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A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed
Audiobook1 hour

A Grief Observed

Written by C.S. Lewis

Narrated by Douglas Gresham

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

The Spiritual Journey of Grief

A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moments,” A Grief Observed is an unflinchingly truthful account of how loss can lead even a stalwart believer to lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings. 

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateMay 13, 2014
ISBN9780062342706
Author

C.S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and have been transformed into three major motion pictures. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) fue uno de los intelectuales más importantes del siglo veinte y podría decirse que fue el escritor cristiano más influyente de su tiempo. Fue profesor particular de literatura inglesa y miembro de la junta de gobierno en la Universidad Oxford hasta 1954, cuando fue nombrado profesor de literatura medieval y renacentista en la Universidad Cambridge, cargo que desempeñó hasta que se jubiló. Sus contribuciones a la crítica literaria, literatura infantil, literatura fantástica y teología popular le trajeron fama y aclamación a nivel internacional. C. S. Lewis escribió más de treinta libros, lo cual le permitió alcanzar una enorme audiencia, y sus obras aún atraen a miles de nuevos lectores cada año. Sus más distinguidas y populares obras incluyen Las Crónicas de Narnia, Los Cuatro Amores, Cartas del Diablo a Su Sobrino y Mero Cristianismo.

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Reviews for A Grief Observed

Rating: 4.638036809815951 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    to be able to see inside someone's head and read their thoughts as an event is unfolding is incredibly interesting. c.s. lewis write about his grief over the loss of his wife to illness, while he goes thru it. enlightening, truthful, and emotional. WOW!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've read this book now two or three times, sometimes finding new kernels of information and other times reminders of lessons learned in the past.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A punch in the stomach.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good book, apart from the preface by Madelaine L'Engle which was nonsense and detracted in some ways from the work.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Started this book and was expecting it to be somewhat comforting. .. haven't found it to be so yet, but I'm not even half way through. It's not a long book though.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent excellent excellent. The afterword was alright, but Lewis' actual text was phenomenal. This is actually the journals that he wrote after the death of his wife Joy. Seeing him feeling and then examining his grief, and the implications it had on his faith, was so intriguing.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In "A Grief Observed," C.S. Lewis allows the reader to walk with him on his journey through grief. He was a brilliant scholar and Oxford professor whom people looked to for answers and meaning when suddenly his world was turned upside down by the loss of his wife Joy, who died of cancer in her 40s. In the book, he explores honestly the depth of his anguish and his search to find comfort and hope in the midst of the despair of loss.Lewis describes many of the multitude of emotions that grief can bring, and also the seemingly endless barrage of unanswered questions he found himself asking. Ultimately he finds comfort and hope in his faith, but not before journey through a time of anguish and questioning God- even expressing his anger and shock at the loss.If you have lost a close loved one, or know someone who has, this book may be a great source of comfort in the midst of grief. I facilitate a grief support group, and a number of people have found it to be very helpful in coping with the loss of a family member or close friend. I have also found it to be a helpful source of comfort and hope in facing some of the losses in my life.I would highly recommend it to anyone facing grief and loss, as well as for caregivers, clergy and counselors who work with the bereaved.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a brief look into the journal Lewis wrote in when he lost his wife, Joy, after 4 intensely happy years together. In this book he freely confesses "his doubts, his rage, and his awareness of human frailty". He is very open and honest about his feelings and his thoughts towards others and his God during this time.The second half of this book is an "Afterword" by Chad Walsh. This part of the book was very interesting because it gave me a look at C.S. Lewis' life and work before the death of his wife. I am glad I took the time to read more about this man and the love and grief he expresses after losing someone he dearly loved.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Painfully honest account of Lewis's reaction to his wife's death. I do not enjoy it or find it comforting, but I respect it greatly.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book draws the reader in and through its brief snippets you can feel the pain, taste the profound grief Lewis suffered when "H." died. Don't look for tidy answers to why God allows suffering and grief. Rather look for the calm sense that even though we don't see God's purpose we can sense his presence and trust his promises. This is a wonderful read.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've been an atheist all my 64 years, but I recently lost my wife of many years to cancer. Having that in common with Lewis, got me between the covers of this slim book. Being able to relate so strongly to someone that I'd never enjoyed before, was an interesting experience. His raw writings on his loss and grief were very similar to my own journal writings of late. I felt closer to his angry words about a cruel god, than his return to his faith at the book's end, but we're all different when it comes to whatever faith we may have. I'm glad to have read his words. The drive to read the words of someone else who has suffered a similar pain is a strong force.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lewis' "Pain" and "Grief" should be read together. Grief is Lewis' personal experience of natural evil in the world. In it Lewis absolutely rails against God for the death of his wife, and the injustice of it all.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A wonderful short piece of work. I greatly enjoyed to hear honest questions being answered and appreciated that he took them very seriously. I belief time of doubt is so necessary but is often not talked about. I welcome it, however, and love when books like this and Disappointment with God by Philip Yancey tackle questions head on.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I first heard of this book on the “What are We Reading: Religion” thread on LT. It describes Lewis’ journey through grief after the death of his wife (“H”) from cancer. He writes very honestly of his anguish and loneliness and how surprisingly little consolation he finds in other people or his religion in the first days after H’s death."It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it? . . . I thought I trusted the rope until it mattered to me whether it would bear me. Now it matters, and I find I didn’t."Lewis’ initial goal in writing this book was to describe the “state” of sorrow but he discovers that it’s more of a process and by the end of the book, while he is still on his journey, he’s made alot of progress and, when he turns “to God, my mind no longer meets that locked door.”I haven’t experienced the kind of grief that Lewis describes nor am I religious so I was surprised to like this book as much as I did. I think it was a combination of how good a writer Lewis is and how honest he was about what he was going through that attracted me the most. In comparison to how detailed Lewis is about his initial grief, I was somewhat disappointed that it wasn’t clearer how he was finally able to move on to a better place. As he says, “there was no sudden, striking and emotional transition. Like the warming of a room or the coming of daylight. When you first notice them they have already been going on for some time.”

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have listened to this book several times on CD since the death of my husband. So far it comes the closest to describing what I find to be indescribable, the grief felt when one loses their soul mate and the inability to put the loss into perspective for those on the outside. I recommend this for anyone who has lost someone close or to someone who is trying to understand someone elses grief.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This short book, written in the first flush of grief by Lewis, packs quite a punch as he describes, no, records his grief and anger at the loss of his wife. I read it while reading Julian Barnes "Levels of Life", another author's attempt to write out his grief at losing his beloved. One author a Christian, the other an atheist, both books are illuminating, honest and powerful. I believe Barnes has more in common with Lewis than he might think.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This slender book--only 76 pages in four chapters--is both raw and powerful. I do understand why one reviewer spoke of feeling distaste that something so personal was published. I think that's its strength though. Yes, I almost wanted to look away. I've felt conflicted at times about Lewis' work. I admire him as a writer, but disagree strongly with many aspects of his worldview. For one, I'm no believer in any aspect of the supernatural, am no Christian, and Christianity defines him and his works. But I think particularly because I've read so much by Lewis, I can't help but see him as a sort of friend. And not even knowing he died before I was born keeps me from flinching from the pain on the page. But I also admire his willingness to expose that pain. And this is a book not just about pain, about loss--but about love. About his love for his lost wife, who obviously greatly enriched his life, and yes, in the end his love for God that Lewis tries so hard to find again in the face of feeling shut out when he needs God most. He talks about his faith being like this rope that seemed strong and secure when it only needed to bind a box, but doesn't seem so secure when he was using it to hang above an abyss. I think there's something so very brave, nay heroic, in spending a long career as a Christian apologist and then be willing to bare not just your pain, but your doubt. And because Lewis is a superb writer, there were so many lines here that resonated--particularly the line, "Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state, but a process."

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this slender volume, C.S. Lewis shares his personal experience with grief following the death of his wife. This is a grief that has him questioning his belief in God and exposing the raw, painful, angry emotions that accompany his grieving process. There are many ways to grieve, but one thing is certain - it has to be faced, and Lewis has done just that in this book. The harsh reality that everyone who lives will die means that we must all face grief at some time if we haven't already done so. His experiences with grief are not unique, but he is to be applauded for sharing his palpable pain in a way that may help others who suffer a loss of such magnitude.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this back in high school (as many of Lewis' books) and couldn't put it down. How he changes talking about his grief and forming that into a love for Christ is nothing short of brilliant!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Probably the best thing about this slim book is the raw honesty of Mr. Lewis' emotions and his thoughts. Without fear, he expresses his greatest fears and the most painful things about his loss of his wife. For anyone grieving, there is relief in the thought that we are not alone - that here is someone who knows all those hurtful thoughts and emotions and claims them and is able to move through them. There's hope in that.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It's hard to rate something like this book. The text itself acknowledges the truth of the title: it is a single grief observed, not grief in general. Interest in C. S. Lewis and his life, or his point of view on faith, or interest in this book through recent grief of your own, is the best portal into this book.

    I haven't lost anyone as near and dear to me as H. to Jack. I lost my grandmother recently, and I recognise some of the feelings he describes -- and oh, how much do I fear feeling them for myself in full force, one day.

    He is analytical about his grief, thinking it through in stages, asking questions of God and trying to answer them for himself. Thus, it's not quite as painful to read as it could be. His son's introduction is quite painful, when he speaks of 'Jack' and his pain, so familiarly, so tenderly.

    I hate the reviews of this that say it's all mind and no heart. Probably because I'm an analytical, 'cold-hearted' person myself -- I see myself in C. S. Lewis' observed grief -- and yes, I feel pain as much as anyone else, I just address it differently. Everyone grieves in different ways; no two griefs are alike.

    Truly cheerful stuff to read on one's birthday.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The most human of lewis's works.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Honest, hopeful in even the bleakest of times, another glimpse of Lewis' brilliance.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    For someone who has suffered a similarly deep loss as Lewis, this book is a comfort. When I read this book, I often find myself underlining something that I have thought or felt or wondered as I've made my way through my own grief. If you've never experienced grief, this is the most realistic account I've ever read. "A Grief Observed" is a gut-wrenching book to read, but I find it utterly amazing every time I read it.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I know this is a classic per se, but I didn't like the book. It was hard to get into the book for me, and I found Lewis' writings distant. The book is about how C.S. Lewis deals with the tragedy of his wife's death; however, the forward lets you know that his wife had a terminal illness when he married her. I would've rather read Lewis' thoughts on that matter instead.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    So raw and real. Read with emotion and empathy. So good.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Had to read it twice to fully understand his concepts. Amazing. And it trickles into all of life not only in grief.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An incredible love story as well as the gift of a mentor, who foretells that such a grief is unavoidable for one who loves.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very raw look at grief after the death of a loved one, especially a spouse. C.S. Lewis writes at the time of his grieving for therapeutic reasons. His mixed emotions towards the loss of his wife, God, and living after her death are insightful for everyone, particularly those going through this particular trial. I am thankful for his honesty and how he communicates his wrestling with God. Many Christians are scared to admit that questioning God's goodness is a completely normal phase in grief for the believer. We see Job wrestling with this question in the Bible, after which God said of Job (speaking to Eliphaz), “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." C.S. Lewis does a good job expressing this age-old conflict.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. I love the way CS Lewis writes and feels, expresses and shares. I didn’t know there were so many words to express emotions. I didn’t know there were so many metaphors and insights. Death is beyond words and yet he describes what losing a loved one feels like in a way that the reader is nodding and understanding.