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Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis
The first full biography of Joy Davidman brings her out from C. S. Lewis's shadow, where she has long been hidden, to reveal a powerful writer and thinker.
Joy Davidman is known, if she is known at all, as the wife of C. S. Lewis. Their marriage was immortalized in the film Shadowlands and Lewis's memoir, A Grief Observed. Now, through extraordinary new documents as well as years of research and interviews, Abigail Santamaria brings Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis to the page in the fullness and depth she deserves.
A poet and radical, Davidman was a frequent contributor to the communist vehicle New Masses and an active member of New York literary circles in the 1930s and 40s. Born Jewish in the Bronx, she was an atheist, then a practitioner of Dianetics; she converted to Christianity after experiencing a moment of transcendent grace. A mother, a novelist, a vibrant and difficult and intelligent woman, she set off for England in 1952, determined to captivate the man whose work had changed her life.
Davidman became the intellectual and spiritual partner Lewis never expected but cherished. She helped him refine his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and to write his novel Till We Have Faces. Their relationship-begun when Joy wrote to Lewis as a religious guide-grew from a dialogue about faith, writing, and poetry into a deep friendship and a timeless love story.
Joy Davidman is known, if she is known at all, as the wife of C. S. Lewis. Their marriage was immortalized in the film Shadowlands and Lewis's memoir, A Grief Observed. Now, through extraordinary new documents as well as years of research and interviews, Abigail Santamaria brings Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis to the page in the fullness and depth she deserves.
A poet and radical, Davidman was a frequent contributor to the communist vehicle New Masses and an active member of New York literary circles in the 1930s and 40s. Born Jewish in the Bronx, she was an atheist, then a practitioner of Dianetics; she converted to Christianity after experiencing a moment of transcendent grace. A mother, a novelist, a vibrant and difficult and intelligent woman, she set off for England in 1952, determined to captivate the man whose work had changed her life.
Davidman became the intellectual and spiritual partner Lewis never expected but cherished. She helped him refine his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and to write his novel Till We Have Faces. Their relationship-begun when Joy wrote to Lewis as a religious guide-grew from a dialogue about faith, writing, and poetry into a deep friendship and a timeless love story.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published August 4, 2015
104 people are currently reading
1441 people want to read
About the author
Abigail Santamaria
3 books24 followersAbigail Santamaria earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University and has been awarded fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, Jentel Arts, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She lives in New York City with her family. Joy is her first book.
(from http://www.hmhco.com/bookstore/author...)
(from http://www.hmhco.com/bookstore/author...)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
July 24, 2016
There are some reviews that are easy to write, that almost writes itself. I can finish a book sit down and write without problems. Then there are books, like this one that I kind of know what to write, but still, the process from my head to the actually writing it down takes a bit longer time. And, I'm sorry it's a bit lengthy.
I first learned of Joy Davidman when I for quite many years ago watched Shadowlands. Before that, I had no idea that C.S. Lewis had been married. It was a wonderful film, but still it's a film, even though there are truths in the story it has been changed to suit the public. For instance, Joy had two children, two boys and in the movie, she had one. But that they started out as pen pals, that she traveled over to England to see him, that they, in the end, married each other and that she died of cancer is true just as it is in the movie. But the books makes everything sounds so perfect.
But this book gives a much deeper insight into the woman Joy, to her childhood, her growing up, her writing, her time with the communist party and her conversion to Christianity which led her to C.S. Lewis writings and writing together with her husband a letter to C.S. Lewis. She would, in the end, continue to write to C.S. Lewis, but without Bill.
It sounds like a wonderful love story, but in reality, it was a bit more calculated than that. Joy marriage was falling apart, and she practically arranged for her husband to fall in love with her beautiful cousin that came to stay with them. How so? By then she was writing to C.S. Lewis and she was eager to travel and meet him and she left her husband, children, and cousin together and traveled to England to meet C.S. Lewis. She had fallen in love with him trough his letters and she was actually going there to make him fall in love with her. It didn’t go as plan, she did meet him, she spent months in England, but it would take some years before they would truly be a couple. During the time, she and her husband divorced because he had fallen in love with her cousin and she bad mouths him quite bad in letter and to friends. Although, she was hardly a saint herself. she left her sons for months while she was in England and she wrote home to ask for money she then spends on buying clothes and stuff for herself.
But was their love story untrue? No she did love Jack (C.S. Lewis) and he loved her and they got some wonderful years together.
It was not an easy book to read, the first half of the book was a bit tough, it’s very well researched (40% of the book was footnoted), but it was sometimes a bit dry and I must admit that her poems that were in the book, well they didn’t really fascinate me. I often just glanced over them. They just didn't appeal to me. But I was interesting to read about the time period, the rise of the communist party before the McCarty era. I had no idea that Joy was fascinated for a while in life with Dianetics a practice that a man called L. Ron Hubbard had thought of. She got over it, thankfully. She lived in a very interesting time and her life story is quite remarkable.
I think the best part of the book was the last half when she started to write to Jack, and when she got to met and later marry him. Many of his friends were worried for him, like Tolkien. They thought that she was taking advantage of him. Jack had in his youth promised Paddy Moore, a friend, that he would look after his mother if something happened to him and when the friend died in WW1 did he honor the promise and looked after her and many thought that stopped him from ever finding a woman to marry because she looked after him as a mother (he lost his mother as a child) and he looked after her as a son. And around the time Joy came to meet him Mrs. Janie King Moore had died and that made his friends concerned for him since they wanted him to be free.
But I think she did him good. She made him happy.
I recommend this book if you want to know more about Joy, or Jack or if you are just looking for an interesting biography to read.
Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
I first learned of Joy Davidman when I for quite many years ago watched Shadowlands. Before that, I had no idea that C.S. Lewis had been married. It was a wonderful film, but still it's a film, even though there are truths in the story it has been changed to suit the public. For instance, Joy had two children, two boys and in the movie, she had one. But that they started out as pen pals, that she traveled over to England to see him, that they, in the end, married each other and that she died of cancer is true just as it is in the movie. But the books makes everything sounds so perfect.
But this book gives a much deeper insight into the woman Joy, to her childhood, her growing up, her writing, her time with the communist party and her conversion to Christianity which led her to C.S. Lewis writings and writing together with her husband a letter to C.S. Lewis. She would, in the end, continue to write to C.S. Lewis, but without Bill.
It sounds like a wonderful love story, but in reality, it was a bit more calculated than that. Joy marriage was falling apart, and she practically arranged for her husband to fall in love with her beautiful cousin that came to stay with them. How so? By then she was writing to C.S. Lewis and she was eager to travel and meet him and she left her husband, children, and cousin together and traveled to England to meet C.S. Lewis. She had fallen in love with him trough his letters and she was actually going there to make him fall in love with her. It didn’t go as plan, she did meet him, she spent months in England, but it would take some years before they would truly be a couple. During the time, she and her husband divorced because he had fallen in love with her cousin and she bad mouths him quite bad in letter and to friends. Although, she was hardly a saint herself. she left her sons for months while she was in England and she wrote home to ask for money she then spends on buying clothes and stuff for herself.
But was their love story untrue? No she did love Jack (C.S. Lewis) and he loved her and they got some wonderful years together.
It was not an easy book to read, the first half of the book was a bit tough, it’s very well researched (40% of the book was footnoted), but it was sometimes a bit dry and I must admit that her poems that were in the book, well they didn’t really fascinate me. I often just glanced over them. They just didn't appeal to me. But I was interesting to read about the time period, the rise of the communist party before the McCarty era. I had no idea that Joy was fascinated for a while in life with Dianetics a practice that a man called L. Ron Hubbard had thought of. She got over it, thankfully. She lived in a very interesting time and her life story is quite remarkable.
I think the best part of the book was the last half when she started to write to Jack, and when she got to met and later marry him. Many of his friends were worried for him, like Tolkien. They thought that she was taking advantage of him. Jack had in his youth promised Paddy Moore, a friend, that he would look after his mother if something happened to him and when the friend died in WW1 did he honor the promise and looked after her and many thought that stopped him from ever finding a woman to marry because she looked after him as a mother (he lost his mother as a child) and he looked after her as a son. And around the time Joy came to meet him Mrs. Janie King Moore had died and that made his friends concerned for him since they wanted him to be free.
But I think she did him good. She made him happy.
I recommend this book if you want to know more about Joy, or Jack or if you are just looking for an interesting biography to read.
Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
January 30, 2019
This is a book that kicks you in the gut. It gives you food for thought. To fully appreciate its message, it must be read to the end. Only when I reached the end did the manner in which it has been written make complete sense to me.
Joy Davidman (1915-1960) was an American poet and writer. She is not someone I wanted to learn about because of her writing. I have never read either her poems nor her novels! It is her life that interests me. She was of Russian, Jewish descent and was born in the Bronx. She became an atheist and then, later, converted to Christianity. When young, she affiliated herself with the American Communist Party, and then left it. She declared she would never get married and then she did--first to William Lindsay Gresham, author of noir fiction and the father of her two sons, and then to C.S. Lewis, the Irish author so well known for his series The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was seventeen years her senior. In 1960 at forty-five years of age, she died from metastasized breast cancer, four years after her civil marriage to C. S. Lewis. In October 1956, six months after their civil marriage, she was diagnosed with incurable cancer.
This biography covers her entire life. It moves forward in chronological order, each chapter titled to signify the time period covered. The book is thorough and well researched with many quotes from Joy’s sonnets and poems and correspondence.
I seek out books that make me think. This book does that in spades!
Here follows a list of some of the things I thought about as I read this book:
*What was it that caused Joy to become the outspoken rebel she became?
*What attracted Joy to the Communist Party? Was it having lived through the Great Depression? Was it having witnessed a suicidal jump of a destitute orphan from the roof of her school? She became an outspoken critic of capitalism. Harder to understand is what motivated her to then leave the Communist Party and atheism and turn to Scientology and religion.
*Joy became a practitioner of Dianetics, a kind of Scientology. What is Dianetics therapy and what did she think she could achieve as an “auditor”? Well-educated and holding a master’s degree in English literature at Colombia University, how did she get herself involved in such a fringe group?!
*After a grueling six months with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood, Joy worked for the American Marxist magazine, The New Masses. At this post, she had to consider what to prioritize--getting a political message across to the masses clearly and simply or the quality of the writings to be accepted for publication?
*What in Joy’s background made her so abrasive, so outspoken and sometimes self-centered? Why did she prioritize her own ambitions over her children’s needs? What in her background made her this way? Her lack of compassion and her need to put her own desires before others’, where did this come from? From her controlling, over-protective parents? Her tyrannical father? Her mother, fixated on appearances? One observes that as an adult Joy’s behavior mirrored the very qualities she had so despised in her parents!
*Why did Lewis marry Joy?
*How did Joy get beyond her fear of cancer and death? How was she able to so completely stomp out her worry and exalt in the happiness that could be sucked out of the last months of her life, married to Lewis? She carries this beyond denial of the illness. What can the exuberance she drew from the time left for her to live teach others?
Answers to these questions can be drawn from the detailed information gathered and presented by the author. However, the author does not analyze these questions. The author leaves it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. By the end, I felt I understood why the author had chosen to present the information in this way. I do not believe there exist definitive answers to the innumerable questions readers will pose.
The author provides unbiased information. Both the strengths and weaknesses of individuals are drawn. When differences of opinion arise, readers are given both sides. Known information is provided, but each reader must interpret the information themselves.
The audiobook is narrated by Bernadette Dunne. The narration I have given three stars. This narrator consistently reads the beginning of audiobooks too quickly. There is so much information to absorb at the start of a book, particularly in a book of non-fiction. I wish audiobook narrators would keep this in mind and read beginning chapters at a slower pace. Once into the book, the telling is not hard to follow. Dunne enunciates the MacDowell Colony in two different ways. This is confusing until you become aware of her tendency to do this. The colony was and still is a non-profit organization located in Peterborough, New Hampshire. It supports talented new artists. Joy stayed there frequently.
This was an absorbing but also difficult book to read. I am very glad I chose to read this, Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria, rather than the book by Sibley referred to below.
***********
These writings of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman are discussed and/or quoted:
*Letter to a Comrade
*The Screwtape Letters
*Till We Have Faces
*The Four Loves
*A Grief Observed
Through the Shadowlands: The Love Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman by Brian Sibley may be of interest, but it should be noted that it came out after the film Shadowlands.
Joy Davidman (1915-1960) was an American poet and writer. She is not someone I wanted to learn about because of her writing. I have never read either her poems nor her novels! It is her life that interests me. She was of Russian, Jewish descent and was born in the Bronx. She became an atheist and then, later, converted to Christianity. When young, she affiliated herself with the American Communist Party, and then left it. She declared she would never get married and then she did--first to William Lindsay Gresham, author of noir fiction and the father of her two sons, and then to C.S. Lewis, the Irish author so well known for his series The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was seventeen years her senior. In 1960 at forty-five years of age, she died from metastasized breast cancer, four years after her civil marriage to C. S. Lewis. In October 1956, six months after their civil marriage, she was diagnosed with incurable cancer.
This biography covers her entire life. It moves forward in chronological order, each chapter titled to signify the time period covered. The book is thorough and well researched with many quotes from Joy’s sonnets and poems and correspondence.
I seek out books that make me think. This book does that in spades!
Here follows a list of some of the things I thought about as I read this book:
*What was it that caused Joy to become the outspoken rebel she became?
*What attracted Joy to the Communist Party? Was it having lived through the Great Depression? Was it having witnessed a suicidal jump of a destitute orphan from the roof of her school? She became an outspoken critic of capitalism. Harder to understand is what motivated her to then leave the Communist Party and atheism and turn to Scientology and religion.
*Joy became a practitioner of Dianetics, a kind of Scientology. What is Dianetics therapy and what did she think she could achieve as an “auditor”? Well-educated and holding a master’s degree in English literature at Colombia University, how did she get herself involved in such a fringe group?!
*After a grueling six months with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood, Joy worked for the American Marxist magazine, The New Masses. At this post, she had to consider what to prioritize--getting a political message across to the masses clearly and simply or the quality of the writings to be accepted for publication?
*What in Joy’s background made her so abrasive, so outspoken and sometimes self-centered? Why did she prioritize her own ambitions over her children’s needs? What in her background made her this way? Her lack of compassion and her need to put her own desires before others’, where did this come from? From her controlling, over-protective parents? Her tyrannical father? Her mother, fixated on appearances? One observes that as an adult Joy’s behavior mirrored the very qualities she had so despised in her parents!
*Why did Lewis marry Joy?
*How did Joy get beyond her fear of cancer and death? How was she able to so completely stomp out her worry and exalt in the happiness that could be sucked out of the last months of her life, married to Lewis? She carries this beyond denial of the illness. What can the exuberance she drew from the time left for her to live teach others?
Answers to these questions can be drawn from the detailed information gathered and presented by the author. However, the author does not analyze these questions. The author leaves it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. By the end, I felt I understood why the author had chosen to present the information in this way. I do not believe there exist definitive answers to the innumerable questions readers will pose.
The author provides unbiased information. Both the strengths and weaknesses of individuals are drawn. When differences of opinion arise, readers are given both sides. Known information is provided, but each reader must interpret the information themselves.
The audiobook is narrated by Bernadette Dunne. The narration I have given three stars. This narrator consistently reads the beginning of audiobooks too quickly. There is so much information to absorb at the start of a book, particularly in a book of non-fiction. I wish audiobook narrators would keep this in mind and read beginning chapters at a slower pace. Once into the book, the telling is not hard to follow. Dunne enunciates the MacDowell Colony in two different ways. This is confusing until you become aware of her tendency to do this. The colony was and still is a non-profit organization located in Peterborough, New Hampshire. It supports talented new artists. Joy stayed there frequently.
This was an absorbing but also difficult book to read. I am very glad I chose to read this, Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria, rather than the book by Sibley referred to below.
***********
These writings of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman are discussed and/or quoted:
*Letter to a Comrade
*The Screwtape Letters
*Till We Have Faces
*The Four Loves
*A Grief Observed
Through the Shadowlands: The Love Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman by Brian Sibley may be of interest, but it should be noted that it came out after the film Shadowlands.
July 22, 2019
This was an insightful and informative biography of someone who seems to be controversial for a lot of C.S. Lewis fans. Or maybe just to the people who knew him best. Many of Lewis's friends did not like Joy Davidson. They found her coarse and abrasive. They were afraid that Lewis was once again setting himself up for another unhealthy co-dependent relationship. After 25 years waiting hand and foot on Mrs. Moore, they felt Lewis was happiest living out his remaining days as a comfortable bachelor.
And it seems that Lewis himself had envisioned such a life for himself.
And then Joy Davidson exploded on the scene. She did not hide her intentions and was quite aggressive about pursuing them. The result? Joy and Jack (as he was called by friends) got married, at least briefly. Soon into their relationship, Joy came down with cancer and most of their married life was riddled with sickness, stress and finally grief.
But also, inexpressible joy.
Readers wanting an in depth view of Joy and Jack's relationship will do better to look elsewhere, while Lewis does come into the picture it is only in the last quarter of the book.
This book is primarily about Joy and her life from baby hood, to brilliant academic (she entered high school at the age of nine), passionate communist,successful writer in her own right, then a detour down the road of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics and finally, Christianity.
Joy's parents were Jewish immigrants and while they came in dire poverty, they became educated and professional. No doubt, this drive for success, overcoming Antisemitism, and ultimately succeeding, caused her parents to expect no less from their children. In fact they expected more.
Joy's parents, especially her dad, was a hard man to get along with, both professionally and personally. His disciplinarian methods and rigid standards on Joy bordered on abuse. He was more concerned with her succeeding than developing social skills, something that affected Joy the rest of her life, and no doubt contributed to her abrasive personality.
Santamaria takes us through all of Joys journeys, finally culminating in her marriage to C.S. Lewis.
I'd say she was pretty even handed and her history of Joy's life agrees with other records, however, Santamaria had access to letters and first hand testimonies from family members that others, whose focus was on Lewis, did not have access to.
I should point out that no one has access to the letters between Lewis and Joy because they destroyed their personal correspondence. However, there was an abundant supply of records and such from other sources, which the author makes full use of.
This is not a sanitized version of Joy's life, if there ever was one, since she was so disliked by so many who have written about Joy, usually in the context of her relationship with C.S. Lewis. Joy could be extremely selfish, neglecting her sons for the sake of her writing career, and pursuit of Lewis. She was extravagant with her money and others' but stingy in sharing.
She left her husband Bill Gresham, with their sons for five months while she lived in England to get to know and hopefully engage in a romantic relationship with Lewis, but later demanded custody and full child support after she divorced Bill (something she fought for, although Bill had admitted to falling in love with her cousin), and then spent the money freely all the while writing insulting letters informing Bill of how horrible he was while demanding more money.
What I found strange was how she wrote Bill about her romance with Lewis and continued to write to him up to her death.
Frankly Joy can come off as a bit of a monster, and yet Lewis fell in love with her. Why?
Maybe because he saw something, or experienced something others failed to see or experience. Maybe love isn't always about taking, it's also about serving. Maybe Lewis understood that. Maybe he loved her unconditionally.
What we do see in the book that after Joy was struck down with cancer, is that she softened, in her character,and especially in her understanding of God's love. Even those who previously were against the marriage rallied around her in support to comfort her during her extreme physical suffering.
Maybe God used Joy to show His own unconditional love to the rest of us who are also wretched in sin and selfishness.
However your feelings are on the subject, this is a fascinating book to read. I think I would enjoy a film about the real Joy. The one impossible to get along with, yet loved by the greatest apologist of the 20th century.
And it seems that Lewis himself had envisioned such a life for himself.
And then Joy Davidson exploded on the scene. She did not hide her intentions and was quite aggressive about pursuing them. The result? Joy and Jack (as he was called by friends) got married, at least briefly. Soon into their relationship, Joy came down with cancer and most of their married life was riddled with sickness, stress and finally grief.
But also, inexpressible joy.
Readers wanting an in depth view of Joy and Jack's relationship will do better to look elsewhere, while Lewis does come into the picture it is only in the last quarter of the book.
This book is primarily about Joy and her life from baby hood, to brilliant academic (she entered high school at the age of nine), passionate communist,successful writer in her own right, then a detour down the road of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics and finally, Christianity.
Joy's parents were Jewish immigrants and while they came in dire poverty, they became educated and professional. No doubt, this drive for success, overcoming Antisemitism, and ultimately succeeding, caused her parents to expect no less from their children. In fact they expected more.
Joy's parents, especially her dad, was a hard man to get along with, both professionally and personally. His disciplinarian methods and rigid standards on Joy bordered on abuse. He was more concerned with her succeeding than developing social skills, something that affected Joy the rest of her life, and no doubt contributed to her abrasive personality.
Santamaria takes us through all of Joys journeys, finally culminating in her marriage to C.S. Lewis.
I'd say she was pretty even handed and her history of Joy's life agrees with other records, however, Santamaria had access to letters and first hand testimonies from family members that others, whose focus was on Lewis, did not have access to.
I should point out that no one has access to the letters between Lewis and Joy because they destroyed their personal correspondence. However, there was an abundant supply of records and such from other sources, which the author makes full use of.
This is not a sanitized version of Joy's life, if there ever was one, since she was so disliked by so many who have written about Joy, usually in the context of her relationship with C.S. Lewis. Joy could be extremely selfish, neglecting her sons for the sake of her writing career, and pursuit of Lewis. She was extravagant with her money and others' but stingy in sharing.
She left her husband Bill Gresham, with their sons for five months while she lived in England to get to know and hopefully engage in a romantic relationship with Lewis, but later demanded custody and full child support after she divorced Bill (something she fought for, although Bill had admitted to falling in love with her cousin), and then spent the money freely all the while writing insulting letters informing Bill of how horrible he was while demanding more money.
What I found strange was how she wrote Bill about her romance with Lewis and continued to write to him up to her death.
Frankly Joy can come off as a bit of a monster, and yet Lewis fell in love with her. Why?
Maybe because he saw something, or experienced something others failed to see or experience. Maybe love isn't always about taking, it's also about serving. Maybe Lewis understood that. Maybe he loved her unconditionally.
What we do see in the book that after Joy was struck down with cancer, is that she softened, in her character,and especially in her understanding of God's love. Even those who previously were against the marriage rallied around her in support to comfort her during her extreme physical suffering.
Maybe God used Joy to show His own unconditional love to the rest of us who are also wretched in sin and selfishness.
However your feelings are on the subject, this is a fascinating book to read. I think I would enjoy a film about the real Joy. The one impossible to get along with, yet loved by the greatest apologist of the 20th century.
November 18, 2025
Long overdue, finally picked up an in-depth bio on Joy. And I learned so much from this, more details on Joy than I ever learned from a dozen Lewis bios. This book paints a helpful picture of the context surrounding Joy in her formative years, and it effectively portrays Joy's internal motivations--using plenty of direct quotes from her.
The book doesn't shy away from Joy's flaws. I knew Joy was a writer, but I never knew just how much she wrote, how much she published (poetry and prose), and how determined she was to make a living by writing. Both Joy and Bill were single-minded in their efforts to support themselves solely by freelance writing, with limited success. Even after having children they never got stable, long-term jobs. And the money they did make they spent foolishly. And they never seemed to learn from their mistakes.
Yet the author avoids casting judgment against Joy or Bill, which I admired. Bill is also shown to be human, and we get plenty of direct quotes from him, too. The book provides a thorough and honest portrayal of the development of Joy and Bill's marriage, with letters and witnesses describing details from both sides. So many Lewis bios gloss over the Joy/Bill relationship, or only tell the revisionist, simplistic version of their marriage, formed by Joy many years later. Plenty of evidence shows Joy was not as innocent as many people make her out to be.
I'd forgotten that Lewis and Joy started corresponding as early as 1950. It's clear that Joy pursued Lewis intentionally--the evidence for this is staggering. The question is: How much? To what degree did she have power over Lewis? At times, Lewis seems unbelievably naive to her advances. Why did he ever tolerate her? At the same time, they have so much in common--their atheist younger years, their dramatic conversion moments, their pursuit of the numinous, and their writing careers. I just find it hard to understand why Lewis blindly ignored Joy's faults and foolishness just for the sake of good conversation.
The bio is arranged chronologically, which is very helpful. Though sometimes the timeline was slightly confusing. Somewhere in the 1951-54 range, I'm pretty sure the author says that Lewis was writing the last Narnia book (LB). But Lewis dedicated HHB to the Gresham brothers after meeting them, which would have been late 1953, at the earliest. You'd be confused if you didn't know that Lewis wrote HHB in 1950, but published it in 1954, after he'd met the Gresham brothers in late 1953 (when he was probably reviewing the HHB proofs, and so likely slipped in a dedication to them then). At least that's my guess.
Other books connected to Joy:
--Becoming Mrs. Lewis
--Surprised by Love: Her Life and Marriage to C.S. Lewis
--Women and C.S. Lewis: What his life and literature reveal for today's culture
The book doesn't shy away from Joy's flaws. I knew Joy was a writer, but I never knew just how much she wrote, how much she published (poetry and prose), and how determined she was to make a living by writing. Both Joy and Bill were single-minded in their efforts to support themselves solely by freelance writing, with limited success. Even after having children they never got stable, long-term jobs. And the money they did make they spent foolishly. And they never seemed to learn from their mistakes.
Yet the author avoids casting judgment against Joy or Bill, which I admired. Bill is also shown to be human, and we get plenty of direct quotes from him, too. The book provides a thorough and honest portrayal of the development of Joy and Bill's marriage, with letters and witnesses describing details from both sides. So many Lewis bios gloss over the Joy/Bill relationship, or only tell the revisionist, simplistic version of their marriage, formed by Joy many years later. Plenty of evidence shows Joy was not as innocent as many people make her out to be.
I'd forgotten that Lewis and Joy started corresponding as early as 1950. It's clear that Joy pursued Lewis intentionally--the evidence for this is staggering. The question is: How much? To what degree did she have power over Lewis? At times, Lewis seems unbelievably naive to her advances. Why did he ever tolerate her? At the same time, they have so much in common--their atheist younger years, their dramatic conversion moments, their pursuit of the numinous, and their writing careers. I just find it hard to understand why Lewis blindly ignored Joy's faults and foolishness just for the sake of good conversation.
The bio is arranged chronologically, which is very helpful. Though sometimes the timeline was slightly confusing. Somewhere in the 1951-54 range, I'm pretty sure the author says that Lewis was writing the last Narnia book (LB). But Lewis dedicated HHB to the Gresham brothers after meeting them, which would have been late 1953, at the earliest. You'd be confused if you didn't know that Lewis wrote HHB in 1950, but published it in 1954, after he'd met the Gresham brothers in late 1953 (when he was probably reviewing the HHB proofs, and so likely slipped in a dedication to them then). At least that's my guess.
Other books connected to Joy:
--Becoming Mrs. Lewis
--Surprised by Love: Her Life and Marriage to C.S. Lewis
--Women and C.S. Lewis: What his life and literature reveal for today's culture
March 13, 2016
Don't groan, because I mean it: I was surprised by "Joy." What a tragic and amazing life! It is truly a travesty that this story has not been told in this depth and detail before. The writing was perfect. The narrative was paced just right, the prose was smooth and even beautiful, and the perspective was neither hagiographical nor dismissive of its subject. Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis was a remarkable woman whose sins were as prodigious as her gifts. And yet the grace of God extends as far as you and me, why not to her?
As a huge Lewis fan and reader of multiple biographies about the man, I had absorbed a picture of Joy as, yes, a divorcée—but one whose terrible husband somewhat justified her flight from him. The reality is far more complex, and much worse for Joy's (and therefore Lewis') reputation. And I can't deny that the Debra Winger character in "Shadowlands," brashly calling out Jack's name in a men-only room on their first meeting, had also displaced reality in my mind, even though I knew it was a fictionalized retelling. Joy was brash, for sure, but I simply did not know how precocious, brilliant, and accomplished she was.
I was thoroughly taken by this biography. I devoured it in every spare moment. My love of Lewis drew me in, but a love for Joy came to suffuse my reading, too. I liked her. Reading her biography quickly became an unmitigated pleasure.
***
The reader, Bernadette Dunne, was the best I've ever heard in an audio book, changing her voice subtly during direct quotes, reading with the life and verve of Joy. She *became* Joy, even Lewis, when called upon, but not ostentatiously. (I did prefer Dunne at triple speed.)
As a huge Lewis fan and reader of multiple biographies about the man, I had absorbed a picture of Joy as, yes, a divorcée—but one whose terrible husband somewhat justified her flight from him. The reality is far more complex, and much worse for Joy's (and therefore Lewis') reputation. And I can't deny that the Debra Winger character in "Shadowlands," brashly calling out Jack's name in a men-only room on their first meeting, had also displaced reality in my mind, even though I knew it was a fictionalized retelling. Joy was brash, for sure, but I simply did not know how precocious, brilliant, and accomplished she was.
I was thoroughly taken by this biography. I devoured it in every spare moment. My love of Lewis drew me in, but a love for Joy came to suffuse my reading, too. I liked her. Reading her biography quickly became an unmitigated pleasure.
***
The reader, Bernadette Dunne, was the best I've ever heard in an audio book, changing her voice subtly during direct quotes, reading with the life and verve of Joy. She *became* Joy, even Lewis, when called upon, but not ostentatiously. (I did prefer Dunne at triple speed.)
January 17, 2016
Joy Davidman Lewis led a life full of chasing after one thing after another...never being completely satisfied. She was often hypocritical and controversial; nevertheless, she was memorable! By the end of the book, it is apparent that her cancer and marriage to C.S. Lewis finally softened her (somewhat) and increased her faith in God. My only complaint with this book is that it's slightly wordy in places and could have been edited down a bit...it took a long time to get going.
August 27, 2016
Sometimes Joy appealed to me; sometimes she repulsed me. Unfortunately, I think I the negative side of that teeter-totter bore the greater weight. I sympathize with those of Lewis's friends who liked her not. I also understand why he loved her, but I understand in a way that doesn't reflect very well on him. He should have protected her and himself from their entanglement. I think he too carelessly believed too many of her lies in order to convince himself that their union was lawful. I'm not so convinced. And I do not particularly like Joy's way of getting husbands -- her dishonest manipulating of Jack, her unfaithfulness to Bill, her neglect of her sons, her unrestrained self-indulgence regarding her own illicit desires. It's not terribly rational, but I found myself taking personal offense at her. She doesn't seem to have even bothered to try fighting against a host of temptations, some of which I battle, yet she got the golden ticket -- a good (though brief) marriage to a good man. That peeves me.
The book itself seemed well-researched and well-written, so my rating is more of Joy than of the author. I suppose that's not quite fair, but I've never made a secret of the subjectivity of my reviews. I'm just feeling too cranky to give it more than three stars.
The audio narrator was fine.
The book itself seemed well-researched and well-written, so my rating is more of Joy than of the author. I suppose that's not quite fair, but I've never made a secret of the subjectivity of my reviews. I'm just feeling too cranky to give it more than three stars.
The audio narrator was fine.
June 14, 2017
The rich, well-written and extensively researched biography of a most complex woman.
I was drawn to Joy Davidman's story the same way Ms. Santamaria was, and that is through C.S Lewis' books, particularly, Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed. The former introduced me to an accomplished thinker, the latter to a soul drowning in despair. A Grief Observed is a completely devastating read. Even now, I still can't bring myself to revisit it, but when I turned its last page I was breathless to find out more about the woman whose life so powerfully impacted Lewis. In my research regarding this, I stumbled upon Ms. Santamaria's book and decided to give it a chance, though, for the most part, I prefer reading autobiographies. I'd rather hear a person's story from their own perspective, but in interviews and blog posts about her book, Ms. Santamaria promised an honest, fair and deep account of Joy's life. Enthusiastic, I delved right into my copy of Joy when I received it.
When it comes to the way the biographer tells Joy's story, I would say that, in general, she keeps her promise. This is a fairly balanced narration of Joy's life; it walks the reader through her tumultuous childhood, the life-long difficulties she experienced with her parents, the formation of her iron-willed personality, her academic excellence, social awkwardness, as well as the challenges she faced as a wife, woman and author. Davidman's story is coherently, meticulously and tastefully told, revealing just how strong her presence could be. Her voice is very vivid in this book. Several passages from her writing pieces and letters are included throughout. Ms. Santamaria's careful research is evident as nothing about Joy's behaviour (which could at times be a bit cryptic) is ever advanced without proofs, proofs found in poems, letters, interviews, pictures, a long bibliography at the end of the book, all testimonies to the amount of hard-work it surely took to write Joy. But the biography's thickness is nothing to worry about, considering that Ms. Santamaria herself is quite of a captivating writer. I simply could not put the book down. I really couldn't. Only two things hindered me from giving it five stars : first, I felt like the description of Joy's life after meeting Lewis wasn't as rich as the description of her pre-Lewis days. (Things dragged on a bit, toward the end.) Second, and most importantly, I really, really wish I'd felt and seen the full impact that Joy's conversion to Christianity had on her late-life. Her conversion is mostly presented as a sentimental event that occurred before Joy went back to being, for the most part, the same manipulative and difficult person she was. I did, however, notice a slight softening in her character, mostly in her very last attempt to beat her terminal illness when it resurfaced. But I wished I had seen more of how Christ - more than Lewis - had changed her.
As for the woman herself, the subject of Joy, Lewis fans, beware. If C.S. was not only a superb thinker, but also a likeable, generous person (to those who liked him at least), his wife was the very opposite. I'd read that she could be a difficult person, but this book revealed just how controversial her personality was. Davidman, like Lewis, was brilliant - an absolute force to be reckoned with. Joy deserved every bit of the academic success she knew and much more. But for all her intelligence, her actions could be quite unintelligent and shocking, to be honest. (My jaw dropped when she neglected her own children to pursue Lewis.) However, to be fair, her behaviour has to be considered in light of the massive obstacles overcome throughout her lifetime : loneliness, financial problems, isolation, amongst other things. While I can't necessarily excuse some things she did, I greatly admire Joy's courage and have a feeling very few people - beside Lewis - truly knew her. To some she was a woman fully alive (who could surprisingly be very kind), to others, a nuisance. She reminds me of the Baudelairean idea that an artist is never truly understood by the society in which (s)he lives, and as I read Joy's provocative and fascinating story, I kept thinking about something Lewis apparently said : ''The love of knowledge is a form of madness.''
Rating : 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I was drawn to Joy Davidman's story the same way Ms. Santamaria was, and that is through C.S Lewis' books, particularly, Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed. The former introduced me to an accomplished thinker, the latter to a soul drowning in despair. A Grief Observed is a completely devastating read. Even now, I still can't bring myself to revisit it, but when I turned its last page I was breathless to find out more about the woman whose life so powerfully impacted Lewis. In my research regarding this, I stumbled upon Ms. Santamaria's book and decided to give it a chance, though, for the most part, I prefer reading autobiographies. I'd rather hear a person's story from their own perspective, but in interviews and blog posts about her book, Ms. Santamaria promised an honest, fair and deep account of Joy's life. Enthusiastic, I delved right into my copy of Joy when I received it.
When it comes to the way the biographer tells Joy's story, I would say that, in general, she keeps her promise. This is a fairly balanced narration of Joy's life; it walks the reader through her tumultuous childhood, the life-long difficulties she experienced with her parents, the formation of her iron-willed personality, her academic excellence, social awkwardness, as well as the challenges she faced as a wife, woman and author. Davidman's story is coherently, meticulously and tastefully told, revealing just how strong her presence could be. Her voice is very vivid in this book. Several passages from her writing pieces and letters are included throughout. Ms. Santamaria's careful research is evident as nothing about Joy's behaviour (which could at times be a bit cryptic) is ever advanced without proofs, proofs found in poems, letters, interviews, pictures, a long bibliography at the end of the book, all testimonies to the amount of hard-work it surely took to write Joy. But the biography's thickness is nothing to worry about, considering that Ms. Santamaria herself is quite of a captivating writer. I simply could not put the book down. I really couldn't. Only two things hindered me from giving it five stars : first, I felt like the description of Joy's life after meeting Lewis wasn't as rich as the description of her pre-Lewis days. (Things dragged on a bit, toward the end.) Second, and most importantly, I really, really wish I'd felt and seen the full impact that Joy's conversion to Christianity had on her late-life. Her conversion is mostly presented as a sentimental event that occurred before Joy went back to being, for the most part, the same manipulative and difficult person she was. I did, however, notice a slight softening in her character, mostly in her very last attempt to beat her terminal illness when it resurfaced. But I wished I had seen more of how Christ - more than Lewis - had changed her.
As for the woman herself, the subject of Joy, Lewis fans, beware. If C.S. was not only a superb thinker, but also a likeable, generous person (to those who liked him at least), his wife was the very opposite. I'd read that she could be a difficult person, but this book revealed just how controversial her personality was. Davidman, like Lewis, was brilliant - an absolute force to be reckoned with. Joy deserved every bit of the academic success she knew and much more. But for all her intelligence, her actions could be quite unintelligent and shocking, to be honest. (My jaw dropped when she neglected her own children to pursue Lewis.) However, to be fair, her behaviour has to be considered in light of the massive obstacles overcome throughout her lifetime : loneliness, financial problems, isolation, amongst other things. While I can't necessarily excuse some things she did, I greatly admire Joy's courage and have a feeling very few people - beside Lewis - truly knew her. To some she was a woman fully alive (who could surprisingly be very kind), to others, a nuisance. She reminds me of the Baudelairean idea that an artist is never truly understood by the society in which (s)he lives, and as I read Joy's provocative and fascinating story, I kept thinking about something Lewis apparently said : ''The love of knowledge is a form of madness.''
Rating : 4.5 out of 5 stars.
April 26, 2019
Probably 3.5 stars, but rounded to 4 because, well, it's the Lewises. I was drawn to this book after reading the wonderful historical fiction take on Joy Davidman, Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan Henry. Perhaps it's because I enjoyed that one so much that I didn't love this one quite as much—this one definitely felt heavy on dry fact after the emotional resonance and poignancy of Becoming Mrs. Lewis. But I'm still very glad I read this biography and appreciate the extensive knowledge it's given me on Joy Davidman. Joy was a fascinating woman who has been lost in the shadow of her husband for many years, but she's worthy of her own books and more. This account of her life is detailed, immersive, and does an admirable job of presenting her from many angles. She seems like a mass of contradictions, and perhaps she really was—she was a passionate and talented woman who knew what she wanted and went to many lengths to protect what she loved, but she was also reckless and manipulative and could be cruel with her words. I also find it interesting that C.S. Lewis, brilliant as he was, was by all appearances relatively naive in his relationship with her. But it's also moving to read about how their marriage became one of deep joy, intellectual partnership, and sacrificial love. And we certainly might not have some of Lewis's greatest works, including Till We Have Faces and The Four Loves, if not for Joy's influence. Behind a great man does indeed often stand a great woman, and Lewis also clearly brought out the best in Joy and pointed her towards the true Aslan in the ways she needed.
February 20, 2020
I am sad that I spent hours of my life listening to this audiobook. I was expecting a story of genuine repentance and redemption and was instead left wondering if this woman had ever really come to faith in Christ. It’s not that we don’t all have the self-centered heart that we see in Joy throughout her whole life; of course that is in all of us! But from this author’s account, she never saw the depth of her sin or repented to her first husband, children and others she had treated so contemptibly. Even at the end of her life it seemed her happiness was placed mostly in her love for Lewis. I would not recommend this book or call Joy’s life a story of redemption. I hope that there was more to her supposed faith than is captured in this book.
September 7, 2015
Joy Davidman Gresham became the wife of C.S. Lewis late in their lives. (Hers ended early because of cancer.) Her story has been hinted at in the movie Shadowlands, but this biography is a compelling "warts and all" look at the real woman. The author had access to source materials never available before, and she has given us a balanced and fascinating portrait of an intelligent person who did not let the conventional mores of her time impede what she wanted to do.
May 14, 2016
Best biography I've read. Thoroughly researched facts balanced with historical context, tells a gripping and beautiful story of redemption without assuming too much. "But although Joy's spiritual journey culminated in Christianity, her human condition continued to be plagued with self-interest, even hypocrisy. Those failings, however, did not nullify her faith; they reinforced the purpose of redemption."
January 20, 2016
Very interesting book. I had read many biographies of C. S. Lewis and this one certainly expanded the picture. I must say Joy Davidman Gresham came across as scheming and pathetic for most of her life, but by the end of the book, I found myself happy for her and Lewis at the place they reached together. A very good illustration of the sinful nature common to all of us and the possibility of change and redemption.
April 15, 2025
C. S. Lewis may have been surprised by joy (the concept) but I was surprised by Joy (the person)! I have literally been subjugating anyone who will listen to the insane life of this fascinating woman. I've never read a biography that feels like such a complete picture of a person-- flawed yet redemptive. Going from knowing a shadow of Joy Davidman Gresham to seeing the vast spectrum of her life is just nuts. also I know too much about Lewis's preferences now
September 14, 2017
An interesting and informative portrayal of Joy Davidman, who most famously became C. S. Lewis' wife, although this book helps to highlight that she did a lot else with her life too! I found that the book became increasingly engaging as it went on. I stumbled upon it and I am glad I read it.
November 1, 2018
An excellent biography, marred only by its subject.
August 31, 2015
I typically am not a fan of biographies. Despite the interesting lives they seek to portray, most writers indulge in feigned eruditeness and over inflated intellectualism. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein: A life is a life is a life. No need to embellish it; just tell the story; treat the subject as s/he is/was – a human being like the rest of us…with the same failings, foibles, fables, fantasies, and facts. But, alas, I have found this honest simplicity has been a rarity in the genre…
Then, this past weekend I read Joy [August 4, 2015] by Abigail Santamaria whose lilting, flowing writing style turns the tumultuous, albeit shortened life of Helen “Joy” Davidman – the wife of Clive Staples Lewis – into a stunning account that [pardon the pun] “joyously” reads like an historical novel.
Drawing upon masterfully meticulous research that uncovered nearly inaccessible material, Santamaria paints Joy not as an adjunct to C.S. Lewis’ life, but he to hers.
An accomplished and renowned writer in her own right, Joy was close to being a childhood prodigy, graduating from high school at 14 and, at 18, Hunter College, where she stretched and honed her literary muscles and first learned of the United States Communist Party [which she later joined]. A brash young women raised in New York in the 1920s and 1930s by strict Jewish parents – her father prided himself on being an authoritative school administrator – she joined the editorial staff of New Masses, the communist weekly magazine, for which she reviewed poetry and books and critiqued films. A skillful, prolific, and opinionated author with a distinctive leftist bent, she published several novels and a few collections of poetry before marrying William “Bill” Lindsay Gresham and bearing him two sons.
While claiming Stalin as her savior – she was an avowed atheist -- over the years, Joy became disenchanted with her life until one fateful evening when her alcoholic husband went missing she felt the close presence of God. This fateful event spearheaded both her and Bill’s search for spirituality, dabbling in Presbyterianism and then Dianetics before Joy discovered the Christian writings of C.S. Lewis. She was hooked…and the rest is, iterally, literary history. To disclose any more of it would taint the wondrousness of Santamaria’s biography of her brash, headstrong, courageous, and often quite unlovable, but more than fascinating and most interesting heroine.
However enamored I was reading Joy’s life, there were many times I really did not like her – as exemplified by many of Lewis’ [Jack’s] Oxford cronies and friends. How he managed to fall in love with and eventually marry this brazen, often crass, but absolutely brilliant woman who crashed into his life with two young boys in tow is a mystery that only Santamaria can masterfully solve. [Lewis finally once said, “…you just have to get to know her to appreciate her fine qualities.”] As this talented devut biographer puts pieces of the puzzle together, she reveals many interesting, heretofore unknown details about Joy’s – and later, Lewis’ -- life. Reading about them is almost as fascinating as reading The Chronicles of Narnia and Perelandia and will, as it did me, keep you up well into the night discovering them.
Santamaria also forthrightly dispels and debunks many of the common misconceptions about Joy’s relationship with C.S. Lewis [known to friends and family as Jack]: Surprised by Joy, his autobiography, which Joy helped edit, is not about her, but is titled after a poem by William Wordsworth about conversion to Christianity. Jack was not quite a confirmed bachelor in his early years [he was 17 years older then Joy]. Not at all enamored of and by Joy when she first burst into his life – as a matter of fact, he was often greatly annoyed by her presence – his love grew during the last years of her life. Shadowland, the movie about their “great love” was more than slightly inaccurate [Albeit, it still is an en”joy”able movie starring Debra Winger as Joy and Anthony Hopkins as Jack. Available on Netflix!]
As I said, I am not a fan of biographies. And had I had not known that Joy was the wife of one of my favorite of all time authors [and theologians], I sincerely doubt I would even have reviewed it for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. But, there you have it…I was, um, quite taken aback by how much I liked it. I guess, [a pun once again] I as delightfully surprised by Joy!
This is a life is a life is a life…pure and simple…of one woman searching, questioning, learning the power of redemption and…of love. Joy is so well written that it is an entertainingly easy read of a life that was not so easily well-lived. A true, um, joyously welcomed addition to the genre and to the literary world in general, Santamaria’s debut tour de force should not be missed…not even by the casual, non-intellectually minded reader.
Then, this past weekend I read Joy [August 4, 2015] by Abigail Santamaria whose lilting, flowing writing style turns the tumultuous, albeit shortened life of Helen “Joy” Davidman – the wife of Clive Staples Lewis – into a stunning account that [pardon the pun] “joyously” reads like an historical novel.
Drawing upon masterfully meticulous research that uncovered nearly inaccessible material, Santamaria paints Joy not as an adjunct to C.S. Lewis’ life, but he to hers.
An accomplished and renowned writer in her own right, Joy was close to being a childhood prodigy, graduating from high school at 14 and, at 18, Hunter College, where she stretched and honed her literary muscles and first learned of the United States Communist Party [which she later joined]. A brash young women raised in New York in the 1920s and 1930s by strict Jewish parents – her father prided himself on being an authoritative school administrator – she joined the editorial staff of New Masses, the communist weekly magazine, for which she reviewed poetry and books and critiqued films. A skillful, prolific, and opinionated author with a distinctive leftist bent, she published several novels and a few collections of poetry before marrying William “Bill” Lindsay Gresham and bearing him two sons.
While claiming Stalin as her savior – she was an avowed atheist -- over the years, Joy became disenchanted with her life until one fateful evening when her alcoholic husband went missing she felt the close presence of God. This fateful event spearheaded both her and Bill’s search for spirituality, dabbling in Presbyterianism and then Dianetics before Joy discovered the Christian writings of C.S. Lewis. She was hooked…and the rest is, iterally, literary history. To disclose any more of it would taint the wondrousness of Santamaria’s biography of her brash, headstrong, courageous, and often quite unlovable, but more than fascinating and most interesting heroine.
However enamored I was reading Joy’s life, there were many times I really did not like her – as exemplified by many of Lewis’ [Jack’s] Oxford cronies and friends. How he managed to fall in love with and eventually marry this brazen, often crass, but absolutely brilliant woman who crashed into his life with two young boys in tow is a mystery that only Santamaria can masterfully solve. [Lewis finally once said, “…you just have to get to know her to appreciate her fine qualities.”] As this talented devut biographer puts pieces of the puzzle together, she reveals many interesting, heretofore unknown details about Joy’s – and later, Lewis’ -- life. Reading about them is almost as fascinating as reading The Chronicles of Narnia and Perelandia and will, as it did me, keep you up well into the night discovering them.
Santamaria also forthrightly dispels and debunks many of the common misconceptions about Joy’s relationship with C.S. Lewis [known to friends and family as Jack]: Surprised by Joy, his autobiography, which Joy helped edit, is not about her, but is titled after a poem by William Wordsworth about conversion to Christianity. Jack was not quite a confirmed bachelor in his early years [he was 17 years older then Joy]. Not at all enamored of and by Joy when she first burst into his life – as a matter of fact, he was often greatly annoyed by her presence – his love grew during the last years of her life. Shadowland, the movie about their “great love” was more than slightly inaccurate [Albeit, it still is an en”joy”able movie starring Debra Winger as Joy and Anthony Hopkins as Jack. Available on Netflix!]
As I said, I am not a fan of biographies. And had I had not known that Joy was the wife of one of my favorite of all time authors [and theologians], I sincerely doubt I would even have reviewed it for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. But, there you have it…I was, um, quite taken aback by how much I liked it. I guess, [a pun once again] I as delightfully surprised by Joy!
This is a life is a life is a life…pure and simple…of one woman searching, questioning, learning the power of redemption and…of love. Joy is so well written that it is an entertainingly easy read of a life that was not so easily well-lived. A true, um, joyously welcomed addition to the genre and to the literary world in general, Santamaria’s debut tour de force should not be missed…not even by the casual, non-intellectually minded reader.
December 10, 2018
Joy Davidman Lewis is no longer just a footnote attached to her famous and beloved husband. JOY is a well written biography introducing us to the enigmatic woman who would astonishingly capture the heart of C.S. Lewis.
August 14, 2016
It's funny - I liked the book a lot, but I did not like the subject. I'm no scholar so I can't speak to the accuracy of the scholarship, but I thought it was very well done. (My Kindle version had more than 30% of the book devoted to notes, the index, and a bibliography.)
I was familiar with Davidman mostly through the film version of "Shadowlands." I felt sorry for her there - this typical American woman with the tragic life who was snubbed by the Oxford dons. Reading this, though, I'm pretty sure that if I had met her, I also would dislike her intensely. I have little tolerance for people who never shut up and I despise the kind of woman who pursues a man who is in a relationship or if she herself is currently in a relationship. I had a lot of sympathy for Bill Gresham after reading this.
As I was reading this, I was also aware of the stark contrast between Davidman and Dorothy Day. These women were contemporaries with some similarities in their spiritual path. Where Davidman was led to Communism and ultimately a Protestant form of Christianity, Day embraced a very personal form of socialism and Catholicism, the very model of practicing what you preach (and she was not much of a spoken preacher). Of the two, I'll stick with Day.
I was familiar with Davidman mostly through the film version of "Shadowlands." I felt sorry for her there - this typical American woman with the tragic life who was snubbed by the Oxford dons. Reading this, though, I'm pretty sure that if I had met her, I also would dislike her intensely. I have little tolerance for people who never shut up and I despise the kind of woman who pursues a man who is in a relationship or if she herself is currently in a relationship. I had a lot of sympathy for Bill Gresham after reading this.
As I was reading this, I was also aware of the stark contrast between Davidman and Dorothy Day. These women were contemporaries with some similarities in their spiritual path. Where Davidman was led to Communism and ultimately a Protestant form of Christianity, Day embraced a very personal form of socialism and Catholicism, the very model of practicing what you preach (and she was not much of a spoken preacher). Of the two, I'll stick with Day.
November 25, 2018
There are several problems with this biography of Joy Davidman, the woman who captivated C.S. Lewis. For one, she was not a particularly likable person who was enamored with Joseph Stalin and communism. Though bright and intelligent, she was opinionated and self-centered. She had few friends and was widely disliked by those around her. And she was a terrible mother and wife. The author had the unenviable task of trying to make her interesting. The other problem with the book is that C.S. Lewis doesn't enter the picture until the reader is more than half way through the book. I finally gave up and did not finish the book.
November 28, 2018
That was not what I thought it was going to be. Before this I read 'become Mrs. Lewis' by: Patti Callahan. Knowing it was a novel, I wanted to see how much of it was true. So I did a lot of Google. From what I was able to fine, Joy is usually painted as a saint with and past and Bill is painted as beyond evil. I like that we got see more of both sides. I like that this paints a fuller picture. Bill still isn't all that great at points but he's not the demon he's normally painted as. And Joy....Joy is a peace of work. Far more interesting
Want to read
February 28, 2016Interview with the author here.
July 10, 2018
First-rate biography. This will be the standard for anything else about Joy Gresham. The serious Lewis reader should also find their way here at some point... really a blessing of a book.
January 2, 2024
Dit boek gaat er vanuit dat je geïnteresseerd bent in Joy Davidman omdat je "A Grief Observed" hebt gelezen of Shadowlands gezien. Ik heb geen van beide gedaan, het stond in m'n "aanbevolen"-lijstje van Kobo en ik wil altijd wel een biografie over een vrouwelijke schrijver lezen.
Ik vind het sowieso interessant om te lezen over het leven in het interbellum, en dan specifiek als het om vrouwen gaat. Maar ten eerste is Joy een behoorlijk onplezierig karakter: egocentrisch, hypocriet, talentvol maar te arrogant om er echt iets van te maken - tenminste, dat meen ik in het boek te lezen.
Ten tweede mis ik de context om het echt te kunnen plaatsen. Joy trouwt met een andere schrijver, die verwacht dat zij stopt met schrijven (in elk geval grotendeels) en voor het huishouden en de kinderen gaat zorgen. Was dat normaal in hun kringen? Ze wilde ontzettend graag een man, was dat gebaseerd op een illusie of had ze ervan uit mogen gaan dat ze een gelijkwaardiger relatie zou hebben? Haar moeder werkte, ook toen het financieel niet hoefde. Uit het boek word je niet wijzer.
Je weet van tevoren hoe haar leven afloopt: getrouwd met C.S. Lewis, de ultieme oudere, intelligente man met hoge status waar ze haar hele leven al tot aangetrokken was. Hierbij gaat ze op zo'n lage manier met haar eerste man en haar kinderen om dat ik haar bijna misgun dat ze het voor elkaar kreeg. Maar blijkbaar waren ze samen ontzettend gelukkig, ook al waren ze allebei ziek (in haar geval stervende). Iemand die dat kan delen met een ander moet toch wel een mooie kern hebben.
Ik vind het sowieso interessant om te lezen over het leven in het interbellum, en dan specifiek als het om vrouwen gaat. Maar ten eerste is Joy een behoorlijk onplezierig karakter: egocentrisch, hypocriet, talentvol maar te arrogant om er echt iets van te maken - tenminste, dat meen ik in het boek te lezen.
Ten tweede mis ik de context om het echt te kunnen plaatsen. Joy trouwt met een andere schrijver, die verwacht dat zij stopt met schrijven (in elk geval grotendeels) en voor het huishouden en de kinderen gaat zorgen. Was dat normaal in hun kringen? Ze wilde ontzettend graag een man, was dat gebaseerd op een illusie of had ze ervan uit mogen gaan dat ze een gelijkwaardiger relatie zou hebben? Haar moeder werkte, ook toen het financieel niet hoefde. Uit het boek word je niet wijzer.
Je weet van tevoren hoe haar leven afloopt: getrouwd met C.S. Lewis, de ultieme oudere, intelligente man met hoge status waar ze haar hele leven al tot aangetrokken was. Hierbij gaat ze op zo'n lage manier met haar eerste man en haar kinderen om dat ik haar bijna misgun dat ze het voor elkaar kreeg. Maar blijkbaar waren ze samen ontzettend gelukkig, ook al waren ze allebei ziek (in haar geval stervende). Iemand die dat kan delen met een ander moet toch wel een mooie kern hebben.
January 11, 2024
I've been listening to the audio book from Audible.
Five stars, great job done...
If you love biographies, then this one is very good researched and never wearisome or tedious.
Though "Shadowland" the film is also good, you will have more light in Joys life, understanding much clear her motivations and decisions...
Joy and C. S. Lewis love affair counts clearly as one of the greatest modern literary love stories...
No doubt a drama, Joys resilient and persistent ambition to conquer one of the greatest Christian minds is her legacy and testify to the streng of her character!!!
Five stars, great job done...
If you love biographies, then this one is very good researched and never wearisome or tedious.
Though "Shadowland" the film is also good, you will have more light in Joys life, understanding much clear her motivations and decisions...
Joy and C. S. Lewis love affair counts clearly as one of the greatest modern literary love stories...
No doubt a drama, Joys resilient and persistent ambition to conquer one of the greatest Christian minds is her legacy and testify to the streng of her character!!!
March 28, 2020
The author meticulously weaves you through the life of Joy Lewis letting you understand clearly her passions and her inner drives for being here on Earth. You are introduced to all her family members and you get a pretty close glimpse of her relationship with CS Lewis which was not what I quite expected.
March 30, 2022
A tremendous biographical work about a complex woman whose interesting life led to one of the most interesting, but falsely advertised literary relationships of the last century.
November 3, 2019
I had recently read “Becoming Mrs. Lewis,” so naturally I had to follow up with a biography of Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis. The real woman I think had more complicated motivations in her pursuit of Lewis, and was considerably more intimidating and sometimes unpleasant than the woman in the fiction book. I’m not sure I would enjoy reading much of Joy Davidman’s published writings, but her letters were quite entertaining. She was brilliant, imposing, insightful, quick-witted and rough around the edges. I could see why she and C.S. Lewis ended up together. This was a well-written, well-researched book.
January 29, 2016
I really enjoyed this book, having read biographies of and autobiographical books by C.S. Lewis, and especially having read and loved 'Till We Have Faces,' which Lewis wrote with much input from Joy Davidman.
This biographer had access to much material from Davidman's early life, correspondence, poetry, and her first marriage. Hearing about Joy's brash, highly intelligent, and strongly leftist youth in the 1920s and 1930s, I was drawn to Davidman's story. Her bull-headed immaturity was very identifiable. She seemed always to be driven by strong passions. The author goes into a reasonable amount of detail concerning each phase of this driven and driving woman's life - as a child-prodigy student, as a schoolteacher and award-winning poet, as a Communist Party USA member and editor, as a failed Hollywood screenwriter, as a wife and working mother. We also learn about Bill Gresham, her first husband - an early folksinger and influencer of Pete Seeger, as well as a noir author. (For those reviewers who mentioned the romanticized film 'Shadowlands,' Joy's story is as closely related to the Barbara Streisand character in 'The Way We Were.' ;-)
Her romantic intrigues with Gresham and later C.S. Lewis are very interesting and not white-washed. Joy gives different stories to different people depending on what she needs at the time. I really enjoyed this warts-and-all biography of Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis, who seemed to mellow and find her best self when serving as an amanuensis to C.S. Lewis in the last decade of her life.
This biographer had access to much material from Davidman's early life, correspondence, poetry, and her first marriage. Hearing about Joy's brash, highly intelligent, and strongly leftist youth in the 1920s and 1930s, I was drawn to Davidman's story. Her bull-headed immaturity was very identifiable. She seemed always to be driven by strong passions. The author goes into a reasonable amount of detail concerning each phase of this driven and driving woman's life - as a child-prodigy student, as a schoolteacher and award-winning poet, as a Communist Party USA member and editor, as a failed Hollywood screenwriter, as a wife and working mother. We also learn about Bill Gresham, her first husband - an early folksinger and influencer of Pete Seeger, as well as a noir author. (For those reviewers who mentioned the romanticized film 'Shadowlands,' Joy's story is as closely related to the Barbara Streisand character in 'The Way We Were.' ;-)
Her romantic intrigues with Gresham and later C.S. Lewis are very interesting and not white-washed. Joy gives different stories to different people depending on what she needs at the time. I really enjoyed this warts-and-all biography of Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis, who seemed to mellow and find her best self when serving as an amanuensis to C.S. Lewis in the last decade of her life.
May 13, 2023
This is a painfully honest and thorough account of the woman who became C.S. Lewis' wife. I enjoyed the read, but it also troubled me.
I expected a conversion experience to bring about a change in Joy's behaviors and other evidence of sanctification. But that did not happen. She appeared to assent to Christianity intellectually, but there's no evidence in my mind that it affected her heart. Her love for Lewis appears more like an idolatrous obsession, and at times she privately complains of him loving God more than he loves her. She manipulates and almost seduces him. By the end, I didn't know what to make of Joy Gresham or of Lewis' decision to marry her.
This account of Joy's life is a startling reminder that we should not allow love for another human to supercede our love for God. It's also a wake-up call to the fact that intellectual assent to Christian teachings doesn't make you a Christian.
I expected a conversion experience to bring about a change in Joy's behaviors and other evidence of sanctification. But that did not happen. She appeared to assent to Christianity intellectually, but there's no evidence in my mind that it affected her heart. Her love for Lewis appears more like an idolatrous obsession, and at times she privately complains of him loving God more than he loves her. She manipulates and almost seduces him. By the end, I didn't know what to make of Joy Gresham or of Lewis' decision to marry her.
This account of Joy's life is a startling reminder that we should not allow love for another human to supercede our love for God. It's also a wake-up call to the fact that intellectual assent to Christian teachings doesn't make you a Christian.
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