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This is the autobiographical account written by C.S. Lewis, focusing on his early life, and specifically his journey through unbelief and eventually to belief. It does, however, seem to stray to seemingly irrelevant anecdotal narratives most of the time. This does not prove to be distracting or undesirable, though, and I found it all extremely interesting.

My only criticism of the book is that Lewis refers to and quotes numerous literary and mythological characters throughout the course of the book, in such a way that he apparently assumes the reader knows everything about the characters being referred to or quoted. Lewis is probably one of the most well-read people who ever lived, but not all of us have spent our entire lives reading all the books he'd read. I think it would have been nice if he had described the characters and situations being mentioned, so that I didn't feel like such an idiot so much of the time.

However, his writing is so incredibly spectacular that I couldn't help but envy his literary eloquence. He truly is one of the greatest authors ever, even though his most famous works are about animals who talk. And even though he was a Christian. :p

As an atheist I respect Lewis' views on religion far more than those of most Christians I know or have read. Not only because he has been an atheist, but also because I trust that his belief is more reasonable than the faith of most believers.

I say "trust", because this book didn't provide as much insight into his conversion as I had hoped. It seemed to me that his actual conversion had more to do with his fondness for mythology than anything else, though I understand this to be incorrect.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about him as a person, and I love his humor and insights into his own personality and the psychology of different aspects of his life. He was truly a great man, along with being an amazing writer. ( )

Surprised by joy--impatient as the wind. Lewis tells of his early life. His father came from Welshmen, true Welshmen who were sentimental, passionate, and rhetorical, easily moved to anger and to tenderness; men who laughed and cried a great deal and who had not much of the talent for happiness. The Hamilton's (his mother's people) were a cooler race. Their minds were critical and ironic and they had the talent for happiness in a high degree--went straight to it as experienced travelers go for the best seat in the train.
You must have a heart of stone not to read on. ( )

Despite having one of the worst covers I've seen in a while, this short account of C.S. Lewis' religious life, culminating in his conversion to Christianity, was worthwhile and enjoyable, though perhaps not as edifying on the topic of religious conversion as I had hoped.

Too much of the book is focused on unrelated descriptions and stories which, though the story might be anemic without them, tend to draw away rather than complement the book's central concern. A more serious criticism of the book is that "Joy", which figures so prominently in the book's title, is underanalyzed and underdeveloped so that for Lewis to end on a note about Joy lacks the impact it might have otherwise had. Furthermore, I found that in general the episodes explicitly related to Lewis' religious conversion which punctuated the story were likewise too underdeveloped, the details too sketchy, the experiences too understated. Perhaps that is an inevitable fact when discussing the "mystery" of how such conversion takes place. Perhaps if, as Lewis says, he had been contemplating and reflecting enough to give more specific accounts of such experiences, the experiences themselves would have been thwarted and dulled precisely by such introspection.

In any case, the quality of Lewis' prose is practically beyond compare, and whatever the subject matter or disagreements I may have with him, his writing is always a pleasure to read.

A key quotation: "What I learned from the Idealists (and still most strongly hold) is this maxim: it is more important that Heaven should exist than that any of us should ever reach it." ( )

Far from being the typical "spiritual journey" book, C.S. Lewis captures, with his customary wit, the essence of his early life through adolescence which helped to shape his faith.

The preface is rather self-effacing, but not without some merit. Toward the end of the book his thoughts seem a bit more stream-of-consciousness and the transition from "a boy's life" to "concerned theologian" is not quite smooth, from a reader's perspective.

However, overall this is a very worthy read for anyone interested in C.S. Lewis or journeys in and out of atheism/agnosticism. ( )