Whatever your philosophy of life, it will be tested at some point when you encounter or endure suffering. Why do people or animals have to suffer pain, especially if there is a God? C.S. Lewis sets out to disentangle this conundrum with a wealth of compassion and insight, offering hope, wisdom and a true understanding of human nature.

When I was a kid I think I got a lot of my ideas about God and spirituality from C.S. Lewis, via his Narnia books. Now I'm older I'm curious to read his essays, to see if he has more to offer me. I've bought four of his books, but this is probably the first one I'll read, given my situation. I don't know if I'm looking for some hope, or just a little more understanding of myself. Maybe I just want to see if the magic I found in Lewis as a child translates to my adult life.

September 13th 2003
Up to page 23

I'm really struggling with this book, mainly because of the overuse of commas. It makes every sentence feel like a riddle that needs deciphering before you can get to the point of the discussion. Factor in that Lewis uses sweeping, and inaccurate, generalizations in order to make his point I'd have to say I'm disappointed. Maybe if I were able to set a good chunk of the day aside in order to get into it the sentence structure would begin to mean more, much like Shakespeare. Unfortunately it hasn't captured my attention for long enough to achieve that.

I didn't know what to expect going in to this book, perhaps a philosophical story, or a scholarly debate on pain. Instead this is a discussion about the existence of God. The problem I have with that is that it's written by someone who already sincerely believes and, like any argument made by someone incredibly biased, there are huge illogical leaps made that anyone unconvinced would stop dead at. Which I did. The worst offender was a comment made about Jesus, along the lines that you had to take one of two perspectives with the issue of Christ. Either a man claiming to be the son of God is a crazy person, or he's telling the truth because the claim is so bizarre it can only be interpreted in those ways. Personally neither is my interpretation of Christ, which already invalidates a lot of his argument and subsequent discourse.

Of course, I am very aware that this book is just one man's opinions. The book is trying to answer a problem he personally has with God, that if he's perfect and loves us as a father why did he create pain? I really wish the writing style were easier to comprehend as I think his subject matter is interesting. I'm going to put this aside whilst I read The Princess Bride, but I fully intend to come back and try again very soon.

March 10th 2004
Up to page 23 (still)

With so much reading for Book Break, I've not had the time to pick this book up. Given that it's been sitting on my current reading list for so long I'm sticking it back on my 'to read' list until I get some time to devote to it.