Till We Have Faces

Till We Have Faces for C. S. Lewis if you want a thought-provoking standalone that will leave you with many feelings to work through

Till We Have Faces is badass, and I'm pretty sure it's because the strongest emotional portions in there were written by Joy Davidman. ... The book is just plain good.

I read it last year and then read it again like 3 weeks later, which is not a thing I generally do. There’s just so much meaning and symbolism to it and Orual as a character is so deeply flawed for such understandable reasons; it’s a really special book to me.

This is probably the best written CS Lewis book. I enjoyed it.

It's one of my favorite books of all time. It hollows me out everytime I read it, because I feel as if all of my faults are laid out bare, right in front of me, and then condemned by the gods. ... the ending--while not a HAPPY ending, per se---is thoroughly cathartic.

As some who adores retelling/reinterpretations and also has been a big fan of Lewis since childhood? Yeah, I rate this super highly.

as someone who really enjoys a “beauty and the beast”/cupid and psyche retelling and was also a big Narnia fan as a kid, I’d say it was an interesting step in my reading life. ... Its an interesting way of thinking about myth, storytelling, and “truth” in general

It is, in my opinion, the author's greatest work. As you said, the main character is extremely well written, the setting is elegantly realized, and the retelling of the myth is itself mythical and transformative.

It's loosely based on the Cupid and Psyche myth, and it has the weirdest, most spine-tingling, mind-altering ending. It has good female characterization