Books 2015: Till We Have Faces (CS Lewis)

The first book I finished this year was the first for my RS book club. We started out the year reading "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis.


This is retelling of the story of Psyche and Cupid. The basic idea (the original myth) is that the youngest daughter of a king was so beautiful that Venus grew jealous. She grew so jealous that she required the King to sacrifice this daughter to a horrible beast. Once the offering was left (Psyche), Venus sent her son to kill her, instead he fell in love with her. He didn't want Venus to find out so he built a secret palace and would visit her at night. He required that she never see him and that all the lights be out while he was in the palace. Eventually the sisters visit and see all the wonder that Psyche has and grow jealous and convinces Psyche that she must secretly use a lantern to see her husbands face after he has fallen asleep. As is to be expected, something goes wrong, Cupid leaves angry, Psyche is turned out and ruined. Eventually, Psyche is imprisoned by Venus herself and is given several "impossible" tasks. She eventually accomplishes these tasks, is reunited with Cupid, and turned into a goddess. 

This book is written from the perspective of the eldest of the three daughters. In this version she practically raises Psyche, they aren't Greek, and she never actually sees Cupid's palace. She assumes that her sister is deranged and she is overcome with a selfish desire to have Psyche all to her self. Psyche is again cast out, punished, and ultimately rewarded. Since this story is told as if she is trying to refute the original myth, to vindicate her behavior, it comes of as "oh, poor me, I'm the victim". I wasn't a huge fan of her attitude. She was a really unpleasant person, she would be really hard to love and want to spend time with. And at the end of it, she never seems to understand that it was totally natural for Psyche to grow-up and move on. Not everyone's sister grows up to marry a god, but the growing up part is normal. She just really bothered me. 

This is the first C.S. Lewis book I can remember ever reading and I have to say I wasn't a huge fan. Given how prolific he is, I'm willing to give another book or two of his a go, but this one was really hard to get into.

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