Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Many negative reviews center on the idea that Joy is unlikeable and even unsympathetic. I disagree; I think the strongest point in Callahan's favor is that she very convincingly portrays a woman who is profoundly lonely in her own life. Joy tries desperately to fit in to the life she is living, but it's just not going to work. I thought the description of Joy's "awakening" when she gets to England was beautiful and very convincing. After that, however, it starts to come apart at the seams. Callahan's dialogue is downright awful in most places. Between Joy and Jack it is convincing, probably because she had so much material to study, but with almost anyone else it is laughably stilted. No relationship in the book aside from Joy and Jack is interesting or believable. They are like cardboard cut outs of dinner partners and villains; a simulacrum of a real life. But the biggest problem I had was that Callahan does not seem to truly understand Christianity (or maybe Joy didn't?). Joy Davidman married one of the most famous Christians on the planet, and yet in the book, Joy's Christianity only comes into consideration only in moments of intense suffering or confusion (the "God of the 911"). Callahan throws out random details like attending liturgy, but they seem like just that: details thrown in to paint a convincing picture, not details that illuminate the character and her thoughts. I don't think that Callahan understands that Christianity is more than a moral philosophy. CS Lewis certainly did, and if the real Joy didn't, that was a profound chasm between them. And yet Callahan portrays them as being largely of one heart and mind when it comes to conversion and living a life of Faith. In the end, it is an unconvincing portrayal of how this unlikely couple ended up together.