I can't believe this is our last Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis Book Club session.
* sigh *
You're telling me that you've really appreciated the dialogue following the posts, that you've heard the heart of your sister readers, that you've been nudged to go a little deeper in discerning how you feel about challenging issues you might not have considered before.
And some of you never wanted the book to end ... as Pam Ecrement so eloquently put it, 'I have finished the book, but as I did so I slowed each paragraph and sentence savoring it as one would the deliciousness of the very finest chocolate as it melts in your mouth. I didn't want to stop tasting it.'
It's not too late to backtrack and jump in on the topics at hand ... you can grab your Kindle edition right now. Every person who leaves a comment {limit 2 per post!} on any of the four Book Club posts will be eligible for a $25 Amazon gift card. {U.S. only ... and please be sure your comment links to your contact info.}
The winner will be announced this weekend!
So, here we go ... another lovely video chat with author Patti Callahan and a few quotes to prime the conversational pump ...
watch video on YouTube
'Hadn't God known all along? Hadn't he seen the cancer growing, eating away at my insides? Could he not have intervened in human form? Sent a doctor to diagnosis it long before it ate me alive?
JOMO ... Here I Come! >>
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'The Truth: I was beloved of God.
Finally I could stop trying to force someone or something else to fill that role.
The pain of shattered illusion swept through me like glass blown through a room after a bomb.
All had been turned around.'
{Joy, chapter 44, page 324}
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'Hadn't God known all along? Hadn't he seen the cancer growing, eating away at my insides? Could he not have intervened in human form? Sent a doctor to diagnosis it long before it ate me alive?
How could my body have gone on destroying me while I mustered my courage and resolve to rebuild a new life? My body worked against me as I tried hard, so bloody hard, to start over? Couldn't one doctor of the dozens I'd seen notice that cancer ravaged my body? That it coursed through my flesh?
I wanted to cry, "Thy will be done." It would be the best thing if I could, but instead, alone in that hospital room, I wept long, hot tears of despair and begged God for a miracle.'
{Joy, chapter 51, page 363}
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"It is not hopeless," he said with surety. "It is uncertain, and this is the cross God always give us in life, uncertainty. But it is not hopeless."
{Jack, chapter 52, page 368}
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'But just because we love God and are committed to him doesn't mean we are exempt from the pain and loss in this world. We can't ask to be the exceptions.'
{Joy, chapter 54, page 378}
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The author pens a number of pointed discussion questions at the end of the book. A sampling ...
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The author pens a number of pointed discussion questions at the end of the book. A sampling ...
Did you know much about Joy Davidman before you read this novel? Did you come with preconceived notions of who she was? How did those change during the novel? What was the most surprising part of this story for you?
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JOMO ... Here I Come! >>
Your first quote and a few more lines leading up to it were some of the most poignant to me in the whole book. I quoted them in my review as well.
ReplyDeleteI had known very little about Joy before this book. I was most surprised to learn how much influence she had on Lewis' writing - editing, discussing, even suggesting the idea behind Til We Have Faces.
Jack wrote of Joy in A Grief Observed, 'My pupil and my teacher. My subject and my sovereign. My trusty comrade, friend, ship mate, fellow soldier. My mistress. But at the same time all that any man friend has ever been to me.'
DeleteYes, Joy turned his life upside down, inside out ...
Like Barbara, I knew next to nothing about Joy, especially that she was such an integral part of his writing and editing. Her "telling" of this love story so touched my heart and my soul. I felt her pain, physically and spiritually, and I'm now eager to read more of what she actually wrote and published. This was a book I hated to put down, too, and will probably read it again one day.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Linda, and thanks so much for hosting this book club!
Yes, Martha, the author well captured Joy's torment, her spiritual, emotional, and physical pain.
DeleteA volume to read and read again, for sure ...
And isn't this what it's all about as believers? 'The Truth: I was beloved of God.
ReplyDeleteFinally I could stop trying to force someone or something else to fill that role.
That is my desire as a believer and the focus that I pray keeps drawing me closer to God. This has been a wonderful book to read and an evern better book club. Thank you again! It's a treat to hang out here.
Yes, it has been a treat to sit together with this story, to go deep with each other in exploring the author's words. Oh to do a real life book club with this group! Would love that ...
DeleteMaybe some day?
;-}
I feel as if I got a softer side of Joy in Becoming Mrs. Lewis than I had in my imagination. I remembered reading somewhere that Orual from Till We Have Faces was modeled on Joy, and so I honed in on her austerity and commanding presence--which I think were both true. But she sure did love old Jack.
ReplyDeleteThe author did a magnificent job capturing the essence of who Joy was, didn't she ...
DeleteI'm off to put Joy's bio onto my library request list.
pg. 324...ah, yes, how good the enemy's devices whether through family-of-origin, marriage, work, or any kind of relationships (beyond all his other schemes) to seek to dissuade any one of us from this most powerful truth that we are beloved by God. The enemy would keep us locked in prisons of shame, rejection, abandonment and more because he knows that when we latch onto this truth, he is defeated.
ReplyDeletepg.363....how difficult for any of us sort out in this life why God doesn't choose to intervene, to let us know, to rescue us from so many hideous and awful things. At such times very little comforts us even though we seek to cling to Him. It is then that we most need to dig into the biblical understanding of lament and pour it out to Him as David did so often in the Psalms. He can take it and He has given us this form (lament) to deal with such tragedies in our lives. Too often no one has exposed us to the biblical laments found in His guidebook (the Bible).
pg. 368....how perfectly C.S. Lewis speaks this wisdom and truth. We struggle with uncertainty endlessly in this life and we struggle to hang on to the One who is certain to regain hope when all seems lost.
pg. 378...again...profound truth...difficult to accept and understand, but He who did not exempt His own son does not let us off the hook we gained by the fall in Eden that upended His perfect design and plan. Thankfully, He had a plan for that tragedy and those of us who call on His name benefit from that plan that offers us grace, love, mercy, and the promise of eternity.
This book has been such a wonderful journey and I gained much by discovering more of who Joy Davidman was and what that relationship with C.S. Lewis was all about beyond other things I have read and seen. It points clearly to why his anguish is so evident in A Grief Observed as he struggled losing this incredible woman.
It has been a delight to be along on this trip with all of you.
The depth of your contributions to our conversation sure added to the richness of our feast together, Pam. I'd love for you to write in depth on each of your comments some day. You've packed so much wisdom into each paragraph and your sister readers have benefited greatly!
DeleteI knew very little about Joy also. Never read anything she wrote until this book. I do find it a little puzzling though how much the author thought of Joy and her journey but yet some readers did not like Joy in this book. I have to admit that Joy was not the main attraction for me as I read. The depth of friendship and love was breathtaking to me as was God’s hand on both their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe question Joy wrestles with as she wonders why God did not intervene in her diagnosis until it was too late was something our book club couldn’t understand either. That is a hard thing to look at and get to a place of trusting God as your health deteriorates but Joy did accept it. She didn’t lose her faith and neither did Jack. That is a miracle in itself.
Carol, I love how you put it -->'The depth of friendship and love was breathtaking to me as was God’s hand on both their lives.'
DeleteI'm so glad you've been here ... it's meant alot to me. I so miss our book club days together with the gang. Please tell them all I said, 'hi ...'
I so agree with Mary's comment and was going to write the same! Being fulfilled completely because of my identity in Christ is my desire. Sometimes I get there but maybe just for a few moments a day! But, like the other quote mentions, there is always hope. I look forward to reading this book even more because of your book club here Linda! Thanks for doing this!
ReplyDeleteDear Lynn, finding my total identity in Christ is my deepest desire, too. I've learned along the way that nothing and nobody can satisfy the deepest part of who I am. For sure, there's a God shaped void in each of our souls ... and not one single thing can fill that space with peace, joy, and satisfaction.
DeleteI'm so glad the conversations here encourage you to read Joy's story, too ...
It is a story of redemption of sin and consequences of sin. I was awakened to my harsh feelings toward Joy when I did not like Toiken's harshness toward her. We both are being judgmental based upon our affection for Jack. It was not easy seeing her cloud his witness with her presence and pursuit. It has caused plenty of conversation and thought about sin and its consequences. AND YET-THANKFULLY-God loves ALL of us sinners!
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Linda!
Fascinating, yes, Lulu, very often our own harsh emotions and responses toward another's situation usually reflect something quite akin in our own souls that hasn't been tended to.
DeleteVery perceptive ...
I put the book down for a few weeks, but finished it this weekend. The paragraph I return to in my mind is on page 533 - (large print) "All had been turned around. No longer was the question Why doesn't Jack love me the way I want him to? But now Why must I demand that he love me the way I want him to?"
ReplyDeleteThere are so many different ways to show love - but when I focus on the way I expect to be loved, I'm not accepting the other person's love the way it is intended. If I want romance and words, but the person shows his love by doing, it doesn't mean his love is any less real, it is just shown differently. Joy's question made me realize how many times I haven't seen the love a person shows me because it isn't done the way I think it should be done. This is especially true with grown children, friends, etc.
Thanks for popping in again, Marilyn.
DeleteYes, that's a pretty powerful quote, isn't it ... kind of reflective of where most of us find ourselves at some point, expecting and demanding that others give us the kind of love we're most yearning for.
I love the 5 Love Languages book because it helps us see what you're talking about ... the ways we speak and receive love. Unfortunately, people often want to give love in the way that works for THEM and don't take the time to discover what speaks love to the OTHER person. You're right, it's often very different ... and we're left to settle, to try to understand, to negate or apologize for our very real needs.
A conundrum, yes ...