I wondered whether this specific dialogue was actual or not? Hard to tell, and this eliminates the usefulness for many people. The actual EVENTS of Lewis's life seem to be trustworthy, but the dialogues about them are often enhanced.

In the book's defense, it is more readable than most books about CSL, captures the flavor and essence of his life and faith better than most, and is quite insightful about many of the complexities and peculiarities of this champion of the Christian faith. I did not find any of the known 'enhancements' to be out of character of the known words and life of C.S."Jack" Lewis. (The major 1994 movie "Shadowlands" staring Anthony Hopkins is much more fictionalized than this book.)

Bottom line: Read it, prepare to be entertained, but make sure you read other CSL biographies to help sort out the facts from the dialogue enhancements.

A good biography of C.S. Lewis told in a fictional form.

In the beginning of the book, it really started off interesting because it was during World War I. But later on as it progressed through Jack's early life it began to slow down a bit because it took place when it was in school and it was more about his thoughts and not his actions. I soon began to lose interest. I enjoyed the book more after his school years were over because there was much more drama and action and it was about his conversion to Christianity from Atheism. Also it talked about how he reached his peak of fame by writing "The Chronicles of Narnia" which is one of my favorite series. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 because the beginning was somewhat dull but the ending was much more interesting. Also it portrays a very important message to people.

It was good once i got into it but it was kind of boring in the beginning. it took me like 3 weeks to read the first 5 chapters!