Lewis exhibits doubt and asks many fundamental questions of faith throughout the work. Each is headed with a Roman numeral and has a collection of excerpts from his journals documenting scattered impressions and his continuously-evolving state of mind. In fact, Lewis ultimately comes to a revolutionary redefinition of his own characterization of God: experiencing gratitude for having received and experienced the gift of a true love. The period of his bereavement was marked by a process of moving in and out of various stages of grief and remembrance, and it becomes obvious that it heavily influenced his spirituality. Based on a personal journal that he kept, Lewis refers to his wife as 'H' throughout the series of reflections, and he reveals that she had died from cancer only three years after their marriage.Įxtremely candid, the book details the anger and bewilderment that he felt towards God after H's death as well as his impressions of life without her.

The book questions the nature of grief and whether or not returning to normality afterward is even possible within the realm of human existence on earth. The book helped inspire a 1985 television movie, Shadowlands, as well as a 1993 film of the same name.Ī Grief Observed explores the processes undergone by the human brain and mind over the course of grieving. Lewis' stepson (Joy's son) Douglas Gresham pointed out in his 1994 introduction that the indefinite article 'a' in the title makes it clear that Lewis' grief is not the quintessential experience of the loss of a loved one but just one individual's perspective among countless others. He illustrates the everyday trials of life without Joy and explores fundamental questions of faith and theodicy.

The book is compiled from the four notebooks used by Lewis to vent and explore his grief. Though republished in 1963 under his own name after his death, the text still refers to his wife as “H” (her seldom used first name was Helen). Clerk because Lewis wished to avoid the connection. The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Lewis's reflections on his experience of bereavement following the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, in 1960.

His only wife book summary