C. S. Lewis - Great Divorce

The longer you have been in hell, the further away you move. Millennia of interaction have created a vast sprawling city, the eldest denizens moving farther from the central point of their damnation. In this grey, pre-dawn city tempers run high and run-away intellects argue philosophical points with one another. Dreamers keep dreaming and are irritated to be awakened. Lovers keep trysting and see nothing more important than the passion of the moments. Mourners keep mourning what they lost long ago and will not be consoled. Tragedians keep reliving the injustices of life and death. But some wait for the bus. Some aren’t distracted.

In this dream world, the ghosts that get on the bus and journey to heaven, so small that they can slip through the cracks of a world so majestic that the grass slices at their insubstantial knees and a falling leaf can crush the ephemeral substance of a flickering soul. In this pre-paradise world they have a second chance of redemption, encountering the “bright beings” of those who have gone before and accepted salvation, not far enough in their trek toward God to be completely incompatible with the damned souls they seek to pursue. Each ghost, weighed down by false love, lust, intelligence that cannot accept a “god,” pride, fear, doubt, confusion and even the desire to have something to struggle against and overcome, confronts a bright spirit and C.S. Lewis, his character being the observer, walks us through human nature and the choices and misunderstandings that we make.

The Great Divorce functions as a cautionary fairy tale. A short book, vividly described, Lewis doesn’t mince words and each encounter with a ghost belies real-world problems. There is a philosophical bent, a shining intelligence that marks Lewis as a well-known Christian scholar, but each heady concept is brought out of the clouds and down to earth, engaging readers on a basic level as well as an intellectual level. The shining beings, themselves, showcase a compassionate but no-nonsense air, pressed for time to save a soul that is curious about God but not ready, for whatever reason, to relinquish the cares of life to accept the joy of death and, hence, salvation. Hell is, as they say, other people or in this piece, hell is not letting go but holding fast to things that, ironically, keep us from being happy.

Some of the concepts are expected: some people are too hung up in themselves and in being “great” to want to relinquish and become subservient to God in any fashion. Other concepts are less expected and more complex: earthly love such as the relationship between a parent and child is examined in its flawed nature as one ghost proclaims an anger that God took her son from her too early, revealing how our own love is tarnished and incomplete, controlling instead of selfless. Many ghosts, upon seeing the promise of heaven, return to the bus and make the journey back to the expansive plains of hell, their earthly desires too strong to enable them to grow where they can become substantial enough to survive in heaven. Lewis himself awakens from the dream at the last minute, as the dawn turns into sunlight and it is too late, leaving readers a little rattled. There is a time limit to such things.

Lewis elegantly describes both the plains that he travels through enough that we can see the grey, inner city dirtiness of a bustling hell and the sharp pointed grasses of a heaven so solid that we are mere shades against it until we accept the help of a bright being, acknowledge the truth, and grow into the promise of ourselves. The main beauty of this narrative, however, is the use of dialogue and the conversation overheard between spirits and those who seek to save them plus Lewis’ own observations to the bright spirit that serves as his guide through this realm of terrifying promise.

Short, to-the-point, imaginative while being down to earth, The Great Divorce leaves readers rattled as Lewis wakes from his warning dream, the sun shining in as he worries that he has missed his own chance. The novel is unique in its depiction of heaven and hell, and it is ultimately thought provoking as Lewis examines human foibles and the shallow, earthy things that hinder us from becoming substantial. Highly recommended.



Countess_Eva

Recommend this product? Yes