That Hideous Strength

Stupendous. Just great, and also read in January of 1990. Also read in May of 2009. Also read in June of 1985. Also read in July of 1980. Finished it again on an Audible version in August of 2015. And yet again in Audible in September of 2016. And one more time on Audible in July of 2017.

FIRST: A complaint from a member of my reading group who read the book ONLY because of the very cool bear on the cover: In defense of Mr. Angry Bear, I must agree that while the giant, kick-ass bear on the cover may not be exactly false advertising, it is certainly in the category of misleadingmilar to beer commercials telling you "drink this beer and hot people will be all over you” when the reality is closer to “drink enough of our beer and you will think the people all over you are really [...]

I finished it while 30,000 feet in the air. It was a night-time flight, and after I finished the last page i set it down, turned to look out the window and while my mind wandered and mulled on what i had just experienced with the book, I saw that we were skirting to the side of a storm. The lightning was bouncing from cloud to cloud and it wasn't unlike my thoughts and the way my heart felt; I was elated, and I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be when I finished that book -- short of outsid [...]

I have a love/hate relationship with C.S. Lewis. There's a lot I admire in his writing but enough I deplore in his worldview that even though I keep being drawn to his works, I can't call him a favorite. I mostly loved The Screwtape Letters and Narnia, which I read as an adult, adored Till We Have Faces (my favorite Lewis work), was moved by his book A Grief Observed and found Mere Christianity and the first two books in the Space Trilogy interesting. There was only one book by him until this on [...]

This is Lewis' best treatment of sex, and probably the best treatment of sex by anyone, cast in the form of a novel. It is sooooooooo retro on the modern scene that it will either shock or outrage most folks who read it for the first time in the modern context.It is also some of the funniest stuff i've ever read in my life. Only a few paragraphs into a scene near the end of the book, which draws on the goings on at Babel, when the languages were confused -- well, it set off a laughing fit that l [...]

I've read "That Hideous Strength" several times, and it always has been my favorite of C.S. Lewis' space trilogy. But this time through, it captivated me in a way that it never has before. Only C.S. Lewis, with his combination of brilliance, scholarly knowledge, writing ability, wit and Christian world view, could have written this book.It is Lewis' most satirical book, even more so than "Screwtape Letters." It is probably his most sophisticated fiction work with the exception of "Till We Have F [...]

When I first read That Hideous Strength, it was my least favorite of Lewis' Science Fiction trilogy. Now I believe it is my favorite.Evil forces have gathered for a showdown on Earth. We have seen some of this in the first two books but now the "bent" Eldil and their minions are showing their hand in hopes of destroying Earth.It is insightful to see how much the evil Eldil hate mankind, because, of course, they hate mankind's Maker.They are a pragmatic sort, however, and tell whatever lies, powe [...]

Originally posted at FanLit. Come visit us!fantasyliterature/revi"Nature is the ladder we have climbed up by. Now we kick her away."That Hideous Strength is the final volume of C.S. Lewis’s SPACE TRILOGY. This story, which could be categorized as science fiction, dystopian fiction, Arthurian legend, and Christian allegory, is different enough from the previous books, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, that you don’t need to have read them, but it may help to vaguely familiarize yoursel [...]

This is easily human literature's finest hour. CS Lewis, in what is easily his masterpiece, gets in one's face about the reality of the New World Order and of the possibilities of real, effective Christian resistance to it. But the true evil is not democracy. It is diabolical, to be sure, and monarchy is definitely to be preferred, but the true battle takes place on "the unseen world." Lewis puts "spiritual warfare" in a rather direct, most uncomfortable light. Christians piously prat about spir [...]

I wrote my college essay on this book as it had the most profound influeI wrote my college essay on this book as it had the most profound influence on me in my teenage years. But that's not to say that it's a book aimed at young people. C.S. Lewis is known as a Christian writer and it's true that there are elements of Christianity in this book, as well as some very conservative ideas about women, I might add! But that's not what the book is really about. The hideous strength that Lewis writes ab [...]

As with the other two books in C.S. Lewis's "space trilogy" I found this one difficult to get into and, yet, once I got past the indefinable point where it was no longer a struggle, I couldn't read it fast enough. Consequently this was a 24-hour book for me. It is a testament to Lewis's imagination and writing skill as to how different all three of the books are in this trilogy, while simultaneously all carrying out the same basic theme. No wonder J.R.R. Tolkien loved them.Speaking of Tolkien, I [...]

The reader who comes to “That Hideous Strength” for the first time after reading “Out of the Silent Planet” and “Perelandra” could be excused for wondering how it fits in with the rest of the Space Trilogy. It bears little resemblance to its companion volumes. There is no journey through space, no exploration of strange, beautiful worlds, and no alien races. Dr. Ransom, far from being the central character, is absent from the first third of the book, Lewis makes no appearance at all, [...]

That Hideous Strength is the final book in the C.S. Lewis's Ransom trilogy. The first two books find Ransom on Mars and then Venus, exploring their flora and fauna,meeting their inhabitants and speaking with their eldils, which are somewhere between the planets spiritual essence and its guardian angelwhile we discover how (the Christian) God works on other planets.This third book finds Ransom back on earth, preparing for an interplanetary response to the threat of apocalypse, which is about to c [...]

This is probably my 3rd or 4th time reading this book. If Lewis understood anything, he understood the arid desert of modernity and its absolutely crippling effect on what it means to be human (among many, many, many!! other things). The most fascinating theme of the book is the opening of Mark and Jane Studdock's eyes to a life beyond abstraction and "complete objectivity", (reason alone). Can't recommend it highly enough.

I read this the way I've read almost all of C.S. Lewis' writing: first, by sheer determination even though it makes only a little sense to me; then re-reading a second time with appreciation. I almost always start his books, admire his ideas but realize I'm pretty puzzled by most of it, and then go back and re-read the book and realize how brilliant it really is.Even though it is the last book in his trilogy, as a non-fantasy reader I think I should have started here. This is the least fantastic [...]

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! How many times can I use that word or one of its synonyms in describing anything written by C.S. Lewis? Not enough. This book, the third in the Space Trilogy, is the best of the three.That Hideous Strength deals with a Britain on the verge of dystopia. An organization known as the N.I.C.E. is moving to take over the nation and its strength will usher in the hideousness referred to in the title. Like in most dystopian novels there is a small group of individuals w [...]

Easily Lewis's best work. This should be on the front shelves at every Christian book store. Lewis frighteningly predicted the rise of the scientific, planning state. For those who laugh at "conspiracies" of the New World Order, read this book and tell me I am wrong. Try it. But unlike other books on the New World Order, Lewis advocates (or at least Dr Ransom does), fighting back. And not just fighting back with abstract ideas, but also with revolvers.Lots of memorable moments: Ransom explains m [...]

First, a reminiscence. I continue to be surprised by my mother, though she died three years ago. She gave at least one volume of this trilogy to me when I was a young adolescent and finally gave the third to me some 40 years later, at Christmas 2000. I imagine she understood that, insofar as they're allegorical, Lewis's Narnia books derive from a formerly great literary tradition, but she knew as well that they were meant for children; she had no interest in them herself (that I can recall) and [...]

A work without which I think it must be very hard to understand either ourselves or our times.

I started this book with a certain amount of trepidation. I'd liked the first book in this series a lot, but while I had been enchanted with the descriptions of Venus/Perelandra, I was frustrated by the outcome of the second book as a whole. Which way was this going to go? Well, somewhere in the middle. In general, the book was entertaining to read, with occasional passages that made me stop and take a deep breath. It's one of those things where some of the things he says sound fantastic, and th [...]

The best of the series. I'd love for the rest of my life to be about building a St. Annes to fight N.I.C.E.'s

Baller.

Definitely my favorite of the three.

A few spoilers here.I read this in the Kindle three-books-in-one version. My original paperback turned out to have been an abridged edition (abridged by Lewis himself) but the Kindle version was the original full book, full of more explanations, and digressions, and conversations than I remember in the original. This must be my third read of the book, but apart from some general remembrances of the story, the details had pretty much gone (it's probably thirty or forty years since I last read it) [...]

I read this on Kindle.I really enjoyed this book. There was so much that Lewis had to say and show. The evil was really evil, and the layers were peeled back slowly, slowly to the final climax. The evil is so evil it doesn't seem possible to defeat.The good was really good. Waiting, abiding, sojourning, trusting God. That's generally a good plan.I love, love, love that Lewis solves SciFi problems grounded in history. In Out of the Silent Planet he used Classical Astronomy. Here we see historical [...]

This book took me forever to read. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it and I am glad I finished the series, but it was a daunting task. I know it was only 380 pages but it felt like 1500. I would find myself actually reading out loud because I honestly had no idea what was trying to be said. Also shout out to Kindle for having an integrated dictionary, that was huge. I wouldn't recommend this book to all of my friends, but if you are looking for a challenge feel free to start here.

The last of the Lewis' Space Trilogy was the most interesting to me. The plot tension held me throughout most of the book while the events and development were extremely shocking. Unfortunately, I got too involved to take any decent notes while I was reading. Looking back, I felt like it was worth it to read the other two books, just for the sake of getting to this one. Excellent read.

The finale to the trilogy was strong, but definitely less ‘other-worldly’ than the previous two. This in no way takes away from the brilliant story-telling of Lewis in this series. Much of the build up in this story reflects the human experience (particularly if you either work in a college or university, or if you live in the United States today).The story follows the development of a state-organization that basically does social engineering and it’s takeover of a small town that is home [...]

Definitely the weirdest thing Lewis ever wrote. Read it not so much for the plot itself but for the writing, character studies, and philosophical musings.

This is a really hard one to rate compared to most of the books I've read this year. It is a fiction story, meant to take the reader down a certain path, but it is also a story about ideas and reality and materialism and greed and what it means to be a man and a woman and a Christian. There is a lot to chew on in this book. I think it is one of those stories where a re-read or two or ten would do a world of good in understanding Lewis' point and message. Overall I liked it. It's one of the very [...]