This is my attempt at the book's theme: the kind of face we have (that is, who we really are) determines the kind of love we have for others. We must know what our 'face' really is before we can truly know love.
This book takes the myth of Cupid and Psyche and in it deals with the love, jealousy, self-deceit and -blindness, selfishess, struggle with control and with the Divine that is present in every human being. Highly recommended. ( )

In what is one of Lewis' lesser-known works Till We Have Faces, he presents a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, through the eyes of the older sister of Psyche. Here Lewis presents a parallel account of the classic myth, which at times borders on a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," in more than one way.

If you are a fan of Lewis' writing, or would like to try something different than Wardrobes, Wormwoods, and Westons, give this Face a look. ( )

One of Lewis' lesser known works, this is a beautifully written reworking of the Eros and Psyche myth of Greek Legend. The language is poetic and is worthy of a sit down meal, a real treat and a delight to read. ( )

Lewis, C.S.: Till We Have Faces
999 Classics category (5/27/09)
PL 313 pages

It is difficult to write a review of this book because I think it is imperative that nothing about the plot or the characters ought to be revealed to those who have not yet read it. As I explain below each reader seems to bring something of himself to the story which will be influenced as the story unfolds and winds around. Any knowledge of what will be occurring might disturb this involvement and identification with the story.

When I started the book I knew it was a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth and that C.S. Lewis was a Christian writer and thought that this novel was one of his finest works. It did not take long for me to be so involved in the story that I felt like I experienced it rather than read it. (My biggest frustration was that I had to read it at my busiest time of the year and I resented anything that forced me to have to put the book down and get to work.) The story is complex and compelling, the characters are interesting and well drawn, and the country Lewis created for the story to take place in was fascinating and utterly believable. Needless to say I loved this novel! However, what has struck me most after finishing it is that as I read comments of other readers each person seems to have a unique opinion about what the story really says—or means—and which characters were wise or sensible and which ones needed more sense. This would make a great book for a book group discussion if you could find a group that would love to discuss and be able to “agree to disagree.” ( )

A compelling re-telling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. For the first 3/4 of the book, I couldn't put it down. I'm a big fan of C. S. Lewis' writings. Lewis has a way with a story, and he certainly had his way with this one! However, I would have preferred a book that ended after Part One. I found Part Two confusing and uninteresting. ( )

This was Lewis's favorite novel, and I can see why. He retells the myth of Psyche and Cupid through the very heart of Orual, the homely half-sister and protector of the exquisite Psyche. She is known as Istra in the land of Glome, where the goddess Ungit ruled with a harsh jealousy. When Psyche/Istra is offered for sacrifice to end the hard times created by famine, plague, and rebellion, she is mysteriously saved and becomes the bride of the unseen God of the Grey Mountain.

All might have been well until Orual interfered. Through her dubious good intentions, she ends up betraying Psyche and then blames the gods for her selfish love. Lewis can tell the story so much better than I can. I'll just say that Orual has some amazing adventures, but is always haunted by her actions, and it was through her accusations that she ultimately saw herself as the one who caused ruin in those whom she loved.,

I am not a big fan of fantasy in general, but thought Lewis did a marvelous job giving us a new way to look at a well-known myth. ( )

The oldest daughter of the King of Glome, Orual, writes her complaint against the gods. She loves the youngest, Psyche, almost as a daughter, especially since Psyche's mother (Orual's stepmother) died in childbirth. Orual's world begins to crumble when Glome is threatened by famine and the possibility of war - the priest of the goddess Ungit tells the King that the only way to prevent both is for Psyche to be sacrificed to the goddess.

While writing her complaints, Orual says the gods hate her. She demands and justifies herself and ultimately reveals herself more honesty that even she expected when she first began. Retelling the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Lewis weaves a tale similar in theme to The Chronicles of Narnia, but more mature both in terms of audience and writing style. Having read many of C.S. Lewis' fiction and nonfiction, I'm surprised it's taken so long for me to read this one. It was definitely worthwhile and I'm sure I'll read it again. ( )

This is my all-time favorite book. I've read it four times and will certainly read it many more times. Lewis's protagonist, Orual, is torn between the rational--represented by her Greek tutor and faith--represented by Orual's sister Psyche, who believes she is loved by Cupid, the god of love. Lewis, as the most rational of writers, is the perfect author for this them. The characters are beautifully drawn and the story captures you. Even though I've read it over and over, I can't put it down. The ending makes me cry every time because it's so powerful. ( )

This book surprised me. I thought I knew who C.S. Lewis was-and what his subject matter would probably be-but he went mythical on us with a disfigured heroin with beautiful sisters. I love the book because it's about recognizing your own beauty. ( )

A Compelling story, of an ancient Myth. Nicely told. ( )

Technically, I first read "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis years ago, but I have to be honest -- a lot of skimming went on that time, and I never really counted it as "read"; at the time, I was wanting a story about Cupid and Psyche, not a story about Psyche's sister. So after enough time had passed, I decided to read the book again, this time for itself. And in the end, I found the story of Orual, Psyche's elder sister a fascinating one -- and, ironically, most appreciated the bits of the story in which Psyche didn't feature. It is not a lovely fairy tale of a god loving a mortal like the original story, but Lewis's examination of the many kinds of love , what it can lead us to do, and how we can be blinded to what others see as true because of our own views is compelling and painful and excellent. ( )

It is one of those rare novels that draw me into a sense of wonder, and the finest piece of fiction I have read from Lewis. I was simply mesmerized by the world he had created, and how he turned the myth around on itself so that we saw it from the sister's point of view.

But a distinction here (and let me warn you of a slight spoiler here). Before Lewis was a Christian, he wrote a play called LOKI BOUND, in which the hero is Loki, who is normally the villain in Norse Mythology. But now, as a Christian, Lewis does not let the sister quite off the hook. We see her point of view, yes, and we sympathize with her, but we must ultimately see it as a dark thing that must be thrown off. Psyche is not brought down to the sister's level, but the sister raised to something greater.

Quite beautiful. ( )

A wonderful retelling of the Psyche Myth. The climax has remained with me as a powerful visural image for decades. ( )

The title of Till We Have Faces has always intrigued me, and I will say here and now that it has to be one of the best titles I have ever seen. I went into the book not really sure what to expect, and Lewis surprised me greatly with the story he chose to tell. Who would have thought he had such sensitivity, to write from the perspective of a female character with almost frightening insight?

Till We Have Faces is an imaginative retelling of the myth of Psyche, who was married to a god but was not allowed to see her husband who came to her in the night. According to the myth, Psyche's jealous sisters convinced her to take a lamp and look upon her husband to know what he really was. When Psyche does this, the god's jealous mother gets power over her and sends her to wander the earth and perform impossible tasks, until the day when she accomplishes them all and becomes a goddess herself. Psyche is then reunited with her husband and the story ends happily. Lewis chose to tell this story from the perspective of one of Psyche's sisters, Orual. This choice breathes new life into an old myth and allows Lewis to explore what must have been for him a very different landscape: the heart and mind of a woman.

Orual is ugly. Not just plain, not just mildly unattractive; ugly. She is three years older than her pretty sister Redival, and they live with their father the King in the poor country of Glome. The country is in decline and the King is unable to get heirs. When he marries a young princess from a neighboring country, she dies in childbed bearing him another daughter. This daughter is Psyche. From the first, Orual loves Psyche more than any other and cares for her like a mother. And Psyche grows into a perfectly beautiful and loving girl. She is the darling of the kingdom, until one day the Priest of Ungit comes to tell the King that his perfect daughter must be sacrificed to turn the fortunes of the land. Psyche will be given to the son of Ungit, a Shadowbrute who will take her as his wife — a sort of death in itself, and certainly thought to entail physical death as well.

Orual is enraged by her father's selfish acquiescence to the people's demands, and he beats her for her attempts to stop the sacrifice. Psyche is carried away up the Mountain while Orual lies wounded and ill, and it is many days before Orual is strong enough to attempt the journey up the Mountain to gather whatever is left of her sister and give it burial. But when Orual makes the journey (in company with Bardia, the captain of the King's guard), she is amazed to find her sister not only alive, but glowing with health and happiness. Orual cannot see the glittering castle that Psyche says is her home with the god her husband, and is terrified that her sister is being duped by an outlaw or some such villain, or a monstrous god. For Psyche may never see her husband when he comes to her in the night.

Orual is faced with a choice. Either she must leave her sister in what she thinks is deluded happiness, or she must convince or force Psyche to leave her husband. Orual tells Psyche that she will kill herself unless Psyche agrees to look upon her husband (thinking that the sight of his monstrosity will convince Psyche to return to Orual). When Psyche lights the lamp and looks upon her husband, a curse falls on her from Ungit, the god's jealous mother, and both she and Orual are condemned to an anguish scarcely imaginable for the rest of their lives.

Orual starts the book in great anger against the gods. Far from not believing in them, she sees them as malevolent and selfish beings who sadistically enjoy the struggles of humanity. The book begins with Orual's tired anger:

I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of the gods. I have no husband or child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for. My crown passes to my nephew.

Being, for all these reasons, free from fear, I will write in this book what no one who has happiness would dare to write. I will accuse the gods, especially the god who lives on the Grey Mountain.

Most of the book is written in this attitude, like an accusation in a courtroom against the gods. At the end, Orual is brought before the gods to make her case. She speaks her anger and her hurt and her pain to the assembly, and stops when she realizes she is repeating herself again and again. She sees what she has done and what she is, how she has pushed the Orual part of her down and allowed the cold Queen part of her to dominate. She sees how her manipulation of Psyche has led to the agony both have suffered, and learns that she too "has been Psyche" and has borne most of the suffering for her sister in her dreams and visions. One of Psyche's tasks was to separate a huge mound of different kinds of seeds, and not make one mistake. Orual sees the scene and notices the ants helping Psyche — and remembers a terrible dream in which she was an ant carrying seeds on her back for an eternity. Orual has been allowed to carry much of Psyche's pain. There is mercy mixed with judgment.

Orual sees her own awfulness and the ugly, blood-gorged state of her soul. For when her father died she succeeded him as Queen, and used her faithful servants Bardia and the Fox (her Greek teacher/slave) to the point where they were sucked dry. Bardia's wife Ansit finally brings that point home to the Queen, and Orual is miserable when she sees what she is. This is what was meant when Orual realizes the gods are silent because, all her life, she has lacked the ability to hear them. She has worn a veil ever since becoming Queen because of her ugliness, and it is a metaphor for her inner ugliness as well. Orual writes,

When the time comes to you at which you will be forced to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?

Faces — not veils.

There is so much in this book I feel I am only swirling the deeper waters with a hesitant toe. The characters are amazingly drawn. I cannot say enough about Orual's narration and clean spare beauty of the prose. And the philosophy underneath is just staggering. Lewis has so much to say about the relationships between deity and humanity, and the way our human-ness both impedes and helps us. The book reminded me somewhat of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan with its descriptions of the terribleness of Ungit and how holiness is always found in dark places reeking of sacrifice and blood. I was also reminded of a more recent book, Jo Graham's Black Ships, although the underpinning philosophy in that book is pretty much non-existent compared to this one, and it's much more of an adventure story.

In other ways the book reminded me of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The stories are very different, but there is a kinship of excellent writing and powerful insight into the human heart. Hawthorne's graceful renderings of human experience and pain finds an echo, likely unintentional, in Till We Have Faces. There were also echoes of Lewis' Perelandra, especially with the Lady whose joy in her Lord is so much like Psyche's adoration of her husband. But Till We Have Faces cannot be judged solely by comparison to other works. It is one of the most unique stories I have ever read.

Lewis dedicated this book to his wife, Joy Davidman, and I don't think her influence over him and over this particular work can be overestimated. There is no way that a man could write like this about the feelings and thoughts of a woman without intimate knowledge of a most exceptional woman. Lewis' versatility as a writer is astounding.

I read this book in one sitting and I came away with a sort of gasp at the beautiful complexities of it. I am still pondering it and I know the themes of this story will stay with me. I highly recommend it. ( )

Beautiful, tragic. This is a retelling of the story of Psyche and Eros through the point of view of the ugly sister. It is her accusation against the gods that they are unfair and unjust. And the answer Queen Orual receives is not the one she expects.

Beyond being a treatise on the nature of God, love, forgiveness and selflessness, it contains one of the best female characterizations I've ever read. I normally can't empathize with most female leads in fiction (especially those written by men), but I was with Orual at every step. I spent the last 60 pages in tears.

Worth a second reading. ( )

mythology , greek, Psyche and Cupid ( )

A re-telling of the tale of Cupid and Psyche, and one of the greatest books I have ever read. I can't do it justice with a brief review, so just read it. ( )

We want God to be just. By “just” we mean that we desire that God rule in our favor. But we don’t think enough what might result should God heed the council of our minds and hearts. Would we have God make us what we wish to be, or make us what God knows we are meant to be? And what of others? How would even our loved ones fair if God treated them as we thought God should? So many want their redress from God and yet curse God for the outcome.

Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis is about accusing God for the unjust ways in which he treats mortals. And also the book is about God’s answer to that charge.

“Are the gods not just?”
“Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were? But come and see”...

“I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away.”

Till We Have Faces is not an easy book. It takes some skill to read, and probably does not do all its work until the third or more reading. Those who like their discussions of God neat and tidy will likely misunderstand the book or even be repulsed by it. The pagan priest has what might be the best lines, “Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.” ( )

First off, this was rather enjoyable and quite well written. I'm certainly not sorry I got it. But it wasn't what I was hoping for from Lewis, namely some form of religious or spiritual insight, such as was present in "Out of the Silent Planet" or "Narnia". And I was left confused as to whether or not I liked (or was supposed to like) the narrator/main character. Much of the book seemed to be critical of spirituality and religion, and supportive of rationality, which doesn't strike me as being Lewis' outlook. Anyway, it was quite interesting, and I'm still bound to read everything else by Lewis, just the same. (Note: I knew nothing of the myth of Eros/Psyche before reading this. You don't need to, but it affects this review, I'm guessing.) ( )

It's a wonderful C.S. Lewis book that explores the seemingly inconsistent way divine interacts with people. If you don't count Great Divorce or Screwtape, this is Lewis's best work of fiction.

My favorite elements:
1. Intriguing story.
2. Insightful exploration of why God doesn't reveal himself to everyone in the same way...if at all.
3. Strong female lead character.
4. Relationships and love take center stage. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2BYWOF4... ( )

Princesses kick butt! (WOOT!) ( )

A few months ago I was, through no fault of my own, made to read Christa Wolf's retelling of the Trojan War, "Cassandra". A feminist view of life with a much-wronged and angry heroine, it was mind-numbingly awful all the way through.

Things were not made better by the fact that right through it, I was reminded of how much better Till We Have Faces is. Till We Have Faces is a never-failingly deep book; I've read it a number of times and still haven't reached the bottom of it. It is another retelling of Greek myth, this time that of Cupid and Psyche, and again it has an angry, much-wronged heroine. Lewis captures the inside of a woman's head ten times better than any other male author I have ever come across.

The crowning achievement of Lewis's career, it is the story of the ugly sister, Orual, whose beautiful and much-loved sister is taken from her by the gods as a sacrifice, and her struggles to come to terms with this act of seemingly insane cruelty. ( )

I loved loved loved this book! very awesome and new twist on Greek mythology! yay!!!!! ( )

http://bookcrossing.com/journal/54292... ( )