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A Grief Observed

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A Grief Observed

By: C. S. Lewis
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
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About this listen

 Written after his wife's tragic death as a way of surviving the "mad midnight moments", A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis's honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This work contains his concise, genuine reflections on that period: "Nothing will shake a man, or at any rate a man like me, out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself."

This is a beautiful and unflinchingly honest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings.

©1961 C.S. Lewis Pte., Ltd. (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks Christian Living Christianity Death & Dying Grief & Loss Indigenous Creators Mental Health Awareness Personal Development Relationships Religious Studies Sociology Spirituality Grief

Critic Reviews

"A very personal, anguished, luminous little book about the meaning of death, marriage, and religion." (Publishers Weekly)

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Liked everything. Wish I have listened to it 4.25 years ago when my husband passed away. But it was meant to be today. Thank you. Peace in my heart, finally.

At long last, peace

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Helpful for any kind of loss or heartbreak. I liked this book because grief is so universal and it's nice to hear in someone else's words, so accurately describe how it feels from inside the pain. It made me feel less alone and more comforted. It would be a good book to give to family and friends of a person who is grieving a loss and/or heartbreak, so they know how to behave and what to expect from someone in the grieving process, especially the part where it says that you (the grieved) is glad to have family/friends around but wishes to be more or less left alone while in company. I think at one point he writes something like, I need their company but I wish they would let me be, that they would talk, just not to me, but among themselves.

A beautiful book

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CS Lewis in a display of raw emotion and contemplation. For all who have lost one truly loved.

Truth telling c s lewis

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I loved this book. I wish I’d had it for my Dad when he was widowed too young from the same decease at C.S Lewis’ wife. To be so wholly understood by your fellow man; to have your position explained so beautifully,with such perfect words makes this book a gift to all the broken-hearted . Highly recommend.

A very personal honest account of grief

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I really enjoyed this. It's not like most other books on grief. Rather than being about going through the stages of grief this is more a collection of thoughts on his experience of grief. I found it very relatable with food for thought.

A lot of books on this topic are quite outcome oriented and focus on moving on, this was a very different read, I enjoyed his reflections and ways he described his thoughts, feelings & experience.

Great book

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Like every other on of my review of any of Cs lewis's books, this is an amazing book

Great book

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This reads as a series of diary entries through the eyes of faith (Christian) of love, marriage, cancer, loss, death, and grief's chaos that follows.

It's raw, I wouldn't recommend for someone already raw with pain - unless you need this insight of someone else struggled to balance faith and loss.

Grief is not clean cut or neat and tidy. It is not contained or tamed. Grief is a wild beast. Unpredictable. Primal. This is the grief reflected here by CS Lewis.

Narration was beautiful and reflective.

Raw Thoughts on Faith, Loss, & Love

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A true account and record of deep feelings of unbearable grief, and pain many of us experience but don’t know how to put into words. This book helped me see I am not abnormal for feeling such longing and pain. Many of the thought processes Lewis shares are things people in grief may have wondered but never been able to share or process to the point he reaches. That’s what makes it helpful. Validation of unspeakable stuff. Validation of stuff we can’t express - yet it still is. What a wonderful aid for the soul in anguish and confusion. Gave me great connection and peace.

Validating and real

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There are few words I can use for this book other than to say it’s so much more than I imagined. The subject of grief is so painfully and beautifully described.
Excellent Narration was a bonus.

Highly Recommend!

Beautifully Written

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If he took God’s word the Bible to heart he would be comforted by the fact that when our human bodies die our spirit leaves to go to heaven through calling out to Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4 .13. (Believers who have died ) Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uniformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
Heaven is real and Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved.

Through his grief

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