#2 in Religion & spirituality
A Grief Observed
- 71
- Pages
- about 1.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
Nothing is tidied up or hidden in “A Grief Observed”, a brief and unguarded record of bereavement. Lewis wrote these reflections after his wife’s death and first published them under a pseudonym; raw despair stands beside hard questions about God. Some readers say it helped them through a loss of their own, and some find it so intimate that reading feels like trespassing. A small book, 71 pages, for a large subject.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A Grief Observed is a collection of C. S. Lewis's reflections on his experience of bereavement following the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, in 1960. The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk because Lewis wished to avoid the connection. Though republished in 1963 under his own name after his death, the text still refers to his wife as “H”.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.4 across 164 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 53% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Religion & spirituality average of 8.1. That is how 8.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 14 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 8.5 | 150 | 92% |
Frequently asked
How long is A Grief Observed?
It has 71 pages — shorter than 100% of the ranked books in Religion & spirituality.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Religion & spirituality — with scores between 8.0 and 8.3, closest to this book.
