2015 Reading Challenge -- A Book Published in the Year You Were Born

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

A retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth from the point of view of Psyche's sister Orual. The original myth tells the tale of Psyche, a mortal woman whose beauty rivaled that of Aphrodite. Aphrodite is jealous and sends her son, Cupid, to curse Psyche but he falls in love with her. However, he tells her that she must never light the lamp and look upon his face when they are together. In the original myth Psyche's two sisters are jealous and convince her to disobey Cupid. She is then cast into the wilderness and given impossible tasks to complete. Each time Psyche is given help with the tasks and eventually Cupid and Psyche are reunited,

In this retelling, Orual is the narrator, She is extremely unattractive, and is jealous of Psyche. But she is also obsessed with her sister and wants to keep her for her own. In the retelling, Orual's obsessive love for Psyche is what motivates her to convince Psyche to disobey Cupid, resulting in Psyche's banishment into the wilderness. For most of the rest of Orual's life she mourns and regrets her selfish actions. However, by the end, the gods intervene and at the end of Orual's life she and Psyche are reunited. As in, they are united. As in, they become one and the same person.

I am not familiar with C.S. Lewis' writing (except for The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe) and I am certainly not familiar with Greek and Roman mythology. So I don't really understand why Lewis felt he needed to rewrite this myth. So the truth is, I filled the "Published in the Year You Were Born" category, but I wish I had picked something else.