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Till We Have Faces

C.S. Lewis

4.15 · Rating details · 57,890 ratings · 4,495 reviews

In this timeless tale of two mortal princesses- one beautiful and one unattractive- C.S. Lewis reworks the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche into an enduring piece of contemporary fiction. This is the story of Orual, Psyche's embittered and ugly older sister, who posessively and harmfully loves Psyche. Much to Orual's frustration, Psyche is loved by Cupid, the god of love ...more

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Paperback, 313 pages

Published August 6th 2006 by Harcourt Paperbacks (first published 1956)

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Jan 25, 2008 Chloe rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Chloe by: a booklist

Shelves: theology-and-world-religions, scifi-fantasy, favorites, philosophy, modern, english-lit, folklore-mythology-and-legends

Ironically, though Lewis considered this to be his best work, it is not very well known. Even among those who label themselves as Lewis fans, the work is not often read. Few people even know that it exists. Among the few, I would guess that there are a significant number feigning ignorance so as not to delve into the pages. Perhaps it is because the book is so often seen as a philosophical/theological work, something scholarly and dense and difficult to read. The somewhat colorless covers that t Ironically, though Lewis considered this to be his best work, it is not very well known. Even among those who label themselves as Lewis fans, the work is not often read. Few people even know that it exists. Among the few, I would guess that there are a significant number feigning ignorance so as not to delve into the pages. Perhaps it is because the book is so often seen as a philosophical/theological work, something scholarly and dense and difficult to read. The somewhat colorless covers that the tale is often subjected to do not help matters. However, the majority of those who actually give this book a chance are more than pleased by the outcome.

First of all, let me remind readers that Lewis wanted his stories to be, first and foremost, stories. Whatever you may think of his personal beliefs should not affect the reading of the tale, as it was written to BE a tale. Lewis did not set about to write a story based off of a principle. Rather, he set out to write a story, and the principles of the author cannot be separated from the work as the work is a part of the author’s mind. That is why ideas are dubbed “brain children”.

Lewis’s story itself is a masterpiece of imagination, scholarly knowledge, plot and great insight into the human character. It is the tale of Psyche and Cupid. However, rather than star the beautiful heroine of the myth, the main character is Psyche’s older sister, Orual, a strong woman cursed with a hideous face. The story covers her love of Psyche, as well as her overall desire for love and her anger with the gods. This tale is set in a world of myth so well realized that it never once feels artificial. Many myth-inspired works feel unreal, as if the myth was painted on and the author only knew a little of his own world. Such is not the case in Till We Have Faces. It is believable from start to finish. This is strengthened by the tangibility of the characters themselves. No one is painted black or white. All are real human beings with feelings, hopes and reasons for their actions.

Some criticism has been placed on this book concerning its depth. True, this is not light reading. This is not Eragon, after all. The story does have philosophical elements, as well as theological ones. The tale is one of contrasts –between classical and cultic paganism; between beauty and ugliness; between trust and jealousy. Also, the emotional current of the story is certainly passionate and the tone is dark. However, I do not see why any of these traits should prevent a reading. I read this book for the first time when I was twelve. The language may not be incredibly easy, but neither is it too dense nor too difficult to understand.
...more

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Jul 22, 2007 Sørina rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone!

Shelves: inklings, sff

List of beauties:

- The epigraph: “Love is too young to know what conscience is.” The first line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 151; Lewis makes the quotation speak of Orual’s sub-moral love, Psyche’s super-moral love, and the god’s supra-mortal love.
- Dedication: “To Joy Davidman.” TWHF was published in 1956, when Lewis was married to Joy. He says somewhere that she was so involved in his mental processes during the creation of this book “as to be almost a co-author.”
- The first sentence: “I am old no List of beauties:

- The epigraph: “Love is too young to know what conscience is.” The first line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 151; Lewis makes the quotation speak of Orual’s sub-moral love, Psyche’s super-moral love, and the god’s supra-mortal love.
- Dedication: “To Joy Davidman.” TWHF was published in 1956, when Lewis was married to Joy. He says somewhere that she was so involved in his mental processes during the creation of this book “as to be almost a co-author.”
- The first sentence: “I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods.” It sets the tone for the entire first section of the novel; it paints a vague historical and geographical context by the mere word “gods”; it encapsulates the character’s past and present, age and attitude, faith and heresy.
- The psychological honesty about the human sense of injustice by the gods. Who has not been tempted to say to God, “It’s not fair”?
- The fairy-tale feeling (The Stepmother, a nurse, a tutor, a dark god in a darker house, an agricultural society) infused with emotional realism, peopled by complex, timeless, modern characters.
- The Fox. Wise, stoic, affectionate, stolid, tender, clever, witty, loveable, loving, a seeker of knowledge, a story-teller, a muddled mixture of the practical and the fantastical.
- The intuitive, experiential understanding of the truth that The Law Kills. The smell of “the horror of holiness” hanging around the Priest of Ungit, human sacrifice, temple prostitution, ritual superstition, the essence of a pre-Christian religion.
- Psyche herself. True beauty. As a newborn, “she made bright all the corner of the room in which she lay. Always laughing, making all others laugh, merry, truthful, obedient, virtuous, spirited, compassionate, selfless. In her was the Form of the Beautiful, “what every woman… ought to have been and meant to be.” The Fox calls her Helen (one of Lewis’s great symbols, and Joy Davidman’s other name).
- The subtlety of the horrors that shattered Orual’s youthful happiness. No obvious catastrophes; then, finally, the worst blow paganism can give: sacrifice the most pure, the most beautiful, to The Brute.
- The unanswerable nature of pre-Christian language, that apes our own diction so closely, yet with such twistings. In holy language, loving and devouring are the same; the Bride is the Brute’s Supper; in a mystery, Ungit and her son are one. Parodies of the Trinity, of the Eucharist, of a believer’s death and resurrection in baptism.
- The psychological perfection of the scene in Psyche’s prison-room on the night before the sacrifice. Orual accuses Psyche of a heart of iron—because it is strong and unbendable in torment. Orual has lost her, and grudges her this joy.
- This Joy. “When I was happiest I longed most,” says Istra, for death. For whatever was beyond the Grey Mountain. It was so intense “it almost hurt me.” “The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing—to reach the Mountain—“ or the island, or the blue flower, or the Great Beyond. “The longing for home.”
- Then, the perfection of the moment when each realizes the other’s ignorance of an entire world. When Psyche realizes Orual cannot see her palace; when Orual realizes Psyche sees it right there in the fields and forest. And then the rain, the terrible rain that falls on Psyche and she feels it not, and Orual tries to cover and comfort her and cannot. They are divided by the gods.
- The gods. The West-Wind, a young, rough god. The god who comes to Psyche in the night, who looks upon Orual with “passionless and measureless rejection.”

And the ending is the most Sublime piece of writing I have encountered: “I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?” That is a perfect summary of Christian theology; all you need to know to be saved, yet couched in mythology. ...more

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Feb 18, 2017 Cindy Rollins rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 20for2020reads, audiobooks, 2017, reread, 2020, 2017-audio

2020 Update: Just undone. I read this for the first time when I was 18, I think. In many ways, in the last 40 years I have lived it. Tonight I miss my Psyche, Emily.

I have read this book over and over again. Perhaps it is the book I have reread more than any other.
I used to read it because I didn't get it and felt I should. Now I love it.
Listening, this time, to Nadia May, I really did become Orual, so full of self-deception, or perhaps I should
say that I recognized myself in her more clearly ...more

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Aug 26, 2007 Jeremy rated it really liked it

Shelves: classic-literature

One of the lesser known of Lewis' fiction works, this is a masterful retelling of the mythological story of Cupid and Psyche that paints a vivid picture of how selfish humanly love is, and to what extent we will go to protect it. The narrative serves to humble the reader as the heroine of the novel transforms from the pitiable victim to the chief antagonist, and at the same time we realize that we are her, always pondering on the wrongs done to us and the shortcomings we experience. It's an exce ...more

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Mar 03, 2017 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2017-shelf

This seems to be the right time of year to pick out a ton of books all focused on retelling old Greek myths!

Perennial favorite C. S. Lewis went out of his way to retell the story of Psyche and Cupid from the PoV of Orual, the ugly sister, and it's a very well-told tale. He admits he uses the original as a template and goes on to make a much more psychological and grounded tale than the original, and he pulls it off delightfully, full of Orual's obsessive angst, her striving to be better, her com ...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Douglas Wilson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

Stupendous. World class. Top drawer.

Finished an audio version of it in August of 2016. I have read this a total of three times. Once when I was young, and I didn't like it. The second time was in 2003, and I thought it was great. This time, and greater still. ...more

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Apr 01, 2011 K.D. Absolutely rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: Tina Matanguihan

Shelves: mythology, retelling

Psychologists have long known that every person has two great longings and inward needs. The first is to be loved, and the second is to love. But when pressures and heartaches come into our lives, many give up any hope of ever finding love.

For me, the above statements summarize the message that C. S. Lewis wanted to impart in his most mature and his-favorite-among-all-of-his-works novel, Till We Have Faces. Ugly Orual loves her beautiful youngest sister Psyche that she acts as her mother and a p Psychologists have long known that every person has two great longings and inward needs. The first is to be loved, and the second is to love. But when pressures and heartaches come into our lives, many give up any hope of ever finding love.

For me, the above statements summarize the message that C. S. Lewis wanted to impart in his most mature and his-favorite-among-all-of-his-works novel, Till We Have Faces. Ugly Orual loves her beautiful youngest sister Psyche that she acts as her mother and a protector. Famine comes into their kingdom and the priest says that to appease the goddess Ungit (Aphrodite), Psyche should be sacrificed to the goddess’ son Brute (Cupid). However, the son falls in love with Psyche. Orual goes to the mountain to bury Psyche’s bone but she finds that Psyche is alive and Psyche shows Orual her invisible (to Orual’s eyes) house. Orual believes that Psyche has married a serpent so she asks Psyche to see the face of the Brute while he is sleeping. This despises the Brute so he sends Psyche to exile. Missing her sister, Orual transforms into a warrior and becomes more of a man than a woman and she eventually becomes the Queen of Glome, their kingdom.

This is a story of contrasts: beauty and ugly, loyalty and deception, loving and hating. This is a story of transformation, realization and redemption. On the surface, this is a story of jealousy among two siblings. However, when the ugly Orual is about to expire in the end, she realizes that the true reason behind her deception and that she indeed still loves her sister – the beautiful Psyche. Orual did not feel that she was loved by her father because of her ugliness but she was able to love Psyche from the time she was born. Orual acted as Psyche's protector because she loved her sister until Psyche was sent to the mountain to appease Aphrodite’s wrath. Orual transformed to become a warrior and eventually a queen whose face was covered to hide her true feelings. She gave up on love. Some say that, unlike the other more popular works of C. S. Lewis, this book does not have any Christian theme but for me, the veil covering Orual’s face signifies sin: jealousy, pride and deception. The Bible says that until we first recognize ourselves as sinners, we will not be able to accept Jesus as our personal savior. The realization that Orual experienced in the end was not too late for her to know that she did what she did because of her love for Psyche. Before she died, she got love back.

My friend is right. The better part of this book is at the last few pages. The dream-like sequence of Orual being with the dead is like standing before God at the day of one’s death. It is full of philosophical thoughts and beautiful Christian metaphors that have been the trademarks of C. S. Lewis's works. I had earlier read 4 of his other books (first three books of Narnia and A Grief Observed) and for me this is the best. I am not a big fan of fantasy books and for most of the middle parts, this book bored me. However, when I came to the last part, my mind was just blown away and it left me teary-eyed this morning.

One of the best books I have read this year. It gave me a strong feeling that this might really be the best work of C. S. Lewis.

Tina - thanks for recommending this book to me. Your taste on books is really impeccable!
Atty. Monique - thanks for lending me this book. You who have the most generous heart!
...more

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Feb 23, 2008 Emily rated it it was amazing

A must-read for any Lewis fan. He began the book as an unbeliever (a case against God) and finished it some 30 years later fully converted. Almost autobiographical, you get a real sense of his own spiritual awakening. It is claimed to be his personal favorite. The name comes from the scripture: "Now we see through a glass, darkly: but then face to face..shall I know even as also I am known."

Better than anything I've read, it describes the process of developing faith and finding and becoming li ...more

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Feb 04, 2019 Lori rated it liked it · review of another edition

”You are indeed teaching me about kinds of love I did not know. It is like looking into a deep pit. I am not sure whether I like your kind better than hatred. Oh, Orual—to take my love for you, because you know it goes down to my very roots an cannot be diminished by any other newer love, and then to make of it a tool, a weapon, a thing of policy and mastery, an instrument of torture—I begin to think I never knew you. Whatever comes after, something that was between us dies here.”

Apuleius’ ...more

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Oct 24, 2017 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Rachel by: Steph

Shelves: 2017, favorites, sing-o-muse, own, i-d-have-cried-but-i-m-heartless, classics, retellings

“When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last 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 the 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?”

This book is something rare and ex

“When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last 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 the 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?”

This book is something rare and extraordinary. Though ostensibly a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche (I'd recommend reading Lewis's afterward before you begin if you're not already familiar with the story, as he provides a succinct summary), it's told from the point of view of one of Psyche's sisters, Orual, a princess cursed with an ugly face. I think if I'd been informed before starting this book that so much of the focus would be on Orual rather than Psyche, I would have been disappointed - and that disappointment would have been very misguided indeed, because Orual captured my heart. This strong, flawed, broken young woman is honestly one of the most complex and haunting female protagonists I've come across.

I hadn't read any C.S. Lewis except for the first three (I think) books in the Chronicles of Narnia series when I was younger, and, as evidenced by the fact that I only read the first three (I think), I was not a huge fan. Honestly, he was an author I never had much interest in, but after reading Till We Have Faces, I am distraught that more of his fiction doesn't appeal to me (I'm not a big science fiction fan). I love his writing - the passage I quoted above is only one of many that I had to pause and reread because I found his prose so striking.

It's hard to summarize this book, or even fully wrap my head around it, as it's one of the more thematically complex things I think I've ever read. It's a book that almost demands to be read more than once. That's not to say that it's dense to the point of incomprehensibility - I read it in two days, and doing so was an absolute joy. But Lewis provides a thoughtful meditation on beauty and ugliness (with a startling commentary on how a woman's worth is wrongly determined by her appearance), as well as the symbiotic nature of love and hatred, before delving into even deeper philosophical and theological themes, examining the very nature of man's relationship with God (or, in the case of mythology, the gods). It's heavy stuff, but in a rewarding way. This book will stay with me. (Also, on a personal note, I'm not religious. I can't comment on whether having a vested interest in Christianity is essential for reading any of C.S. Lewis's other works, but I found that, despite the religious themes, this was really not the case here. I'd recommend this to absolutely everyone.)

Till We Have Faces achieves everything I like to see in a retelling - it fleshes out the stories of minor characters who only play bit parts in the original, it interrogates and expands on the original themes, and it captures the wondrous atmosphere that makes mythology so compelling. I'm in awe of this book. ...more

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Jul 13, 2019 Werner rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Readers who like thought-provoking, serious fiction

Recommended to Werner by: It was a common read in one of my groups

Shelves: fantasy, action-heroines

Although I count C. S. Lewis as a favorite author, and had nominally had this re-telling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche (based on the version recounted by the 2nd-century A.D. Latin author Apuleius in his Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass; Lewis summarizes that version here in an author's note at the end) on my to-read list for some time, I'd probably never have read it if it hadn't been a common read in my Fans of British Writers group here on Goodreads. Greek mythology isn't a big intere Although I count C. S. Lewis as a favorite author, and had nominally had this re-telling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche (based on the version recounted by the 2nd-century A.D. Latin author Apuleius in his Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass; Lewis summarizes that version here in an author's note at the end) on my to-read list for some time, I'd probably never have read it if it hadn't been a common read in my Fans of British Writers group here on Goodreads. Greek mythology isn't a big interest of mine; I wasn't familiar with the legend or with Apuleius' work, and expected something sort of like a bowdlerized kid's version of the Odyssey that I read as a child. I'd have missed out on a great read that was nothing like that expectation.

Lewis re-invents the story through the eyes of Psyche's older sister Orual, who's our protagonist and narrator, a shift of perspective that's crucial to the story as he tells it. He also changes a central detail, in the interests of greater psychological realism, and this changes the whole coloration of the tale. I've classified it as fantasy, because some crucial scenes take place in dream or vision sequences in the realm of the divine, outside this world as we know it; but the great bulk of this story reads like realistic historical fiction, written with great psychological and spiritual perception. The sisters are princesses in the "barbarian" (the ancient Greeks' word for anybody who isn't Greek) kingdom of Glome. But while Glome and its neighboring lands are fictional, they fit into a well-realized milieu of the areas around the Black or Caspian Seas in the 4th century B.C., and Orual refers in places to the "Greeklands" and their real-world writings and events (including the death of Socrates in 399 B.C., which helps to date the events). Glome has a culture and religion that's generic Iron-Age southwest Asian/Eastern Mediterranean (Ungit, Aphrodite, Diana, etc. are all variations of the cult of the Great Mother), and the characterizations are life-like and vivid.

Against this realistic background, Lewis unfolds a mostly very realistic story of a dysfunctional royal family, a conflict between traditional paganism and the rising rationalism of some of the Greek philosophers (represented in Glome by major character Lysias. nicknamed Fox, the enslaved Greek intellectual who becomes the princesses' tutor), and occasional eruptions into mundane life of a mostly unseen spiritual realm. He explores several serious themes here: the necessity for true self-knowledge of our real feelings and motivations, symbolized by the high-quality mirror in the royal palace (there's a lot of significant symbolism used in this novel, to enrich the telling!); the difference between healthy love that wants the best for another and possessive desire to own and dominate its object for self-gratification, masquerading to both parties as "love," a concept Lewis would explore four years later in The Four Loves; the conflict between Reason and intuition/imagination; and the fundamental conflict between faith and unbelief. Lewis also does an excellent job of making Orual, Fox and other characters nuanced, with both faults and good points.

Till We have Faces is set in pre-Christian times, and the religious thought of its characters is pre-Christian. But Lewis would say that God was always there, even before Christ was born, governing the universe and seeking a relationship with human beings, and the same central spiritual truths that are true now were true then too. Humans then, especially apart from Jewish influence, without the special revelation we have today in the Bible and especially in the New Testament, didn't understand those truths as clearly as those who have the full light of Christian revelation; but like some of the ancient and medieval/early modern Christian thinkers, Lewis understood the pre-Christian pagan religions as pre-figurations of Divine truth, imperfect and partial articulations of spiritual realities that serve as shadowy reflections of and pointers towards the real thing --as Plato might have said (and Lewis was a Neo-Platonist in philosophy) earthly images of the heavenly Ideal. An online article by Michael Ward (the author of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis), here: http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/art... , helpfully expands on this idea. That's a concept essential to fully understanding Lewis' purpose and message here.

I've included this book on my "action heroines" shelf --a surprise to me, because I didn't expect such as element here! Indeed, it's not an action heroine read to the extent that, say, a Modesty Blaise novel would be. We only have one real, directly described action scene, and a passing reference to another. But the motif is there. Orual trains in sword fighting with the captain of the palace guard (long story!), proves to be naturally talented for it, and subsequently puts her training to good use. In that respect and others, I'd say that, while one of my few overall criticisms of Lewis is that his thought isn't quite as feminist as I'd like, this is probably one of his most feminist works.

All in all, I'd say this mature work might well be Lewis' masterpiece, and I'm really glad to have read it. (Thanks for nominating it for the group read, Oksana!) ...more

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Apr 20, 2008 Dave rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Christians or skeptics, especially those who think the world should be totally knowable.

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 ...more

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Jan 20, 2018 Dean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

C. S. Lewis as a true storyteller will grip you tightly and don't let you go, until the last page has been eagerly and feverish devoured...
"Till we have faces" is a (fantasy) novel grounded on an very old myth, told by Lucius Apuleius ca 125 A D under the title "Metamorphoses".
I mean that it was also the last novel written by Lewis, and he had much support and encouragement by Joy Davidman, his wife, so it could be achieved and published...

It's the story of Psyche and Orual, daughters of Trom ki ...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Mary Victoria rated it it was amazing

I had a rather ambivalent relationship with author C.S. Lewis prior to reading this book. On the one hand, I loved the breadth and energy of his imagination, respected his scholarship and appreciated the way he was able to entertain children – he did have the knack for writing a page-turner. On the other I balked at the far-too-blatant theological overtones in his stories, the rampant racism and abhorrence of women – to wit, the attitudes of a 1950’s Oxbridge scholar firmly entrenched in his era I had a rather ambivalent relationship with author C.S. Lewis prior to reading this book. On the one hand, I loved the breadth and energy of his imagination, respected his scholarship and appreciated the way he was able to entertain children – he did have the knack for writing a page-turner. On the other I balked at the far-too-blatant theological overtones in his stories, the rampant racism and abhorrence of women – to wit, the attitudes of a 1950’s Oxbridge scholar firmly entrenched in his era. It was frustrating to me all the more because I loved him, or almost loved him. I could not deny he had a splendid, soaring mind. He just tended to load down his own wings with the most abominably heavy clutter. It made him a fine writer of Christian apologetics, apparently (I have not read that aspect of his work,) but unfortunately also turned him into a flawed storyteller. Storytellers should not try to be preachers of any stripe: it kills the tale. But that is another subject for discussion, which I won’t go into here. Suffice to say that I generally came away disappointed from Lewis’ fiction.

I had read the Narnia series, of course, as well as some of his adult science fiction titles (‘That Hideous Strength’) before picking up ‘Till We Have Faces.’ I approached the book with reservations, expecting to encounter the problems mentioned above. Almost immediately however I realised this book was in a different league. Yes, there are times when the man Lewis transparently pontificates through the lips of his female protagonist. Yes, the attitudes towards women are still a little skewed, still a little ‘off.’ But something else shines through. Here Lewis has successfully tapped into the universality of myth; he has gone a step further and discarded (some of) his dogmas in favour of a more mystical line of storytelling. I was immediately caught up and carried away by this fable retold, ostensibly a historical narrative in the confessional mode, with unabashedly spiritual overtones.

The book revisits the Cupid and Psyche myth from the point of view of one of Psyche’s sisters, Maia or Orual, who feels the gods have treated her unfairly and wishes to set the record straight. She gives us the story from her point of view, starting with her childhood and the birth of baby Psyche, all the way through to the well-known tale of how her beloved sister became the bride of a mysterious man who refused to show his face. Lewis does a wonderful job of bringing the ancient kingdom of Glome to life, with all its political intrigues, religious rites and rituals, layerings of history, myth and magic. He has also in Orual created a truly appealing character – his only female character I have ever fully identified with. One can’t help but sympathize with her complaint against the gods. I will not spoil the central point of the grievance – how exactly Orual feels she was cheated – suffice to say that she is magnificent, and flawed, and all things a good hero should be.

I am thrilled to find C.S. Lewis in this instance to be every bit the storyteller I hoped for! ...more

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Nov 02, 2007 Kristina rated it it was amazing

Strangely wonderful. Totally absorbing. Quite possibly my favorite C.S. Lewis novel ever.

Some quotes that made me pause:

"The gods never send us this invitation to delight so readily or so strongly as when they are preparing some new agony. We are their bubbles; they blow us big before they prick us." pg.97

"Don't you think a dream would feel shy if it were seen walking about in the waking world?" pg. 114

"Yet it surprised me that he should have said it; for I did not yet know that if you are ugly ...more

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Feb 23, 2008 Sally Linford rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Truth seekers

Recommended to Sally by: Emily Funk

One of the finest pieces I have ever read.

Emily sent me this funny note:
"Your silence is deafening. You didn't like the book? Were you afraid you would hurt my feelings. You might not have enjoyed it as much as I did because you are like Psyche and I like the other one...can't remember her name."

10/08/2008 01:16AM My reply to Emily:

Haha! NOT!

I haven't commented yet, because I haven't had time to do justice to this masterpiece. I have to say, when it ended, I stared at the wall for a while say ...more

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Feb 18, 2016 Brian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"Till We Have Faces" is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche with an allegorical twist. Really the myth just serves as a springboard for this excellent novel about love and faith and the life that one leads in between the extremes of both. This is a novel that needs to be read more than once, especially Part II of the text, in order to fully internalize what C.S. Lewis is doing in this piece.
The novel is told from the perspective of Orual the older disfigured sister of Psyche. Through her "Till We Have Faces" is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche with an allegorical twist. Really the myth just serves as a springboard for this excellent novel about love and faith and the life that one leads in between the extremes of both. This is a novel that needs to be read more than once, especially Part II of the text, in order to fully internalize what C.S. Lewis is doing in this piece.
The novel is told from the perspective of Orual the older disfigured sister of Psyche. Through her relationship with her sister and other characters Lewis takes us on an exploration of faith and love and the healing and dangerous aspects of both of these powerful elements. The characterization of Orual and one of her soldiers Bardia (Orual becomes a powerful queen) and one of Orual's closest advisors and friends, known as the Fox, are some of the novel's highlights. Lewis' ability to characterize got better as he wrote, and this late novel of his shows him at the peak of his skills in that area.
An unexpected highlight of the book is a scene where Orual explains how drunkenness allows her to ennoble her sorrows. You nod your head in agreement at this apt description of how being drunk can make one feel about their troubles. It is one of the best descriptions of this state as I have read in literature.
"Till We Have Faces" is divided into two parts and although the story is mythical it has much Christian significance, though less obvious (especially in Part I) than Lewis's other novels. There is a wonderful scene on pages 141-142 that mirrors what one must do in order to have some sort of belief system. It is subtle and well done. In Part II the text becomes more obvious as a Christian allegory but it works well in the context of the story Lewis has created and you could still read the text as a non-allegory and enjoy it.
Although there are a couple of moments where the text seems to meander I liked this book quite a bit and I did not think I would when I picked it up. However, it quickly draws you in. Despite the fact that I am not sure that I agree with what C.S. Lewis is saying about our relationship to God (and that is not the point anyway) this is a thought provoking and well done novel. ...more

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Aug 09, 2019 Anna Maria rated it really liked it

In the beginning I was not quite in the book and I was not enjoying it as much as I thought I would, but the more I continued reading the more I was captured by this masterpiece. It is surely a good book, many parts within its pages are worthy of discussion, it illustrates the process of developing faith and finding God. I am looking forward to reading more of Lewis’ adult books, as since I was a child my favourite books where the Narnia Chronicles and especially "The lion, the witch and the war ...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Richard Derus rated it it was amazing

I read "The Chronicles of Narnia" when a child, which I believe was a statutory requirement for American children born between 1958 and 1970. I went on to read Lewis's Martian books, eg "Perelandra", and suddenly *smack* the Jesus factor hit me and I lost my taste for Lewis. No chance of that here, since this is a retelling of the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche.

Aphrodite, for reasons of her own, gets wildly jealous of a mortal beauty, and demands of her local enforcer/priest that he sacrific ...more

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Jan 04, 2019 ladydusk rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books

I listened to this and for a long time I wondered why. Then, today, I listened to the last two chapters of Part One and all of Part Two because I had to know.

Oh, before today, there were thoughts and ideas that I contemplated: ideas about friendship, honor, beauty, love, duty. But Lewis opens the reader's eyes so much more fully in Part Two that the veil, as it were, is pulled away. And when it is, it is both glorious and agonizing ... relief and conviction. "Dreadful and Beautiful. The only dre ...more

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Aug 13, 2017 E.B. Dawson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: thought-provoking, all-time-faves, best-of-fantasy

I had heard so much about this book that I came in with high expectations. I was not prepared for the first five chapters. The story was so different from what I expected and I was a little bit underwhelmed. But then I started noticing the sentences. A friend asked me how I was liking it and I told her, "It's made up of amazing sentences." Although I wasn't attached to the characters or the plot, I loved how C.S. Lewis was weaving in these thought-provoking questions. But then the characters beg ...more

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Aug 14, 2018 Tara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cs-lewis, classics, lore-and-mythology, audible-owned

It took me a while to get into this story, but once you get deep into it, it becomes beautiful and tragic. While the concept of love is generally considered to be a positive emotion, this re-telling of a mythological tale shows the darker, more damaging side of what passionate love can lead a person to do. It also cleverly demonstrates how one's own selfish perspective and rationalization of bad behavior can blind us to the truth of our motives and our actions. It is definitely a thought-provoki ...more

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Mar 15, 2014 Sherry Elmer rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: fans of mythology; fans of C.S. Lewis

Shelves: classics, c-s-lewis, 2017, fiction, thinking-authors, worth-reading-again, 2020

This is the third time for me to read this book, and I only started it again because the Ambleside online moms were reading it. Although I loved the book, I did not feel a reread was important at this time. But, since my lovely friends were reading, why not?
On this third reading I was stopped after just the first paragraph: “I am old now and have not much to fear from the gods. I have no husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me.”
This hurt to read. It was only the day This is the third time for me to read this book, and I only started it again because the Ambleside online moms were reading it. Although I loved the book, I did not feel a reread was important at this time. But, since my lovely friends were reading, why not?
On this third reading I was stopped after just the first paragraph: “I am old now and have not much to fear from the gods. I have no husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me.”
This hurt to read. It was only the day before that I had thought almost the same thing, although not so eloquently. I had the thought that it is time for a new dream, and immediately I had the follow-up thought, “Having a dream is a fast way to be sure it won’t come true.” The thought shamed me, because the thought was a (wrong) judgement of God. He has proved Himself so many times, and yet… Do I still sometimes find myself thinking, as Lewis said in another book, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” I could see that I was.
And that is what I find this book excelling at—inciting me to examine myself, to check my motives, to probe the inner recesses of my heart. I can think of no other novel that affects me more powerfully in this way.
Which means that although I love this book, reading it isn’t necessarily a pleasant experience. But it is a good and needful one, and for that I am thankful. I am thankful, too, for the readers at Ambleside online for inspiring me to read this again at such a time as this.

February 21, 2020

I once heard someone ask, What if you spent your whole life climbing to the top of the proverbial ladder only to discover that the ladder had been leaning against the wrong building all along. I can imagine how devastating this would be. Buy how much worse to discover at the end of your life that the person you thought you were was an illusion, and you are actually the last thing you ever wanted to be.

This is one of the questions C.S. Lewis raises in this profound book. Till We Have Faces begins as a retelling of the ancient Cupid and Psyche story, but by the end, it grabs you by the throat and forces you to look into the mirror, much the way Orual's father once did to her. Maybe that look will not be too painful. Or, maybe, like Orual, you will say, “'I am Ungit.' Without question it was true. It was I who was Ungit. That ruinous face was mine. I was that Batta-thing, that all-devouring womblike, yet barren, thing. Glome was a web—I was the swollen spider, squat at its center, gorged with men's stolen lives.” ...more

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Jul 03, 2016 Hana rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, 2016-reads

Jealousy, insecurity and abuse are the toxic and combustible fuels that fire this story of a tribal royal family. Great storytelling with memorable characters who even in their failures engage the reader. I kept turning the pages compulsively until the final fifty pages [more later].

Till We Have Faces also intersected rather neatly and serendipitously with my current non-fiction read The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. My 19 Jealousy, insecurity and abuse are the toxic and combustible fuels that fire this story of a tribal royal family. Great storytelling with memorable characters who even in their failures engage the reader. I kept turning the pages compulsively until the final fifty pages [more later].

Till We Have Faces also intersected rather neatly and serendipitously with my current non-fiction read The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. My 1956 edition of Lewis' novel has vaguely Egyptian and Mesopotamian illustrations but Lewis' fantasy kingdom of Glome has more in common with the Bronze Age cultures around the Black Sea that David W. Anthony studies.

Glome is a world under constant threat and now facing the inexorable reality of change. Marginal farm-based economies; constantly shifting tribal rivalries; threats from other cultures (mostly the Greeks as embodied by a marvelous character, The Fox, tutor and counselor extraordinaire); an old female-centered religion decaying at the head but still moving the populace; an equally old male-centered military culture looking towards blood-letting as the route to wealth and domination. Glome is also a land in which human sacrifice, the sacrifice not of willing warriors but of the innocent, is ennobled. Onto this scene come three royal sisters of Glome: one so ugly that her only hope seems to be to veil herself, one born so beautiful that those who see her declare her a goddess, and one whose desires and devices might bring her sisters and the kingdom to an end.

Alas, the last fifty pages....

You know how it is when you are almost on the edge of waking up? And you are in the middle of dream that's mostly boring and doesn't make much sense? And part of your brain is saying this is a dumb dream! Yup! Part II is just like that.

Part II is the sort of thing PC editors of the author's time insisted that the writer add. It's the sort of thing writer feel they have to add because...they want to prove they are smart, with it, whatever. My recommendation wake yourself up before Part II, forget all the commentary about Psyche and Cupid, etc., and just enjoy the book as pure fantasy. ...more

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Nov 10, 2019 Eva-Joy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-books

So, two cavaets:

1) I didn't know the original myth for most of this book so I may have missed a bit of the inside references and stuff (if there are any?). But, knowing the myth now, I think Lewis did a BEAUTIFUL job retelling it.

2) The ending kinda confused me, maybe because I was reading it really fast before I had to go to church. Definitely a novel/ending that deserves to be read slowly so that one can catch all the nuances.

With all that being said...

THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE BOOK. It allllmost ...more

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Jun 29, 2016 Iryna *Book and Sword* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I really have to get it together and write a proper review for this, it's in my favorites list for crying out loud! But it's been a while since I have read it, and I might have to re-read it first.
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This book is magic. Mind you, not at all what I expected it to be, but still very captivating and powerful. ...more

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Oct 07, 2010 Nicky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: greek-roman, classics, based-on-myth-saga-etc

Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. I read it as such, and not as a theological text, though there's elements of that there if that's how you choose to approach it. I chose to approach it as a story, though, as a myth retelling -- and I suspect it's perfectly possible to do both at once.

It's a beautifully told story, and one that feels real, psychologically and in terms of feeling like a real place, with real people. The basic details of the original story are that ...more

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May 08, 2008 Heather rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

One of my favorite books of all times. It changed me.

I don't know exactly what to say about it that would be informative. It is Mr. Lewis' spin on the tale of Psyche and Cupid. However, it is so much more. It touches topics like paganism, jealousy, love, bias, etc.

But, more than anything, the part of this book that sticks with me continually is Orual's plea to the gods. The deep philosophical points of this scene (and the storyline of her journey to this point) are so profound.

This work, like C ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 Rachel rated it it was amazing

It's hard for me to explain what this book is even about. On its surface, it's about a king's ugly daughter, Orual, who is fiercely possessive and protective of her younger half-sister, Psyche, who is even more beautiful than Orual is ugly. They live in an ancient kingdom in the Middle East-ish sort of area, I guess? And their father is a tyrant, they have a sister who's a fool, and they have a Greek slave called The Fox for a tutor.

The Fox teaches them all sorts of fairly athiestic philosophy. ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Corrine Burmeister rated it it was amazing

I don’t even have words for how much I loved this book. Beautiful and profound - just gorgeous. Lewis is just plain a genius. And I love how much more profound his writing is for a Christian...I really need to read everything he’s ever written 😆

A couple of favorite quotes from the last few pages:

“Now I knew that she was a goddess indeed. Her hands burned me (a painless burning) when they met mine. The air that came from her clothes and limbs and hair was wild and sweet; youth seemed to come into ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
The Catholic Book...: 9. Along the way	8	11	2 hours, 48 min ago
The Catholic Book...: 1. The myth of Eros and Psyche	12	20	12 hours, 4 min ago
The Catholic Book...: 2. The typical meaning of the myth is human love	2	11	Mar 01, 2021 08:31AM
The Catholic Book...: 7. Allegory	1	10	Mar 01, 2021 04:19AM
The Catholic Book...: 6. The title	1	9	Mar 01, 2021 04:18AM
The Catholic Book...: 5. The ending of the book	1	6	Mar 01, 2021 04:17AM
The Catholic Book...: 4. Who is Ungit	1	8	Mar 01, 2021 04:16AM

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About C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge ...more

Books by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)

The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)

Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)

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Loyalty, Love, and Jealousy: Books on the Complexity of Friendships

Author Lydia Denworth is a science journalist who has written about everything from Alzheimer’s to zebrafish. In her latest book,...

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“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back.” — 698 likes

“I was with book, as a woman is with child.” — 467 likes

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