{"id":43676,"date":"2014-02-04T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=43676"},"modified":"2014-02-03T23:56:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T05:56:28","slug":"review-great-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/review-great-divorce\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Sides (Review: &#8220;The Great Divorce&#8221;)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This may be the hardest review I&#8217;ve ever had to write for Austin CNM. It&#8217;s not my last (unless the Lord knows something I don&#8217;t), and it&#8217;s not because I don&#8217;t know how to express myself here. It&#8217;s because I&#8217;m not quite sure how I can impress upon you the importance of this book and my enthusiasm that you read it\u2014and soon.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/greatdivorce-630x419.jpg?resize=500%2C332\" alt=\"greatdivorce\" width=\"500\" height=\"332\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-43677\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Despite my two English degrees and two years of teaching English, I struggle greatly with complex literature. It&#8217;s one of my biggest sources of shame. I miss symbolism all the time. Allegories can be lost on me. I read the entire <em>Chronicles of Narnia<\/em> and did not know it was an allegory for salvation history!<\/p>\n<p>That early misstep did not turn me off to C.S. Lewis, though, as you can tell from the many books of his I&#8217;ve reviewed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/2012\/11\/review-the-problem-of-pain\/\" title=\"The Answer to a Really Good Question (Review: \u201cThe Problem of Pain\u201d)\"><em>The Problem of Pain<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/review-the-screwtape-letters\/\" title=\"The Gradual Road to Hell (Review: \u201cThe Screwtape Letters\u201d)\"><em>The Screwtape Letters<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/2013\/04\/review-the-four-loves\/\" title=\"What Love Really Means (Review: \u201cThe Four Loves\u201d)\"><em>The Four Loves<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/2013\/11\/review\/\" title=\"Grieving with God (Review: \u201cA Grief Observed\u201d)\"><em>A Grief Observed<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Today, I bring my journey through his major nonfiction works to a close with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Great-Divorce-C-Lewis\/dp\/0060652950\/\"><em>The Great Divorce<\/em><\/a>. Unlike <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/review-end-of-the-affair\/\" title=\"A Book That Changed My Mind (Review: \u201cThe End of the Affair\u201d)\">my last review<\/a> (in which I clarified that <em>The End of the Affair<\/em> is about an actual affair), <em>The Great Divorce<\/em> is not about divorce. That is just the awkward chronological pairing my reading habits have caused. <em>The Great Divorce<\/em> will cause you to rethink many of your assumptions about heaven, hell, and judgment. It will spur your assessment of which side of the line your actions are leading you toward.<\/p>\n<p>It took a few chapters for me to get into this book, which was unusual. As the story became clearer and I understood more, though, I couldn&#8217;t keep reading fast enough. The unnamed protagonist finds himself in line, waiting for the bus on a gray day. He doesn&#8217;t know where the bus is going, but he knows he wants to take the ride. A long while later, the bus has risen upward into the sky, far above where he lives. The light is bright in this new place, and all around is open sky. In the new place, he is just a ghost, but the local inhabitants are solid and real. He even walks with great difficulty while the locals pass by easily. As he journeys slowly through the land, he encounters a number of people, each with a different situation that speaks to him and to us as readers. They are like scenes from life (if not ours, then those that could certainly be real), and they are warnings.<\/p>\n<p>The vignettes relayed as the protagonist journeys are the centerpiece of the novel and, for me, what made the whole thing worth reading. We see a woman who loved her son with all her strength, but what of her God? An intellectualist meets his old comrade, now converted, but will he open his eyes to the truth? When the voice of temptation meets the force of God&#8217;s angels, will the one who is tempted be strong enough to let light in? It&#8217;s so hard to describe the power of each of these scenes (not to mention all the others). You will have to read them for yourself.<\/p>\n<p>So many people don&#8217;t believe that hell exists, but many more do believe that heaven does, and that they will go there after death. Where do you stand? What are you clinging to that will make you hold yourself back from grace? There is a great divide between good and evil, between heaven and hell. Choose as you will. On either side is eternity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<br \/>\nFeatured image from <a href=\"http:\/\/unsplash.com\/post\/74570008086\">Unsplash<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This may be the hardest review I&#8217;ve ever had to write for Austin CNM. It&#8217;s not my last (unless the Lord knows something I don&#8217;t), and it&#8217;s not because I don&#8217;t know how to express myself here. It&#8217;s because I&#8217;m not quite sure how I can impress upon you the importance of this book and&#8230;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/review-great-divorce\/\">[Read&nbsp;More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,90,87],"tags":[1749,163,927,262,928,116],"class_list":["post-43676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","category-faith-blog","category-reviews","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-heaven","tag-hell","tag-reviews-2","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101542,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/03\/review-cs-lewis-and-the-crisis-of-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":43676,"position":0},"title":"Biography, Theology, and You (Review: &#8220;C.S. Lewis and the Crisis of a Christian&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"March 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I like C.S. Lewis a lot. He wasn't a Catholic, but he was a convert to Anglicanism, and more importantly, he was an incredible writer. I read The Chronicles of Narnia first, but when I entered adulthood, I discovered his apologetics works. I love them so much that I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"If we find the gospel message to be true, we need to surrender to God and change our lives. For that reason\u2014whether or not the [C.S. Lewis] trilemma or some form of it works\u2014many will still never assent that Jesus is God.\" \u2014Gregory S. Cootsona","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/acnm_lewiscrisis.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27220,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/11\/review-the-problem-of-pain\/","url_meta":{"origin":43676,"position":1},"title":"The Answer to a Really Good Question (Review: &#8220;The Problem of Pain&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"November 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Christianity is a faith of paradoxes. We are alive now, and then we will die (unless Christ returns before we die), but there is life after death. On Sunday, we officially begin to look upon the Virgin who will give birth to a son. By dying, Christ conquered death. Either\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/mary_sad-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":156607,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/taking-a-lesson-from-c-s-lewis\/","url_meta":{"origin":43676,"position":2},"title":"Taking a Lesson from C.S. Lewis","author":"Ablaze Ministries","date":"October 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cI have no intention of explaining how the correspondence which I now offer to the public fell into my hands. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo-1430747562296-5556d17a15a5","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/photo-1430747562296-5556d17a15a5-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/photo-1430747562296-5556d17a15a5-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/photo-1430747562296-5556d17a15a5-550x367.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42542,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/11\/review\/","url_meta":{"origin":43676,"position":3},"title":"Grieving with God (Review: &#8220;A Grief Observed&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"November 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As we near the end of November, the month in which we remember the dead, it seems appropriate to think about how death affects those left behind. As believers in particular, we carry the hope of the resurrection, but we were never promised we wouldn't feel pain, loneliness, and loss.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"book cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/lewis-agriefobserved-198x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38758,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/03\/review-flight-of-the-earls\/","url_meta":{"origin":43676,"position":4},"title":"The Irish Struggle (Review: &#8220;Flight of the Earls&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"March 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As a Notre Dame grad, I am always in the company of proud Irishmen (and women). Even though St. Patrick's Day was suppressed for the Fifth Sunday of Lent this year, I managed to wear a little bit of green, and I randomly heard a track from my twin friends'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four girls performing an Irish dance.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/5348112190_59b7df51d2_z-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39009,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/04\/review-the-four-loves\/","url_meta":{"origin":43676,"position":5},"title":"What Love Really Means (Review: &#8220;The Four Loves&#8221;)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"April 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Love is complicated. After I came back to the Church, I realized that the world's definition of love wasn't going to cut it. I knew that it had to be more than just a feeling, but I was still confused. How could I define something so powerful, so sacred, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo by MiRo740.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/2080809712_1668b5a0cb_z-300x215.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}