Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Great Divorce

THE GREAT DIVORCE: C.S. Lewis: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001(orig. 1946): Non-Fiction: 146 p.

Reading for a vacation? All aboard! Join the deceased on a bus ride through heaven and hell. Not everyone’s first pick of destination hot spots, but still a book guaranteed to provide introspection and provoke some decidedly interesting conversations.

C.S. Lewis, one of modern Christianity’s foremost scholars, shares his intriguing view of the two most famous afterlife residences. Starting in hell, the bus ride takes the protagonist and his fellow deceased on and upwards to heaven, where they encounter numerous individuals they’d known from their earth life. The plot centers on conversations between bus riders and their heavenly hosts. As to whether the newly dead are actually suited to this celestial sphere and willing to stay becomes reason for contemplation. Highly symbolic, most interesting is Lewis' interpretation of good and evil. Recommended.

* Book Club sets available.

DLA

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