Perelandra (The Space Trilogy, #2) in Generation Joshua

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Perelandra (The Space Trilogy, #2)

C.S. Lewis

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Oct 18, 2009 Amy rated it liked it

Shelves: c-s-lewis

It was good and gave me a lot to think about, you can tell its by the same author as Narnia :D

Perfection is not an easy thing to grasp hold of. The very notion of good seems completely unfathomable, much less flawlessness. What might the world have been like before sin? What would it be like to think and live in absolute innocence?
C.S. Lewis takes a stab at these questions and more in his fascinating sequel to 鈥淥ut of the Silent Planet鈥� and second book in the 鈥淪pace Trilogy鈥�, with 鈥淧erelandra It was good and gave me a lot to think about, you can tell its by the same author as Narnia :D

Perfection is not an easy thing to grasp hold of. The very notion of good seems completely unfathomable, much less flawlessness. What might the world have been like before sin? What would it be like to think and live in absolute innocence?
C.S. Lewis takes a stab at these questions and more in his fascinating sequel to 鈥淥ut of the Silent Planet鈥� and second book in the 鈥淪pace Trilogy鈥�, with 鈥淧erelandra鈥�.
Protagonist Edwin Ransom is back, a little grayer in the beard and wiser in space travel from his last experience as an unwitting voyager to Malacandra years earlier. When the Oyarsa of Malacandra comes with orders that he is to help protect Perelandra (Venus) from the Bent-Oyarsa of Thulcandra (Earth), he willingly agrees. He soon finds himself in the midst of an 鈥渙ceanic paradise鈥�, a planet entirely of ocean, floating islands, and strange animals; completely without sin. The only two inhabitants of it is a green-skinned woman, Tinidril, Queen and future Mother of all (like our Eve) and her husband, Tor, the King (like our Adam). Though Tinidril, or the Green Lady, features frequently in the story, Tor doesn鈥檛 make an appearance until the end. It is Tinidril who comes upon Ransom after he has arrived; a woman completely sinless and pure who talks with Maleldil. They are soon joined by Ransom鈥檚 old antagonist, Weston, though a much more demon possessed version. A battle for good and evil soon begins, as Weston, in his new demonic-self, works to convince the woman to disobey Maleldil and stay a night on the 鈥榝ixed lands鈥�, the one thing forbidden. In a race to prevent sin from entering Perelandra, Ransom must deal with resisting temptation and fighting blatant evil with truth.
To be honest, I found several things quite awkward, especially the fact that no one on Perelandra wears any sort of clothing (including Ransom). The book is incredibly visual, encouraging you to observe and imagine which leaves the visualization of naked people way to noticeable. Though Lewis makes a point of explaining Ransom never even thinks of lusting or seducing his companion, I know I鈥檓 not the only one who found it incredibly uncomfortable.
Perelandra is a beautiful planet, but the writing has a tendency to get overly descriptive and tedious, losing you in a mouthful of adjectives. The plot also has a tendency to not go anywhere, dragging scenes out even after they鈥檝e made their point. I also found the Green Lady frequently difficult, flat and lacking in much depth. Her bland innocence, especially during the debates and near the end, loses her initial appeal.
One thing I did really like was the description of growing older and wiser. While trying to explain to Ransom how she is 鈥榤uch older鈥� today as opposed to yesterday, Tinidril says, 鈥淚t is very strange to say one is young at the moment one is speaking. But to-morrow I shall be older. And then I shall say I was young today鈥his looking backwards and forwards along the line and seeing how a day has one appearance as it comes to you, and another when you are in it, and a third when it has gone past. Like the waves鈥ut waves do not always come at an equal distance.鈥�
Published not long after 鈥淎 Preface to Paradise Lost鈥�, many critics like to point out the similarity between the famous poem and Perelandra in topics, many themes include the nature of sinless personality, Satan鈥檚 dreariness, and the resisting of temptation. It is also fascinating to note that Lewis based Ransom after his great friend J. R.R. Tolkien!
Though this is arguably not one of his best works, few authors can bring as much satisfaction and good sense into a book as C.S. Lewis. Though lacking finesse and frequently tedious, it is a truly fascinating and stunning book. His willingness to approach the ideas and explore Genesis chapter 2 in a whole new way, creates a refreshing and surprising experience. In the end, I have to say I really liked it. It鈥檚 a very certain sort of book, the kind of story that makes you think but leaves you much better off in the end because of it. I certainly didn鈥檛 agree with everything he said, but I enjoyed reading it and strongly recommend it.
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Oct 15, 2009 Tori rated it it was ok

Shelves: for-genj-book-club, fantasy

Written for book club:
Anticlimactic. Dull, flat characters. Lengthy undescriptive descriptions. These are all things that come to mind when I think of C.S. Lewis' Perelandra.
At first the book had some promise. As the second novel in Lewis' space trilogy, I thought that it would be similar to what the first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was. Granted, the first book was mediocre, but it was interesting. When I started to read Perelandra, it looked like it might have been even better then the fi Written for book club:
Anticlimactic. Dull, flat characters. Lengthy undescriptive descriptions. These are all things that come to mind when I think of C.S. Lewis' Perelandra.
At first the book had some promise. As the second novel in Lewis' space trilogy, I thought that it would be similar to what the first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was. Granted, the first book was mediocre, but it was interesting. When I started to read Perelandra, it looked like it might have been even better then the first one. Unfortunately, after a few chapters, I realized that it wasn't better--it was worse.
For starters, the plot was weak. When the story begins Ransom is sent to Venus or as it is called in the book, Perelandra. He doesn't know the purpose of his visit, but he knows that he is there to do something. It turns out that that something is defeating the now demon possessed antagonist from Out of the Silent Planet.
However, before any action or plot is introduced, Ransom explores the planet. This takes several chapters which in the end can be summed up thusly: there is stationary land, floating islands, and an ocean. All of this is told to the reader through lengthy, uninteresting descriptions. The author's use of phrases such as "He could never tell us... whether it was sharp or sweet, savory or voluptuous, creamy or piercing" had no meaning and were redundant. They told the reader absolutely nothing. One or maybe even two of such descriptions would have been acceptable, but the book was filled with them. Lewis's job as an author is to paint a picture for his readers. Instead he showed things that were to broad to be of any use.
The characters in the book were one-dimensional. Besides Ransom, who is busily looking at the world around him like a poet, there is a woman and the demon possessed Weston. Ransom had no growth through the book. The woman was sinless with the thought processes of a child. Because she lacked depth or anything the reader could relate to, she was uninteresting. Weston came over as more of a nuisance then a dangerous villain.
The climax came nearer to the center of the novel than the end. This makes the reader lose interest since the highlight of the book is shown too quickly. If that wasn't bad enough, the climax was very unclimatic . It rose slowly to it's apex, and then just as slowly, it dwindled away. It lacked enthusiasm. The reader finds that they are filled with a mild curiosity about what might happen next, but not an intense longing to see what is about to take place.
After that, and before the "climax" for that matter, the book was filled with lengthy theological discussions, half of which were irrelevant. To top that off, some of the points that are made have no Biblical grounds. They were merely the opinions of the author.
Perelandra, all in all, was a major writing disaster. I will never read this book again, nor would I suggest anyone else read it either.
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Nov 02, 2022 Sara Horn rated it it was amazing

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