Do You like book C.S. Lewis: A Biography (1994)?
I feel it only fair to preface my review with the fact that I went into reading the book knowing very little about the man or his work, other than the fact that he was a highly regarded novelist, whose work often had underlying Christian messages in the form of allegory. I had not read even one of his books, but simply admired the little I knew about the man and have similar aspirations/life goals for myself. Had I been more familiar with his works, I assume the book would have been at least somewhat more enjoyable.That being said, the book felt almost as if it contained two parts. The majority of the first half felt like a mere collection of facts organized chronologically and presented as such, with very little in the way of flow between them. Not only that, the facts were usually small, forming nothing in the way of even short stories. It was instead an excessive amount of dates and references that repeatedly broke any and all fluidity in the structure of the book. There are some insightful and even fascinating sections, but they were few and far between; too much so to encourage deep immersion into the early life of C.S. Lewis. For example: How many times does one book need to reference another (Surprised By Joy) before it feels like a ripoff? Whatever that amount, the first half of the book repeatedly flirted with the possibility of crossing over that line. All in all, I'd say the first half was poorly formulated and thus rarely an interesting read.Then came the second half. While it, too, suffers from some of the structural issues mentioned above and an excess of referencing, with deeper dissection of Lewis' works and the ways they were formed, it recaptured my attention. Though maybe a bit heavy on the mention of great conversations from which we receive but one sentence, the second half gave a decent amount of insight into not only the inspiration of Lewis' most successful works, it also offered a fair bit into Lewis' reactions to said success and his general everyday life thereafter.Overall, the book earned a solid three stars, thanks to the stronger second half. I considered four, but I'd be remiss if I were to overlook the research heavy/story deficient first half. One thing is certain and that is that Lewis was an extraordinary man with a remarkable mind and a larger-than-life personality. He fully deserves the respect he acquired throughout his life, even if he would be quick to shoot it down. Perhaps someday I will give this biography another chance when/if I get around to reading enough of Lewis' writings. As it stands now, the book left much to be desired, but also could have been considerably worse.
—M.T. Sullivan
