100 Books Every Woman Should Read - Lilith*

"This fantasy title is richly mysterious and difficult to summarize. Lilith was Adam's first wife (before Eve) and this story plays with the myth and displays a rich world of delight."

This is the dumbest piece of heretical trash it has been my misfortune to encounter.

First of all - it's not even interesting. The beginning is tedious. The author attempts to be deep and philosophical but only succeeds in thoroughly confusing the reader. I would guess that most people would not get past the first couple of chapters (the only reason I did is because I want to be able to say I've read the whole list of 100 Books Every Woman Should Read). At 3/4 of the way through the book you still have no idea what the heck is going on or where this is all going. And the ending is attrocious! I think the author is attempting to make some sort of theological point but, once again, he only succeeds in utterly confounding the reader.

Secondly, once the story actually gets going, at 3/4 of the way through the book, it's heretical. The whole thing is so theologically incorrect it's not even funny and forget any concept of angelology (the study of angels).

Lilith was written prior to The Chronicles of Narnia and Lewis credited the author, George MacDonald, with inspiring his writing style. However, Lewis soars far above and beyond MacDonald in contributions to the literary world. Did I not know that Lilith preceded Narnia I would say that it seems as though MacDonald was attempting to write a Narnia-esque story but fell abysmally short. The beginning, indeed, comes off more like The Phantom Tollbooth (which is a good book but definitely not in the same class as Narnia) and the author then enters into all sorts of heresy which, to the best of my knowledge, C.S. Lewis never did, despite the fact that he never became a Catholic.

The sole redeeming quality of the book is the scattering of good quotes throughout:

• "We are often unable to tell people what they need to know, because they want to know something else."
• "The part of philanthropist is indeed a dangerous one; and the man who would do his neighbor good must first study how not to do him evil, and must begin by pulling the beam out of his own eye."
• "The man who grounds his action on another's cowardice, is essentially a coward himself."
• (speaking of the tyrannical princess) "She it is who keeps us safe and free and rich!"
• "The birth of children is in her eyes the death of their parents, and every new generation the enemy of the last."