Very occasionally you encounter a book that shakes your soul. Here are just a few examples from my own reading life:
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
Celebration by Harry Crews
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
There's no formula to it. Each is from a different genre. Each might be dismissed by another reader. And yet for me, they have enriched my life beyond measure.
After each, I have changed. I've felt a small seed settle down in my spirit and begin to stir. To take root. I've added many of the ideas from each into my personal list of philosophies (I keep a list of them printed out by my door. Things like: the chance of the ultimate possibility.)
A Grief Observed is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. It tackles the concept of grief in a way which incorporates faith, destiny, sickness, hope and recovery.
'Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.'
Throughout the book, I found quotes that I just had to highlight. Beautiful sentences that act like scalpels, excising the needless and unnecessary from the wide span of poignant and frank areas within.
C. S. Lewis seeks to truly provide an examination of the pain of loss. He does so from within that torrent of agony. The feat is magnificent and admirable. I have been in similar storms (depression, rather than grief) and cannot imagine the sheer level of will it takes to achieve that.
'I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process.'
Lewis is clear to correct his own views, as they evolve. His purpose is to look straight into the face of a God he loves, yet at this moment hates. Like a child has those moments despising their elders.
'My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself.'
And then comes the realisation, common to works by Christians, where he rediscovers his faith. In a sense humbled by the awareness that all his knowledge was italicised. Simply a little left of centre. Askew. Now made straight again by the lesson of enduring the lesson itself.
'Knock and it shall be opened.' But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac?'
He finds that God offers you a door to walk through, but only when you have left behind your baggage. And in those times of desperate need, when you are flailing about. When you are thrashing in the water. He leaves you to tire yourself out. He breaks you to heal you.
Which I personally understand, but cannot forgive. God doesn't seem like my sort of chap. Unfortunately.
Anyway. It is one of those books I will recommend to everyone I meet. It's 64 pages. Can be read in an afternoon.
Next time someone passes away, forget the flowers and the heartfelt cards. Send this book to them.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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