Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis

Product Information

It could have been told in half as many pages with better clarity and theological insight (there really was none in this book). Sometimes you think “there’s no way she said that aloud” then “there’s no way someone thinks she’s an intelligent person for saying that aloud” then “dear lord someone shut her up”. They had so many deep conversations and were always so honest with each other that you can’t help but just love these characters. During this time in history (the 50s), Joy’s independence and decisions regarding her marriage and children were most likely questioned. I was SO positive I was going to love this book, and am disappointed it didn’t grab me, as it has so many other people.

It’s a story of perseverance in more ways than one, of hope, of friendship, trust and ultimately, love. But I loved her all the more for her faults and I loved Lewis himself all the more for the glimpses we get at his own weaknesses or uncertainty. Lewis was a man who enjoyed the simple life, a good (fag) cigarette, a whiskey and simple friendships. A full-time author, mother of three, and grandmother of two, she lives in Mountain Brook, Alabama with her husband, Pat Henry.His faith and very literal and rigid understanding of the commandments prevents intimacy for what seems to Joy—and the reader—forever! She speaks (and thinks) in ridiculously long winded monologues about herself (or she waffles on about absolutely nothing). I liked what the author set out to do (as put forth in the author's note) but didn't feel like the text achieved that.

Despite being based on a very real and very interesting person who carefully selects her words, Joy Davidman is presented as a limp noodle who speaks in an annoying stream-of-consciousness way. Having only read Lewis’ work before and not knowing about this relationship, I couldn’t see where the story was going.What I’m trying to say is that whilst I found some elements difficult to read, the greater part enthralled me. The name change is not meant to disavow her other work but to distinguish this novel from her usual settings and subjects.

I was excited to learn more about their life (with a little bit of flair as it’s biographical fiction) but it’s dead boring and very frustrating. Novels and nonfiction captured my imagination and opened new worlds to me: I learnt about other cultures and new ways of thinking.A: Acceptance was so important to Joy because it was something she never had as a child, or as a wife in her first marriage. What I saw in Joy was nothing but a selfish woman who led her own brand of spirituality through her own will, then sprinkled a little "God" talk over it, rather than putting Jesus first.