Last month Olivia, who blogs at Meanwhile in Rivendell..., hosted a read-along for one of her favorite books, Till We Have Faces! I, of course, am late and just finished it today but still want to talk about it. I am going to do my regular style of review, then get into my thoughts on the last part aka book two.
My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning: This is spoiler free.
Till We Have Faces - by C. S. Lewis:
Two sisters, one whom the people called beautiful and one ugly, love each other dearly. It involves the people in their lives and the beliefs of the people of Glome.
(That is really vague, but how do I even say anything about this without giving anything away? )
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Retelling.
Characters: 8, the character arcs were fantastic!
My favorites:
Orual: I don't know if I can count her as a favorite, but she is our narrator and I pity as well as relate to her.
Psyche: How can you not like her? She is so good and kind.
The Fox: Thinking about him after wards I don't agree with his thoughts completely, but he is reasonable.
Bardia: He was helpful even when he wasn't sure of things and just overall loveable.
Words: 8, C. S. Lewis has some masterful storytelling.
"Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that's the whole art and joy of words."
Quotes: 9, I don't know why, but one time the King called someone "mandrake root" as an insult cracked me up.
Content: 5, there are sacrifices, blood, killing, and death. and what I mean by that is that there are a lot, a lot, a lot, of suggestive things. I bothers me, but I need to stress to you that if you decide to read it then read it to the end because:
"And you won't understand the wonder and glory of my adventure unless you listen to the bad part."
The setting for this book is in a pagan culture. As in this book features gods, but if that bothers you know that C. S. Lewis was a Christian so you look for allegories.Originality: 10! This story and it messages were incredible! I don't even know how to put it. This goes deep.
'But if I practiced true philosophy, as Socrates meant it, I should change my ugly soul into a fair one.'
Good For: anyone who has lost someone, C. S. Lewis fans, anyone who loves the message of beauty lies within.
Age Range: I would say this is at least PG-13 if not PG-15. I mean, anyone can read this, but there is a ton of suggestive stuff as I already said, and a lot is going on. I don't even understand half of it and feel that I need to reread this a lot of comprehend some things.
Overall Score: 8.
For the read-along:
I liked being able to read the original myth after wards and see all of the differences. I also liked how Lewis included part of it in his story to make it Orual's motivation for writing her story to correct it.
An impression that I got from this is that true beauty lies in your heart and soul, not in how you look.
Favorite Quotes from the last section:
1.
'This was only the first stroke, a light one, the first snowflakes of the winter that I was entering.'
2.
'Of the things that followed I cannot say whether they were what men call real or what men call dream. And for all I can tell, the only difference is that what many see we call a real thing, and what only one sees we call a dream. But things that many see may have no taste or moment in them at all, and things that are shown only to one may be spears and water-spouts of truth from the very depth of truth.'
3.
'But by the death which is wisdom I supposed he meant the death of our passions and desires and vain opinions.'
A huge, huge thank you to Olivia for hosting this! And thanks to all of you for reading! Can any of you make more sense of this than I can?
MovieCritic
Oh I love this book so much! It's been a long several years since I've read it, however, and you know what? I think I forget so much of the plot that it could surprise me on a reread...
ReplyDeleteI do remember that I loved Bardia. Right after I met him I was like "ooh love interest? love interest for poor unloved Orual??" and only gradually did I realize he was married. Which I thought was an interesting narrative technique on Lewis' part? Like, we go into it not really realizing that Bardia is already bound to another, which makes it so much easier to sympathize with Orual when she's jealous of his wife. Y'know? It kind of forces the reader to be honest with herself. (Or maybe that wasn't Lewis' intention at all and I'm just a hopeless romantic who reads something into everything. That could very well be it.)
Dear me this got long quickly, sorry. :)
Oh, another fan! I get that because I just finished this, and yet if I were to reread it soon I would still pick up so many new things.
DeleteMEGAN. You have made me feel so relieved that I wasn't the only one who did that! That's exactly what I thought when we met Bardia and when I learned that he was married I scolded myself for always shipping characters right away. But, as you said, it seems like Lewis meant for us to think that in order to sympathize with Orual. I guess that it states that Bardia never thought of her like that, but on well. I can be overly romantic, too. ;)
I loved the long comment! Thanks for chatting with me! :)
I also felt like I was in a bit of a daze after finishing this one. So deep and mysterious.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, Bardia is totally my favorite character in this.
Yes! So many things to ponder! I am thoroughly stunned by Lewis's writing.
DeleteHe was absolutely awesome, definitely my favorite, too. :-)
I'm so happy that people enjoyed this read-along. Thank you for contributing so faithfully with your posts, MC!
ReplyDelete"Mandrake root" IS a funny insult, now that you mention it. XD
I love the idea of recommending this to anyone who's lost somebody.
Of course! I wouldn't have read this without the read-along so I'm so glad that you hosted it!
DeleteXD Yep, it was a serious scene and yet I started laughing when he said that.
Thanks, dear! <3
ALSO, all the hugs in your header!!!! :D :D *heart eyes & happy feelings*
ReplyDeleteMy sister made it and I love it, too! So many good movies and precious characters. <3
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