Reviewing The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

The Great Divorce is . . . *pauses to consider genre classifications* a theological fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis. The narrator finds himself standing in line for a bus in a vast, dreary town. The people he is surrounded by are cruel, arrogant, petty and quarrelsome. When the bus arrives and they embark on their journey, they find themselves in a bright, open field in a land awaiting the sunrise. They also find that this land is profoundly inhospitable to them. Compared to everything else here, they are wraiths so weak and insubstantial that even lifting a single leaf from the ground is beyond their strength. The grass is painful to walk upon because they can't so much as bend down the blades, and the points dig into their feet.

The Ghosts (for so the narrator dubs them) are soon met by bright Spirits, people to whom this land is home. The Spirits attempt to persuade them to stay and promise they will grow stronger and more real if they will. The narrator eventually discovers that this land is Heaven, the dull, empty town is Hell, and the Spirits are messengers sent to attempt the salvation of the damned.

The great majority of the Ghosts eventually choose to return to Hell. In order to stay, they would have to surrender their pride, their control over others, their "rights," or their hunger to feel like aggrieved victims.

Through the conversation the narrator witnesses, Lewis exposes many of the ways we choose to deceive ourselves and deprive ourselves of joy, both in this life and in eternity. He also shows how damnation is not merely a risk for murderers or robbers, but a very real threat to all of us who place ourselves and our will above God's plan for us, and how even petty sins, if not repented of, can finally destroy us.

There are a few pages here and there with what amounts to a mini-sermon or a lecture, but on the whole, the lessons of the story are taught through dialogue and interaction between characters. The whole thing is imagined and described in excellent detail, and there is one part that has, on previous reads, moved me near tears.

In case I have not already made it clear, I highly recommend this book.