Surprised by joy: The shape of my early life

Well, perhaps not. But the most important sin referred to in the book is that Lewis was indifferent of Christ. That is of course a major problem and one that the Scriptures is dead set against. The JOY that Lewis refers to is what is different from indifference. JOY is the Holy Spirit coming to you at a most unexpected time. If you feel JOY then you feel the touch of God. That is what Lewis want us to see in the book and that is what was missing from him when he was an atheist. He did not feel JOY.

That said - and said loudly, for that should be known as the books theme - I was disappointed with the book. Vanity in young boy's dressing is not a major sin - it is a misunderstanding, but Lewis thinks of it as a SIN and that is boring. We know from books like "The Inklings" that Lewis had a different life from others (strange relationship with an elderly woman, strange marriage and so on). From this book I feel that Lewis had a human problem of not being able to relate to other, and it may be that the very sex-divided and oldfashioned British school system is to blame in this case.

The book is well written but apart from the fact that it is about Lewis' life he had said his most important thoughts much more convincingly in other places (see for instance Miracles).


I Found this difficult to read   March 10, 2002
 13 out of 25 found this review helpful

I am afraid i found this difficult to read i was looking forward to reading it as the reviews were inspiring. But it reffered a lot to books i had never heard of and was very intellctual and deep for me. I did think though that he was very open and honest about his relationships with his family,his abusive school life and sex etc.


Surprised by Joy - a thoroughly enjoyable autobiography.   July 21, 2001
 29 out of 30 found this review helpful

I have already read most of C.S.Lewis' works, but I'd intentionally put-off reading 'Surprised by Joy'. I'd felt it more interesting to learn Christian Wisdom from what he wrote after his conversion, than to concern myself with how he became converted. However, I finally gave in; and it is a thoroughly good read, unusually humorous in some places: his memories of his eccentric father and also of a wartime troop-train had me laughing out- loud. Another C.S.Lewis triumph.


Funny Story and Review...   January 26, 2001
 26 out of 27 found this review helpful

Before I saw this book on a shelf in a library, I knew that C.S. Lewis married a woman named Joy. When I saw the title, I thought the book must have been about how he and Joy met each other and that since he was an older man when he married, he was "surprised by Joy." Funny thought, but not the case. This is C.S. Lewis' spiritual autobiography. He describes his early years, his internal yearnings, his hunger for he-knew-not-what. A more honest book, you would be hard pressed to find. I give it the highest rating possible and recommend it to all. Also recommended: Castle of Wisdom by Rhett Ellis-- a Christian book that is... well, different.