A Grief Observed

This short book by the renowned author of The Chronicles of Narnia is a classic, and essential, book on grief.

Having found love late in life Lewis was devastated when his wife died a short time after their marriage. He rails at God and in a now-famous passage writes that no one ever told him that grief feels so much like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in my stomach, the same restlessness…

People who are mourning will recognize the rawness of grief and the need to find meaning in what… show more.

He talks about the death of his wife in such a relatable way to anyone who has experienced grief. He speaks about his faith which I was less interested in but some people may be as death and spirituality are so closely linked. It describes the pain and emotions we experience with grief in detail and in a way to make us feel less alone

A Grief Observed falls into a rare genre: a philosophical memoir on grief. Lewis, the well-known defender of Christianity and author of the children’s book series The Chronicles of Narnia, recounts the days after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman. Lewis seems to be drowning in an emotional tidal wave in the book’s opening pages, facing an array of emotions he did not expect to undergo in grief: sadness of course, but also fear, disorientation, and anomie. I find Lewis’ nuanced and vivid picture of grief more compelling than his theological tribulations, but the power of A Grief… show more.

This book was a more cerebral book about grief. Observing grief as if it was something to pick apart and understand. A kind of detachment that I needed when the weight of my own loss was unbearable.

This book helped me understand rather than simply feel (which was overwhelming at that time) what happened. It provided explanations on things I could barely explain to myself. Even though it was a struggle, this book made me see grief from a different perspective other than my own. It also helped me understand where I was in my own process of mourning and… show more.

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” These words, From A Grief Observed struck me when I read the book in my C.S. Lewis period, long before my husband died. But they returned to mind early in my grieving journey. I turned to this classic on grief and the Christian faith repeatedly for comfort and guidance as I moved through my grief journey. In this book, C.S. Lewis writes, with unprecedented vulnerability for his time, about the loss of his wife Joy. He writes about the experience of being jolted out of an intellectual faith and… show more.