We see his burgeoning love of reading and writing, described so avidly that bookworms swoon and start writing down quotes. Lewis begins with a detailed description of his childhood, an in-depth look at who he was so that we were prepared to see who he would become. This is something darker, more introspective, more revealing, and incredibly challenging on a very erudite, intellectual level that strains readers.

Lewis warns us away early – this will not be an autobiography in the strictest sense of the word nor will it showcase his normally light tone. The story begins by captivating readers with a truly natural voice, an open honesty and intellectual awareness that is staggering in truth and what it reveals. Lewis is an apologist whom I have always wanted to read further and when I saw the audiobook version of Surprised by Joy at the library, I decided to find out a little more about this mysterious man who converted to atheism only later to return to Christianity. Lewis before – The Great Divorce – and own his complete collection. Alongside his desire for education and expansion of the mind, an ardent bibliophile, Lewis describes the love of reading in aching terms and his search for joy – that rare and elusive longing that eventually drives him to explore i his soul and the meaning of life. Lewis vehemently wanted to believe in the existence of a material world where death was the end and actions were not guided by rules he sought the freedom of actions that this outlook would supposedly grant and, as a hardy atheist wary of conversion, fought against any possible intrusion of Christianity and what he saw as the laborious constraints inherent in religion.

Although brought up Christian, Lewis felt an aversion to his religion, especially as he grew older and was forced through a horrible school experience. Surprised by Joy functions not as an autobiography of the beloved author so much as a spiritual argument governed not by emotion but by pure rationality, getting to Lewis’s anti-sentimental personality and his attraction to the world of philosophy and intellectualism. Tolkien actually spent most of his life as an ardent atheist. Lewis, famed for his work within Christian apologetics, his religious metaphorical children’s novel series The Chronicles of Narnia, and his friendship with J.R.R. An Honest, Intellectual Progression from Atheism to ChristianityĬ.S.

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