I was very excited at the chance to write a review of the The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It's a movie I had eagerly awaited ever since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe had shown 18 months prior. In anticipation I re-read Prince Caspian just before opening day.

I have begun to catch on that when something bothers me—a speaker, a movie, or a book like A Severe Mercy—my irritation is probably a symptom of a disease that needs healing. Like the cough that I curse for its irritating persistence, the irksome message may be precisely what I need to purge me of things putrid and get me breathing right.

In Sheldon Vanauken’s spiritual autobiography of the love he shared—and lost—with his wife, Jean Davis (“Davy”), the mediocrity of my love for God is diagnosed and exposed. A severe blow, and mercifully so.