“I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer . . . Why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”
I found this book, oddly intriguing. So much that I read it twice. And enjoyed it a second go. Lewis is an author I respect, and admire especially for his understanding of human nature and the depravity of man. Which is why I think I enjoyed Till We Have Faces. It's not your happily ever after story where all the characters live wonderful lives. It shows some of the most despicable, inner sins of the human soul.
"It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from.” Orual~
I will say, I do not agree with Lewis in everything, and some people avoid him entirely because of the seemingly pagan things he brings into his writing. He confessed how much the stories of pagan gods intrigued him, but I believe inherently, Lewis's goal was to teach through a diverse way (by using magic and gods) the deep nature of man and God. And by using stories to mask his allegorical meanings, people were unknowingly being shown a Christian worldview.
"Haunted by the myth ofCupid and Psyche throughout his life, C.S. Lewis wrote this, his last, extraordinary novel, to retell their story through the gaze of Psyche’s sister, Orual. Disfigured and embittered, Orual loves her younger sister to a fault and suffers deeply when she is sent away to Cupid, the God of the Mountain. Psyche is forbidden to look upon the god’s face, but is persuaded by her sister to do so; she is banished for her betrayal. Orual is left alone to grow in power but never in love, to wonder at the silence of the gods. Only at the end of her life, in visions of her lost beloved sister, will she hear an answer." Amazon summary
A good introduction to Lewis's character is to read the book 'Not a Tame Lion'.
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