The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Rude uncle writes incompetent nephew about their work in hell.

I faintly recall reading this somewhere in late high school or early college and I don’t remember if I finished it. I doubt I did.

A not-religious friend enjoyed the book a while back and was curious how I’d react to it, which made me wonder too. The religious era of my life is long gone, but I finished the book this time around!

I read even slower than usual; for some reason the sentence structure was anything but flowing, so I’d often have to read and re-read to track a thought to its conclusion. It was odd to step around some Christian fundamentals rather than nod along with them, but also worth it because so much about people seemed so accurately portrayed in these letters.

There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.

Plenty of descriptions like this made me smile:

Fun is closely related to Joy—a sort of emotional froth arising from the play instinct.

Hot take on social media (from 1942):

You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the ‘best’ people, the ‘right’ food, the ‘important’ books. I have known a human defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions.

The entire book is one working devil writing to another and a clever way to elucidate Christianity, but even with framing I’m not sold on there were some lovely characterizations I can readily get on board with:

The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour’s talents—or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognise all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things.

I wish it’d been a more comfortable read, but it was interesting and ultimately worthwhile.