The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Four Loves
Book Review: Best Book Ever Written on Love
Summary: 5 Stars
Lewis' genius in all his writings shows forth as piercing insight in warm and delightful prose, and he brilliantly succeeds in this book. There has been more written on love than perhaps any other topic, but the vast majority is mindless drivel or hormone driven blindness or sentimental fluff or philosphical madness. Lewis will have none of that: he sets forth the nature and varieties of human and divine love, and through his keen insight allows us to see ourselves, others, and God better.
His basic franework for the book is looking at love through the four different kinds of love that the Greeks defined. He devotes chapters to the "natural" human loves of storge, the love of family affection; philia, the love of friendship; eros, the love of sexual love and romance. He looks at their characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. He also looks at love through a three fold division between need-love, gift-love, and the love of appreciation.
Lastly, he examines agape, the selfless love of charity. In some of the most beautiful passages he ever wrote Lewis describes how agape perfects our natural loves and prepares us both to truly love God and be like Him. "When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it."
Leading a life marked by love is not a matter of just reading a book, but understanding the nature of God and the nature of love. This book is welcome wisdom in leading such a life.
Book Review: CS Lewis, The Four Loves
Summary: 4 Stars
A very deep and thoughtful work, from which there is much to be learnt. It is not the type of work that can be read in haste or in one sitting. The discussion on the four loves are much too intense to be glossed over. It is well suited not only for the deeply religious but also for anyone desirous of a greater understanding of the many and important attributes of this one simple word Love.Book Review: Characteristic Insight
Summary: 5 Stars
There is really some dynamite material in here. C.S. Lewis explains in typical style and clarity all that is right and wrong with love. Dealing with affection (that warm, fuzzy, it-sure-bugs-me-how-you-twiddle-your-thumbs-but-it's-endearing-in-a-funny-sort-of-a-way type of love you experience after knowing people for a while), friendship, Eros (romantic love, not to be confused with Venus (sexual passion), which is only an element of Eros), and charity, the highest of the loves, Lewis explains the glory of each, and the temptations that arise because of the glory. Much of the book is just hilarious, since he points out little faults common to us all, and he makes it easy to laugh at ourselves. But he also offers much practical advice, good for understanding and enriching our relationships.Main thesis of the book: If you make love God, love becomes a demon. Love is a great gift from God, but because love is so lovely, it's a great temptation to serve it as the whole end and purpose of life. But if this occurs, love becomes a demon, and turns against you. Keep God at the forefront of your mind and your relationships, and love can be kept rich and sweet in its proper perspective.
Book Review: Comes full-circle in a beautiful and penetrating way
Summary: 5 Stars
By splitting human love into four basic categories, C.S. Lewis creates a stunning and convincing commentary on our existence. Throughout the text, the question "Which love is closest to God's love?" is strung. Lewis does an amazing job at answering this question, and the book comes full-circle in the end and proves that "to love is to be vulnerable". The Four Loves digresses quite far from where C.S. Lewis normally writes. Discussions include detailed definitions and explications of the Greek gods and how they relate to our lives. Still, this book is 100% Lewis. An essential book for the "thinker types", and a must for any fan of C.S. Lewis.Book Review: Different Approach to Relationships
Summary: 5 Stars
I used to think that if I just found the "perfect" way to do relationships, I would never get hurt or have my heart broken.
Lewis counters that kind of thinking. Love is vulnerable, and you will get hurt, he says, and the only place you can fully escape from the "dangers and perturbations" of love is in Hell.
This book helped me, and I hope it will help you, to break free from the mindset of seeking to avoid hurt in relationships, and replace it with a desire to truly love other people.
We can never entirely avoid hurt or pain in relationships, but if we approach relationships with the mindset of avoiding pain, we will never experience the joy of true love.
This book's scope is not limited to one kind of relationship. It is the "Four Loves," after all. Four kinds of love...affection, friendship, eros, and charity.
Lewis truly goes through the whole gamut of love. He covers what he calls the "likings and loves for the sub-human" (like a pet), simple affection for other people and family, the love that friends share, romantic love, and then God's love--the fullest expression of love.
I think perhaps this is one of the best books on love and relationships (for the two are inexplicably bound up in each other) that I have ever read. I don't think you will be able to read this book without being changed.