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What are readers saying about A Severe Mercy?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-22 02:50:34.
(Language: English)
 
everyone must read this book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-31 09:32:15.
(Language: English)
I can't say enough about the quality of this book. I mean, it makes a reference to one of my favorite books (Waugh's Brideshead), and it's also set in Oxford! But the depths of Vanauken's memoir goes beyond such simple predilections. It hits me in very personal, subjective (yes, I'm gonna use and quite unabashedly) ways. It's a book that has allowed me to slow down the pace, despite the fact that I wanna swallow it in its entirety in one sitting.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-06 11:22:12.
(Language: English)
Wonderful love story!!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-06 06:49:19.
(Language: English)
This book is way to descriptive for me....I think I am going to stop reading it! We will see!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-02 10:19:28.
(Language: English)
Overall, lovely! The romance kind get to ya a little bit - it's pretty sappy - but really it's a story of beautiful love and conversion. The letters with C.S.Lewis really make the book. The first couple of chapters are chock full of description, which was difficult for me to get through, but around the third or fourth chapter it starts to turn into a real page-turner, and then I fell in love with it. Let me know what you think! At about the third chapter, this becomes a book you can\'t put down! I\'m reading it for book club, which meets July 14th. Ask me for details if you are interested in attending!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-11-24 02:41:13.
(Language: English)
Intense. I hate his views on marriage but love his insights into death and grief.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-22 11:31:41.
(Language: English)
Best book of all time
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Annette posted a review at 2009-11-22 12:00:30.
(Language: English)
What an amazing real-life story of love and beauty, faith and friendship, death and grief. It had quite an impact on my husband and me. We read this book before our marriage, vowing to put our love for Christ always before our love for each other. I highly recommend this one.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-01 12:42:38.
(Language: English)
MOST amazing book I have read to date....life changing!!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-30 11:43:46.
(Language: English)
Amazing
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-30 01:58:05.
(Language: English)
I LOVED this fascinating, challenging, devastating, real-life, true-love story. I came thisclose to packing up my bags to move to a modest room on campus at Oxford after reading Vanauken's retelling of his life there. But then I remembered I have a family and life here in Austin. That and the book was written about life half a century ago. I dare you not to sob through the final section of the book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-19 09:49:07.
(Language: English)
This is an unbelievable (true) story on a number of levels. It is primarily a story about a marriage, the kind of marriage that people dream about but few attain. Secondly, this story is about faith, and what happens when the best thing in your life is taken from you. This is one of my two favorite books ever. It has influenced me intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. I would recommend it to anyone.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-16 11:23:04.
(Language: English)
I really feel that Sheldon Vanauken was a v. skilled author. The elation and love he expresses in the first chapters is conveyed perfectly and arouses wishes for the kind of love he had. Several of the things he expresses in "The Barrier Breached" are feelings and thoughts I have had personally, but wh. I hadn't really thought extensively about. Reading words so skillfully crafted into thoughts and feelings was a wonderful thing. It's a fantastic read, and I appreciated some of the things C.S. Lewis writes. Top of my list; this is quite possibly the best book I have read or ever will read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-11 11:23:02.
(Language: English)
If you're a romantic, i.e., if you love beauty, the love story of Van and his wife will touch you. Likewise, if you love C.S. Lewis, you'll enjoy getting to know him better as a person (Lewis and Van were friends, and there's much of Lewis in this book). Finally, if you have personally experienced loss or suffering, or if you care about that topic, you will find much here. Lots of interesting themes, including living a life that pursues poetry, love, and beauty, and takes time to stop and think about things...
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-29 06:37:43.
(Language: English)
I have read this book so many times I cannot count. I wrote my own thoughts and feelings in the margins the first time. Then, interestingly, told someone "it's the best book I've ever written!". Then realized what I had said:D The words are artistic, poetic and captivating, drawing me into his world, into his loves...his love of not only Davy, but for home, family, architecture, Oxford, nature, a cool breeze, sun on his face, seeing God through it all...living in each and every moment as a precious gift! I read this alone all night on my sofa...the night I knew my marriage was over...a catharsis, knowing for me that I had done all to save it...and yet it was to be no more. Inspiring... Dee Ann (Poorbaugh Northrup) Stover
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-09 10:19:42.
(Language: English)
One of my all time favorites... This book has remained on my top 10 list since the very first time I read it (college days).
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-09-03 02:20:58.
(Language: English)
Sheldon Vanauken tells the story of the romance between himself and Jean "Davy." C.S. Lewis plays a major role in God's work in their lives at Oxford and returning to the states, where Davy had her untimely death. The book chronicles their love and his grief in his elegant prose and in letters preserved from his correspondence to and from Lewis. The remarkable thing about the book is not the writing itself, however, but the unique story he has to offer of one couple's discovery of selflessness before Christ, its perfection in Christ, and their etenal relationship with one of the great literary scholars of their day.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-16 09:36:34.
(Language: English)
This book was powerful. I read it before I was married as per the recommendation of my now-wife. I am glad I did. As a Christian and a husband, it was impacting to see the role (and importance of knowing this role) that God plays in the marriage. I greatly enjoyed the personal letters between the author and C.S. Lewis (one of my favorite authors). The attention to detail expressed by the author reminded me of Dickens' work, but it never competes with the plot for the main attention (as in many Dickens' novels). I think the power of this book comes from the details of the journey -- Vanauken and his wife go from being strong atheists to questioning atheists to strong Christians -- and from its truth (this is a true story). I highly recommend this book.
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Robert J. posted a review at 2009-06-19 10:33:18.
(Language: English)
This book is so special it simply stands alone not only as a Christian Classic, but also as an American Biography of true love. The depth of Sheldon's exploration of his love for Davy is unprecedented in any fiction or non-fiction I've ever read. The dialogue through letters between Sheldon and C.S. Lewis will excite any mind hungry for an understanding of theodicy and the vision / dream Sheldon has of Davy is absolutely stunning in its implications. Must read this unique book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-05-18 11:21:22.
(Language: English)
I'll never be able to read this too many times! I definately see the parallel between God wooing the author and the intimate way that He woos me... And to see the personal and joint (as a married couple) transformation that God can bring and to see all He desires marriage to be?!! Wow! I'm rambling yeah, but this book is AWESOME.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-27 08:38:14.
(Language: English)
So good on so many levels. It was such a beautiful example of the transformation that God brings about in our hearts. His discovery that he was jealous of God was moving, contrasted with the knowledge that God has a jealous love for His Father and for us. I loved the interspersing of letters to and from C.S. Lewis. Especially one of the last letters from Lewis where he speaks hard things, but true things, to Vannauken. And they are received with love and gratitude. And Lewis' letters again impressed me with his ability to speak and think so clearly and to know just how to express thoughts to a particular audience. I highly reccomend this book.
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Susie posted a review at 2010-01-08 05:37:39.
(Language: English)
My all time favorite book
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-09 02:06:12.
(Language: English)
First half I was not as interested in; second half a little bit more interesting; some very sad parts that did bring tears to my eyes. I bought my wife roses when reading this. I do have some fundamental differences w/ Vanauken on his view of heaven, and the whole vision of Davy (the dead desiring to see and be part of our lives to the extent that he believed Davy was), and some of his romantic humanism that gets thrown in with sound Theology. There are restatements time and again that he says are untrue and I do not agree with. A very humbling book in the essence of how we should love and cherish our wives, but missing closure on how this should have transpired with the context of a personal relationship w/ Christ. Too much romantic humanism that it took away from the message.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-02-02 02:58:15.
(Language: English)
One of the best memoirs I've ever read. Thought provoking, lyrical, and lovely.
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