I believe it was Douglas Greshem, Lewis' stepson who wrote in the preface to "A Grief Observed" that this biography by George Sayer was the best that he knew of. Being an accomplished literary man surrounded by plenty of other accomplished literary friends, it seems chances were high that we'd get an insightful, readable and thoroughly-researched set of reminiscences and biography from somebody. As a former student, but even more importantly, as a longtime friend of C.S. Lewis Sayer does a wonderful job applying his own personal connection with the man to the breadth of family papers, correspondence and other writing pertaining to Lewis. As someone who continues to love rereading Lewis' autobiography "Surprised by Joy" I particularly appreciated the way Sayer felt comfortable commenting on or even correcting pictures that Lewis himself paints in his own telling of his story. Sayer's biography is clearly a work of love and honesty.

Also, as a memoir written by a literary friend, Sayer gives excellent attention to Lewis' literary output. Not only does Sayer share the genesis and chronology of the popular Christian books that Lewis is most well-known for, but also his significant contributions to the academic fields of medievalism and literary criticism. For myself, Sayer's descriptions open up an entirely new side of Lewis' work that I am interested to explore.