Shelf Life Book Reviews

A forgotten masterpiece

This review is, for many, many reasons, very difficult to write. To begin with, I should be doing things for my wedding in about a week, and as such I find myself a little distracted. For another, this is my favorite book from my favorite author, and I wonder if I will be able to give it the praise it deserves without being sycophantic. Well, all I can do is give it my best shot, right?

Genre: fiction

Plot: This is a retelling of the Greek myth Psyche and Cupid, set in a barbaric kingdom called Glome. Lewis tells the story through the eyes of Orual, Psyche’s older sister/mother figure, writing a long complaint against the gods for what they have done to her. His chief change to the story, which seems like such a small thing but has such brilliant ramifications to it, is to make Psyche’s palace invisible to mortal eyes.

Structure: The book is unequally divided into two parts. In the lengthier Part One, Orual, seething with hatred and wrath for the gods, sets down to write her story once and for all and to show how unjust, how unfair, the gods have been to her. She begins in her early childhood, and carries it all the way to late adulthood, telling of her kingdom, her relationship with her sisters, the great sacrifice of Psyche, and the choices she made in trying to cope with what happened to her and her family.

Part Two is an answer to her initial writing. She receives an answer from the gods, a change in perspective, and writes an amendment to her initial, raging work. Part of my enchantment with this novel is its unusual epistolary structure (which has fallen out of favor in modern literature, much to my dismay), which is a perfect platform for the emotional story Lewis sets out to tell.

Execution and Style: Lewis is a master of the English language, no doubt about it. His prose is perfect, suited exactly for the dark, heavy language of an ancient world and yet full of modern sparkle (where, I think, he vastly improved upon his colleague Tolkien). More than that, he gives touches of allegory. What do I mean by “touches?” I mean that you cannot come at this book straight on and say, “ah, this must be a symbol for this.” It’s too artless. This is a story that demands to be taken in sideways. You cannot come at it from the front; you have to come at it sideways and see glimpses, parallels, of what he alludes to. This to me is what makes this a supremely good book. Like true theology, clear, rational thinking gets you a little ways.

One of the best things about this work, I think, is that it combines Lewis’ rich depth of knowledge, imagination, and deep questions without easy answers (why must holy places be dark?). It marries his fertile imagination with a powerful, emotional story; I think we all see ourselves in Orual, and so she touches us deeply. Her rage, her confusion, her disbelief and frustration are all ours. Her shock when she discovers she is, deep down, dark and ugly and selfish, is ours. And her ultimate redemption gives us hope. The pathos, the empathetic imagining which makes this story so distant and beautiful but also so near and real, that is what makes this a masterpiece.

Theme: Greek myth (Psyche and Cupid), love, sacrifice, allegory, philosophy

Read this if you want the richly imagined world of Tolkien in a lighter prose. This is, I think, also good for those dark nights of the soul when we wonder what God is doing or where he is.

5 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Lewis is a prolific author, but some of his best loved works are:
The Pilgrim’s Regress
The Space Trilogy
The Chronicles of Narnia
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
The Four Loves

If you liked this, you might also like:
Carolyn Parkhurst’s The Dogs of Babel - another story of love and loss
Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose – another tragic, beautifully retold fairy tale

Hey all! Wondering why your favorite place for book reviews is suddenly not looking so fresh anymore?

Well, I have a confession to make readers. Here’s what’s been hogging my reading hours as of late:

Distraction #1: Video Games

This would be funnier if it weren’t also true

Yes, yes, I’ve been giving into my inner 10 year old lately; I’m playing Super Paper Mario. It’s so frustrating at times I could throw the Wiimote (but I won’t), but the humor is so good it keeps me coming back again and again.

Also been playing through FFX again with the Nicholas, which is fun if for nothing else than the cosplay jokes:

Distraction #2: Good Sci-Fi

is realy just Shepperd wif boobz

While Stargate Atlantis will always have a place in my heart, Battlestar Galactica is helping me with the withdrawl. Oh, Blockbuster, how I love thy dollar-per-day deals…

Oh, and before ANYONE SPOILS ANYTHING I’m not done with Season 1.

Distraction #3: Epic Cross-stitchery

My ambition is matched only by my Zelda fandom!

Seriously, I’ve been working on this over a year now, and it’s so close to being done I can’t help but work at it while watching TV or watching my fiance play with his newest toy, Need for Speed Underground. Oh, and by the way, those of you who thought WindWaker sucked need to go read the article on Destructoid.

Distraction #4: Nearly Newlywed

Nothing says classy like kegstand

There’s also this other little thing. I happen to be getting married in 11 days to a wonderfully geeky and goofy man I love dearly. And after the wedding, moving to a new city with my new husband for a new job.

Needless to say, I’ll be occupied with other life things for the next few days. But you know, since I’m going through all these major changes, wouldn’t it be a perfect time to put Shelf Life through some alterations as well? Yes, yes indeed.

So consider this your “pardon our dust” warning. Reviews may be sparse the next few weeks (I’ll try to get in a few before the big day), but rest assured, Shelf Life is far from finished! Soon 2.0 (aka Shelf Life Electric Boogaloo) will debut with…

Well I can’t tell you! Otherwise you might not come back! But oh, many awesome things will come, including a new domain. So check back often, entertain your now empty Internet time with The Gearheart Audio Book and The Domestic Scientist, and we’ll see you soon!

P.S. the poll from last week was a tie, but I’m halfway through Till We Have Faces.

Not nearly as erotic as you’re thinking

I surveyed my 2009 Shelf the other day, and I wasn’t too thrilled with what I found. It’s like I’ve gone on a fiction binge since college ended, and while that was fun for a while (and tempting to return to since Alruff raved about this), intellectually I crave books that will jar my brain, or at least rattle it.

So on my last trip to the library, I stayed far away from my favorite fiction section and chose to wander non-fiction for a while. One of the titles I found was the one up for review today by Rob Bell. I have to warn you, I am highly skeptical of Rob Bell. Theologically, we dissected his work at lot in school and found a lot of it lacking or at least not articulated well. But although the first few chapters of his book started off exactly as I expected it to, the last few definitely gave me exactly the kind of brain jolting I wanted.

Genre: nonfiction (theology)

Plot Synopsis: The book begins with an introduction to the “new-but-not-really-new” of “this is really about that,” i.e., most of what we talk about or argue about or think about is about one thing on the surface, but really about another, deeper thing. This is basically the heart of his book–sexuality is really about spirituality.

Chapter 1 I really can’t tell you what it was about, because I’m not sure myself; it was all fireworks and glitter but no substance (which is exactly what I expected of Rob Bell). Chapter 2 explains how sexuality is really just connectivity, which means that any relationship is based in sex somehow. Chapter 3 discusses the two extremes in viewing sex: as a crude, physical thing with no true value (the angelic, or gnostic, view) and the carnal hedonism that refuses to think of anything spiritual happening (the animal, or Epicurean view). Chapter 4 approaches the dark subject of lust and how to overcome it. Chapter 5 recalls a junior high dance to make a metaphor about the inherent choice and power found in love, both human and divine. Chapter 6 continues the theme of chapter 5, this time focusing more on the divine side.

Chapter 7 speaks of the intimacy of marriage, and the danger of losing it. Chapter 8 also speaks of marriage, specifically about the unity and intimacy of “two becoming one.” Chapter 9 looks to the future, anaylzing Jesus’ words in Luke 20:34-36 and positing that actually, marriage is just a temporary window into the state we will all be in at the Final Age. The Epilogue closes with a touching story of a marriage between two broken people that itself implodes a few years later. The point is to simultaneously shatter your rosy expectations of marriage and to give you hope; for although life is a messy business, Bell believes God can heal anyone and anything.

Structure: Each of the chapters is a pretty quick read, unless you stop to read all 173 endnotes (most of which are just Scripture references, but sometimes are short essays on some point he’s making). Always opens with a recollection or story, and always closes with some sort of provacative statement. Which is good, I guess, just a little repetitive.

Execution and Style: Bell, of Nooma fame, is known for painting powerful pictures or giving interesting perspectives on a theological subject, and this is mostly what he did in the first five chapters. Comparing God to a junior high girl, humanity to lipstick, sexuality to friendship; it’s all very typically Bell. The biggest thing I disagreed with was his clearly Freudian view of sexuality, i.e. that any relationship is rooted, grounded in sex (which he sees as simply connectivity with others). I disagree, and believe that my friendships with my best friends/bridesmaids, or with my good friend Alex for that matter, is entirely divorced from any sexual feelings towards them. Likewise, this is what makes my relationship with Nicholas so special; he is the only person I have a deep, meaningful relationship with that is also sexual in nature.

If there were some way to remove chapters 7-9 from the other chapters, I would do it and recommend it to any dating couple. Bell gave very interesting, thoughtful, Biblically-grounded views about marriage, submission, intimacy, oneness, and Jesus’ mysterious words about “being like angels” is all about. Some of the passages here were very moving, and sparked great discussion between Nicholas and myself.

A word about his use of the Greek/Hebrew: I normally cringe when authors insist on citing the original languages, because it’s very hard to test their use of it (even for theology students). However, Bell used a fair deal of it, about 70% I was familiar with already and can verify that his use of these words are quite sound. So, I think he’s fairly credible.

Theme: theology, God, sexuality, marriage, Hebrew, Greek

Read this if well, if you’re already a fan of Emergent Church authors like Bell, William Young or Don Miller, obviously you will like it. But I would say that even more conservative students like myself will find some things to enjoy about it, even if you disagree with a lot more than you agree with.

3 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Velvet Elvis (his most controversial work so far)
Jesus Wants to Save Christians

If you liked this, you might also like:
C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves
There are SEVERAL commentaries out there about Song of Solomon, but I would suggest in particular Intimacy Ignited by Dillow & Pintus.