paralanguage's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Cancer
Moderate: Death of parent
sinmi's review against another edition
5.0
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”
This book was able to articulate so clearly and plainly how I’ve felt over the past month since losing my mother. I recommend it for anyone that finds themselves in a similar situation. Everyone grieves differently and it might hit too close to home for some, but I found it comforting to know that I’m not alone in my feelings about loss, grief, and God.
“I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.”
It’s comforting to read the thoughts and experiences of someone that has also lost someone dear to cancer. It was hard to make sense of my mom’s illness, and it’s hard to make sense of the days without her here. I’ve told friends that it doesn’t feel real and like I’m in an alternative reality. C.S. Lewis writes of the same feeling, he says that: “there is spread over everything a vague sense of wrongness, of something amiss.”
“The act of living is different all through. Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”
The weird limbo you find yourself in as someone bereaved is hard to explain to those that aren’t in the same group.
“I see people, as they approach me, trying to make up their minds about whether they’ll say something about it or not. I hate if they do and if they don’t. …. Perhaps the bereaved ought to be isolated in special settlements like lepers.”
One of my worst fears is forgetting. Forgetting memories of my mom, her voice, and how she would hug me. C.S. Lewis articulates this so clearly - he doesn’t want his wife to become an “imaginary woman.”
He also touches on the brief moments of happiness, or days when you start to feel better but it’s never something that you completely get over. There’s a shame and guilt that comes with joy. He writes that although we may feel obligated to foment and prolong our unhappiness - “you can’t see properly while your eyes are blurred with tears.”
“To say a patient is getting over it after appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg off it is quite another… I shall never be biped again.”
Grief is circular. The same leg is cut off time after time. It doesn’t end, you just learn to manage and I believe that I’ll find myself reading this book again during harder times.
This book was able to articulate so clearly and plainly how I’ve felt over the past month since losing my mother. I recommend it for anyone that finds themselves in a similar situation. Everyone grieves differently and it might hit too close to home for some, but I found it comforting to know that I’m not alone in my feelings about loss, grief, and God.
“I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.”
It’s comforting to read the thoughts and experiences of someone that has also lost someone dear to cancer. It was hard to make sense of my mom’s illness, and it’s hard to make sense of the days without her here. I’ve told friends that it doesn’t feel real and like I’m in an alternative reality. C.S. Lewis writes of the same feeling, he says that: “there is spread over everything a vague sense of wrongness, of something amiss.”
“The act of living is different all through. Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”
The weird limbo you find yourself in as someone bereaved is hard to explain to those that aren’t in the same group.
“I see people, as they approach me, trying to make up their minds about whether they’ll say something about it or not. I hate if they do and if they don’t. …. Perhaps the bereaved ought to be isolated in special settlements like lepers.”
One of my worst fears is forgetting. Forgetting memories of my mom, her voice, and how she would hug me. C.S. Lewis articulates this so clearly - he doesn’t want his wife to become an “imaginary woman.”
He also touches on the brief moments of happiness, or days when you start to feel better but it’s never something that you completely get over. There’s a shame and guilt that comes with joy. He writes that although we may feel obligated to foment and prolong our unhappiness - “you can’t see properly while your eyes are blurred with tears.”
“To say a patient is getting over it after appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg off it is quite another… I shall never be biped again.”
Grief is circular. The same leg is cut off time after time. It doesn’t end, you just learn to manage and I believe that I’ll find myself reading this book again during harder times.
flobeulah's review against another edition
4.0
i think we have all been there in a way or another. to lose someone you loved.
and we‘ve all felt it.
i just love the way he describes every step. every feeling. everything.
and we‘ve all felt it.
i just love the way he describes every step. every feeling. everything.
findyourgoldenhour's review against another edition
5.0
This being the first Christmas without my mom, the first without either of my parents, it seemed like a good time to finally read this classic book on grief. A beautiful, heartbreaking book. Thank you, C.S. Lewis.
reubs_w's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
He doesn’t miss
magic_bookshop_'s review against another edition
4.0
„Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.”
emjayory's review against another edition
5.0
not the biggest cs lewis fan but him discussing his wavering faith alongside his steadfast love for his wife made this a genuinely tender read