Till We Have Faces

There are some things that are better with age- with experience and maturity. It's why my parents wouldn't let me see some movies until I was older. It's why you don't do algebra until your freshman year of high school. And it's why you don't read some novels until you're older. It's not always a problem of mature content; in some cases, it's that you just don't have the capacity to understand the themes fully, for whatever reason.

I started to read C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces when I was in 5th or 6th grade. My dad told me it was his favorite book, so I put forth my very best effort... but I just couldn't get into it. So I abandoned it for more interesting books.

After seeing the Chronicles of Narnia recently, I was stunned at C.S. Lewis's brilliance in spiritual themes, and wanted to read more of his work. So, I picked up Till We Have Faces. And this time, I was hooked.

It's not that Till We Have Faces has a message that's told graphically, or intensely, or with frightening images. It's not that it's inappropriate for a young mind to be thinking of. It's just that when I read it in 5th or 6th grade, I didn't have the mental maturity to process what was going on in the book and apply it to my life. I didn't have the experiences which made this book relevant to me. I didn't have the same search for theological themes that I do now. There are many other books that I read this way: starting them when I was younger and tossing them aside, then loving them when I'm older. It's proof that we are constantly growing in our experiences and the depth of our thought process, and a milestone to look forward to as we grow. I've come to realize that our own personal experiences can help us to understand or can shape our understanding of a book, a song, a speech, a poem. But these experiences are different for everyone, which makes some of our "takeaways" different. That's why we read book reviews: because someone else who read the same book was touched in a different way, or their own experience brought to light a different aspect of the book.

All that to say, that's probably a digression from the book review, but certainly one I found important and interesting as I read this book.

So. Till We Have Faces. It's the re-telling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche, which I had never heard before. Two princesses, ugly Orual and beautiful Psyche, live in the kingdom of Glome under a tyrannical father-king. Near Greece, the princesses have a Greek slave for a tutor, called the Fox. Though the Fox scorns the idea of the gods, Glome is a devout kingdom that worships the god Ungit. In order to please Ungit, it is ordered that Psyche, the beautiful one, be sacrificed. This begins Orual's resentment against the gods, which continues to build destructively throughout Orual's life, chronicled in her diary as a testimony against the gods and their cruelty.

Orual is the central character, and everything is told narrowly through her eyes. She loves those around her fiercely and selfishly, she doesn't love herself, but hides her hideous face behind a veil. When she becomes Queen, she brings prosperity to the land, with the Fox and Bardia, a loyal captain of the guard, at her side. She lives a long life, always hating the gods. Everyone around her is fiercely loyal to her and loves her, and she uses this to her advantage, all the while excusing it as their love for her, unable to face the truth. She is convinced she's doing what is right for them.

It never ceases to amaze me how well C.S. Lewis understood humanity. He portrays Orual in a sympathetic light, and her justification of her actions towards others ring so true of humanity. I have absolutely dealt with a friend as Orual does with Psyche, giving them advice "for their own good", but really selfishly having my own reasons for doing it. Orual's character is defined by selfishness and self-pity for her ugliness, which is ultimately a metaphor for her inner self. What's particularly brilliant about C.S. Lewis's writing is how natural Orual's excuses seem, and later, how clear it is how selfish she is. Honestly, when I was younger and the only thing I had read by C.S. Lewis was Narnia, I thought he wasn't the best writer. Sure, he was a good storyteller, but he was very much a minimalist writer. It wasn't until I read Till We Have Facesthat I changed my mind. His writing style in this is beautiful, completely different from Narnia. In Narnia, he is telling a children's story in the simplest terms, but in this, he's constructing a complex psychological story, and he does it very well. Gone are the minimalist phrases, and in their places are beautiful, precise sentences. I know exactly what C.S. Lewis wanted to say with this book.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

I have to discuss the ending of the book because it's what makes the book brilliant. The majority of the book is Orual's tale of her life. But the final section of the book is a changed Orual writing of how her eyes have been opened. She realizes that she destroyed everyone she loved: her love for Psyche is more a hatred and jealousy of possession than a love; Bardia, the man she was in love with, was overworked, tired, only cranky with his wife, and the Fox never returned to his homeland, Greece, though he longed for it, out of deference to Orual's wishes. She is taken through a complex set of visions, and realizes, Who is she to question the gods, when she has so little knowledge of the bigger picture? How can we really speak face to face with the gods till we have faces?

What a beautiful reminder of how small we humans are, and how big we think we are. Orual puts the gods in a box; she criticizes them and whines about them, denounces their schemes as being only for the destruction of her happiness, when she is part of a plan so much bigger than she is. Understanding that our lives are not the center of God's plan, but rather a thread in the tapestry, gives us a peace and forces us to trust that God is using us in ways we may not imagine.

Even after all of this, I still feel like I'll read this in ten years and get even more out of it. But this reading taught me so much that right now I can hardly imagine what I'll discover next time. What a spectacular book. It only proved to me more the sheer genius that C.S.Lewis was.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Note: This is a movie review... but I thought it was relevant and important! You may be seeing a few more movie reviews on my blog later :)

I've been looking forward to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for months now, so of course, the instant school was out on opening Friday, my family all went to see it together. I went again with a good friend of mine the following weekend. I loved it. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the book I remember most of the series when my dad read them aloud to me, partly because of Eustace and how funny he was, partly because of how silly the Dufflepuds were, and partly because of how magical the book felt.

I loved the movie and it’s portrayal of my favorite characters; Iloved Eustace. Will Poulter was delightfully obnoxious, and his performance in the ending scene was perfect- in character, but also evidence of how much Eustace has changed. The Eustace-Reepicheep relationship was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie- it was so sweet, well developed, and expanding on a theme introduced in the books. And Reepicheep! He's always been my hands down favorite Narnian. I thought his portrayal was perfect. His voice change wasn’t noticeable, but certainly his new voice fits him perfectly. The animators did an excellent job with his mannerisms, his swordfighting… actually, all the CGI creatures are so well animated that the animation never once took away from the story. I didn't even think about how well done they were, or the fact that they were animated- I just assumed they were real, which is a very rare thing for me to do, and to me is the mark of good animation. It allowed me to actually feel as though my favorite characters existed.

And the Dawn Treader herself! She blew me away. I loved the shots of her sailing- she looked just like I imagined she would. I was so impressed that every shot that was supposed to be on the ship was actually on the ship. Incredible shots of the Dawn Treader sailing on open seas are breathtaking.

Most importantly, I came away so impressed with how well the spiritual themes translated on screen this time. I've read Voyage of the Dawn Treader for years, over and over, but the movie illuminated new spiritual themes that I had never picked up on in the books- perhaps because I read the books with a child's mind, and now have a more mature mind. I loved the introduction of Lucy and her struggle with outward beauty into a central theme of the story. Not only did it give us as an audience a chance to see Susan again, though she isn't actually in the story, but it was such an accurate picture of what girls her age go through. Aslan's words to her, what he shows her when she attempts to change things, sent tears running down my cheeks, imagining that God was saying that to me. It was subtly woven but well incorporated and developed. (Also, I thought it was so cool how much Susan Popplewell and Georgie Henley actually look alike!)

I cried at the beauty of the last scene, where Edmund and Lucy and Eustace know they have to leave Narnia, Edmund and Lucy for the last time. I cried when Reepicheep, brave little Reepicheep, took up his coracle and paddled into Aslan's Country. The entire last scene seemed as though it had leapt from my imagination onto the screen: the Sea of Lilies, the glimpses of Aslan's Country beyond the waves, Reepicheep's leaving. Lucy's tears when Aslan tells her she cannot come back to Narnia are so real. It speaks so powerfully of C.S. Lewis' brilliant writing that this scene is such a beautiful metaphor for what our own meeting in "Aslan's Country" will be like. I am so thankful that you were so adamant about the goodbye scene being exactly as it was in the book, because it played so beautifully on screen and was such a great visual. Actually, tears still come to my eyes when I think about it. The very last scene as they come home from Narnia was absolutely perfect- the silence of the actors, the draining of the waters, the looks exchanged between Eustace, Edmund, and Lucy. It was a moment to think back on what adventures they'd had, and what adventures were yet to come. I have a good Jewish friend who has never read the books, is unfamiliar with the story of Narnia, and didn't see Prince Caspian. She called me the other day to let me know she had seen Voyage of the Dawn Treader and loved it. She said, "I cried in the last scene in Narnia. It was perfect! And so sad. It makes me want to read the books." And really, isn't that part of the purpose of the movies? To make people read C.S. Lewis' brilliant books, or understand more of his writing?

Overall, I enjoyed the movie very much, both as a stand-alone movie and as an interpretation of the book. I was disappointed in the undragoning scene, but the movie was faithful enough to the book that all of my favorite elements were included (the Dufflepuds, for instance) but bent enough to offer something new to the viewer, like the temptations of Lucy, Edmund, and Caspian.

Anna and the French Kiss

Let me start by saying that I do NOT normally read cutesy "chick-lit" books that are written for teenage girls (especially all the new vampire books). I read Sarah Dessen novels, and that's about where I draw the line... I just don't care to read a sexually charged, poorly written book designed only to please the romantic tendencies of a teenage girl. But when my friend handed me this book, Anna and the French Kiss, with the recommendation of John Green and herself, I figured I'd give it a try. After all, John Green had said he couldn't put it down, and he didn't seem like the type to recommend bad fiction. So, before I went to bed, I read the first couple of pages. And then more. And then more. I couldn't put it down!

I stayed up way too late to read this book (11:30, on a school night? Unheard of!), captivated by it's characters and the romance. It's about Anna Oliphant, from Atlanta, who's father decides to send her to Paris for a year (her senior year, no less!) to study and get a taste of other cultures. Though digging in her heels at first, the transition is quickly eased by the presence of a very cute boy, Etienne St. Clair, a French-British-American. So yes, he has a British accent (!)... and a girlfriend. As Anna steps outside of her comfort zone and into a new culture, she also gets to know St. Clair very well.

The core and majority of the story is a romance, but it's also a narrative of friendships: of the thin line between friends and more-than-friends, of loyalty and honesty, of betrayal and forgiveness. And it is this added dimension that gives the novel depth and moves it from typical teenage girl fodder to an entertaining, slightly instructive novel appropriate for all ages.

One of the great strengths of the novel are the characters. Anna Oliphant, the protagonist, is a neat-freak, left handed, who loves movies and runs a blog with movie reviews (sound like me? Except maybe the neat-freak part). Unlike many romance novels, where the girl falling in love is frustratingly annoying (cough cough Bella Swan), I actually ended the novel still liking Anna. She's not a hopeless, lovesick girl, but a logical and realistic one, who thinks, "If I can't date this guy, I'll just be a friend to him... no use moping around after him." Thank goodness for that!

Etienne St. Clair, the male lead, is better than Edward Cullen. Who is supposedly perfect. While St. Clair (as his friends call him) is far from perfect, his character is so loveable and realistic that I couldn't help falling in love with him along with Anna. His jokes and teasing, his kindness to his friends, his devotion to his mother, and of course, his British accent all are loveable attributes. I give huge kudos to Stephanie Perkins for giving him actual flaws and actual problems that are easy to see. He's not the perfect guy who comes along, sweeps a girl off her feet, and they live happily ever after. Both Anna and Etienne have problems, and they build a real friendship supporting each other through those problems. Perkins does an excellent job of developing this relationship without boring us with unnecessary exchanges. Their relationship is real, not forced, because we actually believe that they know each other very well.

Anna and Etienne's friends are Meredith, who's in love with St. Clair, and Rashmi and Josh, who are dating. Etienne's girlfriend, Ellie, used to be in their group as well, but she graduated the previous year. Each one of these supporting characters, with maybe the exception of Ellie, is developed so well, even though they aren't the focus of the story. They're all incredibly believable and real, not just plot devices to support Anna and Etienne. The five together, Anna, Etienne, Rashmi, Josh, and Meredith, counsel each other, go through betrayals, fight, forgive each other, and encourage each other. I loved every one of them, and their interactions added so much to the story.

One thing I didn't like: by the end of the book, Anna's misunderstanding seemed unbelievable, and her confusion stupid. The very last fight seems a bit stretched... but maybe because I was just really eager to see them get together!

Yet another thing I loved about this book: they're all believably real teenagers, but Perkins doesn't use excessive language or drug use or crazy partying all the time or sleazy hookups to emphasize this point. If or when these things are used, it's necessary to the plot- and not glamorized at all. This is such a rare quality in a teen book! It feels unexaggerated and simple, so refreshing. And the writing! So well written: the chemistry between Anna and Etienne is unbelievable: I was so wrapped up in the urge for them to finally get together! They compliment each other perfectly. Also, the general narrative is subtle but well written; Perkins has a clear control of language. It's so rare to find a book such as this one in the teen world. It's wholly entertaining, engrossing, adorable, squeal-able, just like watching a chick flick- but with added depth. I. LOVED. IT. Go read it if you're looking for a sweet, fun, light read. You won't be disappointed!