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In the lucid yet reflective manner that is Armstrong's trademark, The Spiral Staircase recalls her painful early life as a nun, her even more painful reentry into secular society, and most compellingly, the long-undiagnosed epilepsy that made her life a horror show of phantom visions and misplaced hours. We follow Armstrong to the Middle East and elsewhere as she searches for answers to questions no less daunting than the significance of faith. Yet what drives Armstrong is her distaste for and distrust of those who see only black or white, never shades of grey. "I disliked the crusading certainty of Ayatollah Khomeini, yet I was also disturbed by the shrill rhetoric of some of Rushdie's champions," she writes in the wake of debate over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses and the ensuing fatwa issued by the extremists on the Islamic right. Indeed, as religious dogma divides the world in ever new ways, Armstrong's learned views are especially resonant. But The Spiral Staircase, its name inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem cycle Ash-Wednesday, is not a polemic, despite Armstrong's forceful and persuasive arguments for religious tolerance. Rather, it's a beautiful letter sent by a gifted writer attempting to decode the meaning of her life. Who can't relate? --Kim Hughes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read,
By C.A.B. (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (Hardcover)
In today's society, we sometimes hide behind masks or fail to question why we do the things we do. I think that Karen Armstrong's memoir, in part centered on Eliot's "Ash Wednesday", describes her questioning of who she is and who God is. This time, she wrote her story from a more mature place that was deeper than denial or anger.Finding no God, Karen left an authoritarian convent feeling simultaneously free, yet adrift, with no clear way out. While believing her relationship with God was over, she wrestled with shifts in her inner life, undiagnosed epilepsy, and career ups and downs. She likened herself to Tennyson's Lady of Shallot whose struggle to free herself from her prison almost destroyed her. Eventually, she found God, both unknowable and compassionate. Also, Karen's wisdom and compassion has permeated her work with people from many religious backgrounds. I was interested in her understanding of the roles of belief, action, and compassion in religion. Her quote of Louis Massignon's "science of compassion" was helpful when I wrote school papers, or in ordinary conversations. I was particularly grateful for her insights into Islam, including her reminders not to judge any faith by its extremists and to consider how we contributed to the situation.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
ENCOURAGING AND INSPIRATIONAL,
By
This review is from: The Spiral Staircase Cd (Audio CD)
Karen Armstrong speaks to the seekers - seekers of truth, seekers of wisdom, and those who are engaged in a search for God. It's a given that we learn from the lives of others. Yet few have experienced this author's profound spiritual journey and been able to share it so articulately. It is not that her powerful story needs added luster for it stands alone. Yet, hearing this reading in her voice does very much enrich the listener's experience. In addition, it is well worth replaying - a journey one would wish to hear related again and again. For those not familiar with her best-selling hardcover book, Ms. Armstrong spent 7 years in a Roman Catholic convent. She left that protected place in 1969, deeply disappointed that she had not found God there. The world she reentered was vastly changed, and she fell prey to panic attacks and inexplicable seizures - enough to terrify the bravest soul. She turned to psychiatry for help but that was a dead-end; her search for work was fruitless. At last, in 1976, it was found that she had epilepsy and she received appropriate care. Next, she turned to writing and an exploration of faiths other than Christianity, much to the benefit of a world anxious for words of reassurance. She is not only a role model but a splendid teacher as well. All who listen to her words are her beneficiaries.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
ENCOURAGING AND INSPIRATIONAL,
By
This review is from: The Spiral Staircase Cd (Audio CD)
Karen Armstrong speaks to the seekers - seekers of truth, seekers of wisdom, and those who are engaged in a search for God. It's a given that we learn from the lives of others. Yet few have experienced this author's profound spiritual journey and been able to share it so articulately. It is not that her powerful story needs added luster for it stands alone. Yet, hearing this reading in her voice does very much enrich the listener's experience. In addition, it is well worth replaying - a journey one would wish to hear related again and again. For those not familiar with her best-selling hardcover book, Ms. Armstrong spent 7 years in a Roman Catholic convent. She left that protected place in 1969, deeply disappointed that she had not found God there. The world she reentered was vastly changed, and she fell prey to panic attacks and inexplicable seizures - enough to terrify the bravest soul. She turned to psychiatry for help but that was a dead-end; her search for work was fruitless. At last, in 1976, it was found that she had epilepsy and she received appropriate care. Next, she turned to writing and an exploration of faiths other than Christianity, much to the benefit of a world anxious for words of reassurance. She is not only a role model but a splendid teacher as well. All who listen to her words are her beneficiaries.
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