Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading so many books by C.S. Lewis, it was really nice to hear in his own words what life experiences he had that made him that unique individual. I am not the biggest fan of autobiographies in general, so I appreciated the companion biographical story told in The Essential C.S. Lewis, but I think Lewis does a pretty good job at honestly representing himself, particularly his childhood and educational career.

Things I did not know before (including bits from class discussion):

Lewis went by the nickname Jack. His mother died of cancer when he was a kid; he had little to no relationship with his father, and was an atheist the majority of his young life. It was “The Great Knock,” a mentor and teacher, who taught him to really question things, and though an atheist himself, it was these principles that taught Lewis to rethink atheism, which lead to his conversion to theism, and later Christianity.

Another insight from this that I appreciated was that Lewis did not trust emotions from a very early age. He seemed to be afraid of raw emotion, and I think that explains why he takes such a logical, rational approach to many of his arguments. Lewis also had a wild imagination. I loved reading about his childhood and the description of his house full of books. Without TV and video games, he was left to entertain himself with his own thoughts and rich imagination. I really like that, and that is something I hope to cultivate in my own children someday.

Something else I did not know: Lewis was also wounded in WWI and told his friend, Patty, that if he died he would take care of his mother. Apparently when Lewis moved in with her that lead to a rather interesting relationship—though Surprised by Joy does not mention that. Lewis does claim that he had a past before converting though, and that would only make sense.

I like this idea of joy that Lewis describes and the complexity of it. At first Lewis thought that was what he would have to give up when he became a Christian, only to discover that this was the opposite case. Joy tried to find him his whole life, but it came when he did not expect it. Joy comes in moments—in a sense of something beyond ourselves, something heavenly. Lewis also describes joy as an unsatisfied desire and kind of painful. The want of it is kind of like Heaven, in his opinion. We try to find joy fulfilled by false substitutes and through desire, but real joy is greater than pleasure or happiness. It also makes it the most valuable.

The book ended a bit abruptly to my liking. It seemed to focus mostly on his conversion to theism and not necessarily Christianity, and then it cut off from there. Again, one of the aspects I dislike about autobiography (and how blasted modest they try to be when I would rather just hear about their great accomplishments as unique individuals). I’m grateful for outside texts to give me more context for his life from a more objective point of view, and to hear more about the other aspects apart from his conversion (though that was, of course, important).

Until reading more on his life in The Essential C.S. Lewis, I also had no idea that his wife’s name was Joy. I think that is kind of ironic given the impetus of Joy that Lewis tries to answer in this autobiography.


View all my reviews