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Product Description
Review
—Mary McCarthy, author of Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
“A scrupulous record of one woman’s spiritual journey, excellently written and profoundly moving."
—Cosmopolitan
“An emotive, spiritually intimate, and often quite moving memoir ... written with affection, some humour, and bittersweet regret.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Karen Armstrong:
“Karen Armstrong is a genius.”
—A. N. Wilson, author of Jesus: A Life
“Armstrong has a dazzling ability: she can take a long and complex subject and reduce it to the fundamentals, without oversimplifying.”
—The Sunday Times
“Armstrong is a lucid writer with a knack for synthesizing vast quantities of research. Formidable learning and a clear analytical eye.”
—The Globe and Mail
Book Description
Through the Narrow Gate is Karen Armstrong’s intimate memoir of life inside a Catholic convent. With honesty and clarity, she explains what drove her at age seventeen to devote herself to God. Over the next seven years, she endures the difficulties of convent life — the enforced silence, the lack of friendship and family, her own guilt at not being able to stifle her voracious intelligence — and unveils the secrets of religious life during the post–Vatican II years.
Through the Narrow Gate is a moving account of a young woman’s search for God and the experiences that put Karen Armstrong on her way to becoming one of the most admired and most respected interpreters of religious faith.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why did she join a convent?,
By A Customer
This is the true story of the author's adolescense told in her own words. It is well-written and an engaging read. It tells the story of how the author joined a convent and the nuns turned out to be these (not-so-repressed) sadists, who went out of their way to make her life hell in order to teach her "submission" to Christ. So much for the story.The hard part is in separating the author from the writing. The author speaks purely from her own perspective. There's no historical context added to help the reader understand what was happening in England of the late 50's and early 60's that would make joining a convent seem like a reasonable choice. The author doesn't really explain, for example: WHY did she join a convent? Was it rebellion? Conformity? Insanity? How did her commitment to complete and utter submission become so total? How could Vatican II have not seemed to touch her life? So, that's what I have to say about the structure of the story: it's good, but it also reads a little like a Judy Blume book -- outside of all historical and social context. But then there's also the author (it is an auto-biography after all). Actually this book reminds me of 2 other autobiographical books I have read: The Accidental Office Lady by Laura Krista (I think) and Wasted by Marya Hornbacher. In all three of these books, young women make these drastic decisions (one to become a nun, one to go work in Japan, and the third becomes anorexic). Then they stick to their guns, just to prove that they can stick to their guns. In other words, these books leave me asking: why? Why do women in the 20th century need to prove themselves by picking some far-flung image of femininity (utter submission for 2 of them and utter thinness for the third) and then nearly destoying themselves to fullfill these images. What is it about our society that makes us look ridiculous when we stand up and say "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? This is ridiculous and destructive!" So, those are some of the thoughts that I had while reading this book..... you cheer for her when she defends herself against the sadistic nuns, but then, sadly we (females) identify with her when she beats herself over the head for failing to be submissive enough.... It's a sad spiral.....
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read Book,
By A Customer
If you have read any of Karen Armstrong's writings, you must read this book. It reveals her personal history as a nun and how that experience has led to various spiritual leanings. I have heard her speak in person several times, and I strongly encourage both the devoutly religious and non-religious alike to read her books and look for opportunities to hear her speak.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Through the Narrow Gate,
By silvia s crockett (san antonio, texas United States) - See all my reviews
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