Surprised by Joy – by C.S. Lewis

14 06 2024

As part of my ongoing “one C.S. Lewis grown up book per year” target, I picked up Surprised by Joy. This is his autobiography, but focussing solely on his journey towards Christianity, finishing with his conversion as a young adult.

A lot of the time seems to be given to his schooling in various forms (“Life at a vile boarding school is in this way a good preparation for the Christian life, that it teaches one to live by hope.”), and then through WWI, university and into work in academia. I enjoyed reading his story, but occasionally, and more so towards the end, he got quite philosophical, which got a bit too clever for me, which I’ve found to be a common occurrence with these books.

He’s friendly in the way he talks though, and quite self-deprecating, at the end of chapter one saying he’s written it so that people can “see at once what they’re in for and close the book with the least waste of time.”


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