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- A wonderful realistic fictional take on multireligious India
- The Soul Must Travel through Eighty Four Thousand Births to Become a Man...
- Poetic descriptions and an intriguing narrative
- Winding down the thread
- To become human...
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A River Sutra
Gita Mehta
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0679752471
Release Date: 1994-06-28 |
Book Description
With imaginative lushness and narrative elan, Mehta provides a novel that combines Indian storytelling with thoroughly modern perceptions into the nature of love--love both carnal and sublime, treacherous and redeeming. "Conveys a world that is spiritual, foreign, and entirely accessible."--Vanity Fair. Reading tour.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful realistic fictional take on multireligious India.......2006-12-27
As an undergraduate student of comparative religions I've become gradually acquainted with the complex mosaic that is multireligious India. For an area that saw the birth of Buddhism, Vedic Brahmanism, Jainism and Classical Indian Theism (aka "Hinduism") as well as one that was historically also home to ancient Jewish, later Christian, and one of the largest populations of Muslims in the world, a lot of people in the west know very little about the rich cultural, religious and social history of the Indian subcontinent. This book is not only an excellent, accurate portrayal of the variegated cultural situation in India, it's also an engaging, well-written, compelling collection of short stories that stands on its own as a work of fiction.
Mehta tells the story of a retired government official who now resides on one of the largest and holiest rivers in India. The official was never a religious man, but now that he has a chance to relax and observe his surroundings, he is able to take in the diversity around him and start his own query into the spiritual side of life. Using this frame, Mehta illustrates the official's encounters with numerous characters who, each in turn, tell their stories to the retired official. As the collection progresses, he encounters many characters, including a Jain mendicant, a Muslim music teacher, a wandering ascetic, a courtesan seeking her kidnapped daughter, a virtuoso sitar player, and a tea plantation official who has encountered Nagas. Throughout, Mehta uses each character to explore different religious themes that are represented in India and weaves them all into a cohesive search for spiritual truth, all with a surprising ending that will make you want to re-read the whole book just so you can try to understand.
A River Sutra is easy to read and enjoyable too. I read this book as a culmination for a course on religion in India and found it to be an excellent fictional summation of different religious themes that I had already learned about. Although I already had read more "academic" and traditional texts about these subjects, this book was a welcome take on each religion interacting with others. Sure, there are more technically informing textbooks and religious texts you could read to understand beliefs and practices of Indians, but you won't get a more enjoyable and readable work of beautiful literature to start off your learning. I think this book will pique your interest in the different subjects and offer you a gateway into many wonderful religious literary and academic traditions (whatever interests you) that you may not have already known about. Out of all the books I've read in courses on religion, A River Sutra is the one I most often recommend to anyone and everyone who likes a good book.
The Soul Must Travel through Eighty Four Thousand Births to Become a Man..........2006-01-21
A River Sutra is a strange mystical book... rich with stories and beliefs, which grow and have lived forever at the banks of the Holy River Narmada.
The narrator believes that he has renounced the world and is living happily now away from the sharp corners of real life in his bungalow by Narmada.
As he moves from one story to the other, strewn at the banks of this river he finds many questions, several incomplete endings and many aspects of life not yet experienced by him.
The stories themselves are beautiful - some sad but always beauiful, intricately and strongly binded together by the river which runs through them all, they are not inter related except for the river and the narrator who tries to grasp the stories in a context relevant to him. The story of the beautiful blind child singer, the lady with the golden voice and a broken heart, the love inflicted tea estate manager and ofcourse the waif child and Naag Baba, to name a few.
He ponders on the meaning of each story and the potent belief which the river, the beautiful maiden, hides within her, what dark secrets, what untold mysteries.
This continues till the end, where he is made to realise the importnat truth, which perhaps will answer some of his questions. How difficult it is to attain a human being's life, the soul must travel through eighty four thousand births in order to become a man. A life as precious as this cant be spent as a back seat viewer to life, it has to be experienced fully. One has to be a part of the play not a by stander in order to understand and experience the mysteries and nuances of life. Although his current life serves as a wonderful retreat in which to ponder life and rest, its not a permanent state of being. Which path the narrator will finally chose is left unsaid. And that perhaps is not important. Its the story and the final realisation which make this book complete, the end result does not matter.
Its astonishing to know, how much history, belief, faith and magic one river can hold... I for one am completely happy to be swept away by the flow of this river as the story unfolds. Truly this book is an experience worth having.
Poetic descriptions and an intriguing narrative .......2005-10-31
As if hearing a bed time yarn that you have heard a hundred times over but are still eager to hear again, the parable-like structure of A River Sutra by Gita Mehta comforts and reassures the reader. There is no closure to any of the stories; most of the characters seem to be in limbo or in search of a happy end they will probably never find. The protagonist, a bureaucrat, is only a sieve through which these odd brimming exchanges take place. His puzzlement holds up a mirror to the reader. I suspected that the bureaucrat would not find peace as a renunciate on the banks of the Narmada, peace lies in the flow of adaptability without seeking answers. There is a softness and optimism to the novel that made it linger in my mind days after. Though beautifully musical and lush with grief, the river does not make any judgments or declarations. Underneath it all there is hopefulness and wherever something is lost something profound is gained. A River Sutra was probably written before the height of the Narmada Dam Protests when the writer Arundhati Roy became involved. More than charts and statistics, this book reveals the influence of a river on the ebb and flow of human drama and a timeless way of life.
Winding down the thread.......2004-06-07
This book was profound, but easy enough to read in a La-z-boy if thats your style. It's a series of short stories all joined by a common thread, the narmada river. Filled with hindu ascetics and Indian playboys, A River Sutra should be the first book you read about India-its kind of like a primer to India's often ignored jungles. This book flows, and its not sketchy like some other writers who write about India.
To become human..........2003-04-01
The body of water referred to in the title, A River Sutra, is the Narmada River which is India's holiest river believed to possess mystical healing and cleansing powers. The promise of the river attracts a variety of characters with different motivations. The stories are otherwise completely detached from each other in person and circumstance except for their common relation to the narrator; more so to the narrator's supposed renunciation of the world.
Many may argue that the mutuality of the stories would lie in the River Narmada; although the river does flow throughout the novel and it is an obviously strong force in each traveler's tale, it does not function as aptly a unifier as the narrator. The river is omnipresent in the background and it is the shared destination amongst the trekkers; yet it does not combine the stories in any other way. The narrator, however, receives a final enlightenment at the completion of the anthology which ties the novel together. Initially, he boasts that he has rejected the world in his decision to relocate to the jungle and he equates his distance from modern civilization to complete denial of the "real" world. However after he has heard the many versions of renunciation from the visitors and Tariq Mia, only then does he realize the true meaning of the word and the action. The sutra, or the common thread, of the book is the narrator's rejection of the world; the purpose of the book is to portray the narrator's romanticized renunciation versus the harsh reality of true abandonment.
Each narrative is embedded with an archetypal morally based theme pertaining to evolving stages of human existence and the penance that we must offer for our human faults. There are three objects of renunciation in the novel - material, love and life.
The book is about external sources erupting into the life of the unmasked narrator and catapulting him onto a spiritual awakening upon the backs of these people's narratives. The title utilizes the word "sutra" which signifies a collection of aphorisms; the book characterizes these teachings in the bodies and renunciations of the river's visitors and the narrator, as the student to these narratives, represents the common thread.
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A River Sutra
Gita Mehta
Manufacturer: Minerva
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIQ7UK |
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River Sutra
Gita Mehta
Manufacturer: NAN A TALESE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UDIZ7W |
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A River Sutra
Gita Mehta
Manufacturer: South Asia Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ4MF6 |
Book Description
Term paper due tomorrow? Need to cram for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?
Turn to "Literature of Developing Nations for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by Thomson Gale--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: author biography; plot summary; character analysis; discussion of the work's themes, style, literary heritage, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.
Why choose "Literature of Developing Nations for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: Thomson Gale--and "Literature of Developing Nations for Students."
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Term paper due tomorrow? Need to bone up for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?
Turn to "Literature of Developing Nations for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by the Gale Group--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: author biography; plot summary; character analysis; discussion of the work's themes, style, literary heritage, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.
Why choose "Literature of Developing Nations for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: The Gale Group--and "Literature of Developing Nations for Students."
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River Sutra 12cpy Shrinkwrap
Mehta
Manufacturer: Arrow (A Division of Random House Group)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0749359439 |
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River Sutra Special Header
Mehta
Manufacturer: Arrow Children's Dump List
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0749351780 |
Average customer rating:
- Very enjoyable...
- Excellent
- A little too Brokeback Mountain for my taste
- Rocky Mountain Adventure/Romance
- Strangely amusing!
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No Longer a Stranger
Joan Johnston
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0743469798 |
Book Description
Joan Johnston sweeps readers back to the untamed American West in a tale of powerful emotions and breathtaking action.
1865: The Civil War was over, but new dangers lay in wait across the open frontier. Disguised as a boy in buckskins, pretty Rebecca Hunter wasn't afraid of any enemy who might cross her path in the Rocky Mountains. She vowed never to belong to any man...until she met city-bred Christopher Kincaid, the stranger she rescued from a fierce band of Sioux. All too quickly she learned how powerful an attraction can be between a man and a woman.
No Indian ambush could scar Kincaid as deeply as the tragic loss and broken heart he suffered in the war. Now, being nursed back to health by Reb in an isolated mountain cabin, he found himself coming alive with a powerful desire for her. But how could he know that his mission for the government would jeopardize his chances of winning Reb's heart, bring down the wrath of a renegade Sioux chief, and test the lengths he'd be willing to go to convince this passionate woman to stay beside him for all time?
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"Joan Johnston sweeps readers back to the untamed American West in a tale of powerful emotions and breathtaking action. 1865: The Civil War was over, but new dangers lay in wait across the open frontier. Disguised as a boy in buckskins, pretty Rebecca Hunter wasn't afraid of any enemy who might cross her path in the Rocky Mountains. She vowed never to belong to any man...until she met city-bred Christopher Kincaid, the stranger she rescued from a fierce band of Sioux. All too quickly she learned how powerful an attraction can be between a man and a woman. No Indian ambush could scar Kincaid as deeply as the tragic loss and broken heart he suffered in the war. Now, being nursed back to health by Reb in an isolated mountain cabin, he found himself coming alive with a powerful desire for her. But how could he know that his mission for the government would jeopardize his chances of winning Reb's heart, bring down the wrath of a renegade Sioux chief, and test the lengths he'd be willing to go to convince this passionate woman to stay beside him for all time? "
Customer Reviews:
Very enjoyable..........2007-01-26
I highly enjoyed this book. The storyline was great as well as all the people you meet in the book. O.K. so Reb is a tomboy but unlike another reviewer I enjoy that every now & then. She did bathe & attend to Kincaid's medical needs for 10+ days so you can't say she wasn't the least bit ladylike. You don't find many men in these books that do the sort of caring that Reb was doing. This book had me glued to the pages & I'd highly recommend it. My only complaint was that I think it got a bit sloppy towards the end with typos like "Standing Bill" instead of "Standing Buffalo" & saying "she" instead of "he" at certain parts but all in all it was a great book.
Excellent.......2006-05-18
No Longer a Stanger
by: Joan Johnston
Reviewer: Pamela Ackerson (author Home of the Braves Trilogy)
When I first started reading the book, my first reaction was, oh no--another story where the woman is dressed as a man and a city-boy oblivious to the wilds of the American West. But, it wasn't just another one. It was captivating and full of action. It's one of those books you don't want to put down. You don't want to start reading this book just before you go to bed, because you're going to spend the next day saying, "I only had a couple hours sleep last night. It was my fault though, because I stayed up to read this really good book."
A little too Brokeback Mountain for my taste.......2006-05-14
The beginning of this book was promising, but then it hit a plateau and didn't go anywhere.
My biggest complaint would be the heroine's character, Reb. She was a tomboy to the extreme and not the least bit ladylike. The entire story took on a "Brokeback" feel. In fact, the hero believed Reb was a boy for more than half of the time they were aquainted.
It was an odd story that was all over the place with a handful of subplots as well. I don't recommend.
Rocky Mountain Adventure/Romance.......2006-02-23
Joan Johnston's, "No Longer A Stranger" is a tale of adventure, danger and romance. It takes place in the Rocky Mountains, just post civil-war time. "Reb" is a young woman who is fearless. Born to a Mountain man's family, she was no stranger to the wilderness and was an expert with a rifle. Dressed in dirty buckskins,with short cropped hair, she passed as a boy, which is just what "Kincaid", the injured(but very handsome) man she rescued and nursed back to health in a remote mountain cabin, thought.He called 'the boy' "Rebel", which fit her to a tea, not knowing he was really being cared for by "Rebecca", and under those dirty old buckskins, a beautiful young woman was falling in love with him.Kincaid also has secrets.He was on a mission for the government and had plans he dare not let on about to this young Rebel who held his life in his hands.
When finally the truth about each other is revealed, they realize they are overcome with the feelings they have for each other. But...Kincaid cannot bear to have a woman who lives such a life of danger(having lost his first wife tragically), and Reb could never leave her beautiful Mountain home for a "mindless Yankee tenderfoot". The dangerous and torturous situations they face together on their travels home may have them realizing they cannot live without each other.
If you have read others of Miss Johnston's adventure/romance novels, you will recognize her definitive style of having the hero and heroine at odds with each other from the start. But what's nice and always different is the personalities of the main characters. In this case, she adds some humor to the mix, as the Reb and Kinciad are constantly bickering like children, and they will make you chuckle with their antics.All though Reb seems young at 17 to us, considering the time and place, she was probably considered a grown woman. .
If this is your first Joan Johnston book, beware..you will get hooked! I especially love the stories that take place in the frontier time of history. The added danger and tension and the Western adventure of the time era she adds,makes for a gripping story.And of course, she has quite a knack for the romance side of the story as well, that gets a little steamy on occasion. Miss Johnston always has a couple of other substories intertwined, concerning the family history(sometimes a bit predictable), and often those stories will show up as another book.
I would also recommend the "Sisters of the Lone Star" trilogy starting with "Frontier Woman", then "Comanche Woman" followed by "Texas Woman"(my personal favorite)for those that enjoy Western adventure/romance.
Happy Trails and enjoy the read....Laurie
Strangely amusing!.......2005-05-06
This was an innocent, pleasant western yarn about a wounded man saved by a 'young boy' from marauding Indians. Nice story, fairly exciting, predictable, feel good ending. Worth the time to read.
Product Description
When zoologist Mitch Huntington agreed to be named guardian to his best friends daughter, he was sure it meant nothing more than pony rides, presents on birthdays, and an occasional day at the circus. Suddenly he finds himself up to his elbows in diapers and soggy oatmeal. While Mitch soon discovers that animals and babies are not the same things, he quickly becomes totally devoted to the adorable baby girl. But Cory Steele, the childs estranged aunt, has other plans. Cory will stop at nothing to rescue her little niece from the clutches of this unfamiliar Mormon man, even if it means pretending to join his strange church in order to gain Mitchs trust and assume custody of the child.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful story. A Must read!!.......2005-10-25
She is a wonderful author who knows how to write a book that will hook you the moment you start to read it. That's how this book was. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy romance. You need to read this book
Loved it!.......2005-08-25
I loved this book. It had some new and interesting issues, things I've never read about in LDS fiction. With Rachel's gift for romance and creating characters we can't help but root for--the story is told exactly as it ought to be. It was real, full of wonderful conflict and had a perfect resolution. I can't wait for the third book in this series!!
Product Description
1865: the Civil War was over, but new dangers lay in wait across the open frontier. Disguised as a boy in buckskins, pretty Rebecca Hunter wasn't afraid of any enemy who might cross her path in the Rocky Mountains. She vowed never to belong to any man....until she met city-bred Christopher Kincaid, the stranger she rescued from a fierce band of Sioux. All too quickly she learned how poerful an attraction can be between a man and a woman. No Indian ambush could scar Kincaid deeply as the tragic loss and broken heart he suffered during the war. Now, being nursed back to health by Reb in an isolated mountain cabin, he found himself coming alive with a powerful desire for her. But how could he know that his mission for the government would jeopardize his chances of winning Reb's heart, bring down the wrath of a renegade Sioux chief, and test the lengths he'd be willing to go to convince this passionate woman to stay beside him for all time?
Product Description
Rediscovering the Chosen People and the Jewish Roots of Christianity
Product Description
Paperbacks
Product Description
4 massmarket paperback Titles By Joan Johnston - No Longer a Stranger - Colter's Wife - Sweetwater Seduction - The Men of Bitter Creek
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No Loner Aliens, No Longer Strangers
A. Roy Eckardt
Manufacturer: University of South Florida
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Textbook Binding
General | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0788500007 |
Customer Reviews:
Started great peaked in the middle then pppssssssssssstt........2007-08-28
Great start, better middle, died a slow and painfull death. Worth it as a paperback. Not a classic by any stretch.
"The Cunning Blood" a fascinating Universe.......2006-12-08
This is one of the most exciting Sci-Fi reads I have found in awhile!The idea of a creature (a nano creature)inhabiting people is just wonderful,imagine having your own sidekick in your body who is a sort of super hero at the same time.
I enjoyed the idea that for a good way through the story there were more than one protaganist to root for.
I also think that the authors development of unusual technologies is great fun and quite believable I especially like the world of OVOD/Hell.
Buy this book you will really enjoy!
Nanites, mammoth's, and mechanical dinosaurs!!!.......2006-05-21
This book was a shockingly good read and an extremely pleasant find. A while back, when running low on new books to read, I searched through the databases on Amazon for five stars reads in various genres. I ordered a number of books by new authors with mixed results. This book was by far the best of the lot and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Set in the future, where Earth is essentially run by women, Canadian women at that, black market nanotechnology has begun producing new intelligences, colonies of nanites, deliberately built that have their own bizarre sentience and which live in the blood and bodies of individuals. Near space has been tentatively explored, but the only real achievement is to set up a penal colony (shades of Australia) where the female dominated government deports those who engage in any act of violence. The penal colony itself is seeded with non-sentient nanites which attack electrical sources, thereby keeping the technology of the penal planet to that of 1800's earth. Supposedly.
This is a stunning read, rife with ideas, a veritable tour-de-force of science education. The author has a command of science far beyond that of most writers and constantly astounds the reader with technologies with are non-electrically based yet grounded in the real world. Beyond that he has spun a tale with gripping, believable and three-dimensional characters, intricate plotting, fantastic story-line, and enough conflict to keep you mesmerized. This is a ripping good story which I enjoyed immensely, and it gave me maximum dosages of the two things I like best: ideas that make me think and non-stop action. I found myself amazed that I had never heard of this author or book before. This one should have won the Hugo award in my opinion.
Politically correct Canadians rule the world!.......2006-04-20
Set on Earth in 2372, the planet is ruled by Canadians who force a politically correct society that has abolished violence along with freedom. Offenders are exiled to a planet named Hell, which has been seeded with nanomachines to keep the Hellions living in primitive conditions - but nobody has checked on Hell for a long time, and a secret society's involvements in Hell reveals a blossoming high-tech civilization with one purpose: to exact revenge. A gripping political battle evolves in a very unusual blend of hard science and military science fiction.
Plenty of action and exciting ideas.......2006-02-20
This book was a little challanging to read because I found I occasionally had to stop and ponder the ideas presented. I can't believe there are so many ways to develop technology that are not dependent on a steady supply of electricity. Is Earth's dependence on electricity holding us back from developing these alternative technologies? It's an interesting idea. Also, the nano computers were really cool. I liked the fish tank that turned into a computer monitor.
There was plenty of action involving space travel and battles with mastadons and futuristic doomsday weapons. With all those great visuals, this book would make a good movie. Secrets were revealed throughout the book which kept the plot moving along.
Overall, a great read for anyone who appreciates science in their science fiction.
Product Description
8 PAPERBACKS BY WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
Book Description
Through the Narrow Gate is Karen Armstrong's intimate memoir of life inside a Catholic convent. With refreshing honesty and clarity, the book takes readers on a revelatory adventure that begins with Armstrong's decision in the course of her spiritual training offers a fascinating view into a shrouded religious life, and a vivid, moving account of the spiritual coming age of one of our most loved and respected interpreters of religious.
Customer Reviews:
The Religious Life.......2007-02-12
Karen Armstrong has written a most marvelous account of her life within a very strict order of English Catholic nuns of the 1960's. Her description of the torments she endured has caused me to regard with renewed respect and affection the nuns who taught me in the 1950's. How odd that we boys who were in class with the nuns for hours each day really had no idea of what kind of lives some of them led in the hours before and after school. The moral, spiritual, and intellectual gifts they bestowed on us daily are inestimable, even though at the time we were probably more interested in whether or not they actually had hair under their wimples!
I've noticed some confusion in these reviews about several aspects of Catholic religious orders of those days. First, despite having no contact for long periods of time with "seculars" - i.e., civilians - Karen was not in a order of "cloistered" nuns. Cloistered sisters do truly cut themselves off completely from the world and, if I can be so bold as to describe them, they live a life governed by "ora et labora" - work and prayer. In fact, though, as strict as they were, Karen's order was primarily an order of teaching sisters.
But there is a much more important concept that many people seem not quite to grasp, and that is that all Catholic youth of those days - at least in my experience - were taught that the most perfect way to be a true follower of Christ was to share in his suffering. That is why those nuns were treated - and treated themselves - as harshly as any Marine Corps recruits would ever be treated - only the nun's harsh treatment was to continue all her life. Certainly, most youth who took Catholicism very seriously must have given thought at one time or another to entering the religious life. We were always told to examine ourselves to determine if we had a religious vocation, but we were also warned that it was not a calling for everyone. In any event, to decide at a young age to become a nun, brother, or priest - to dedicate one's life to doing good - was not understood by many of us to be the same as dedicating one's whole existence to God. When young people make the decision to enter the religious life they often do not know what that really entails. Some religious communities are extraordinarily strict, others less so. The particularly strict order to which Karen belonged was obviously intent on making sure those young girls found out immediately that the religious life was not a game, that sharing in Christ's suffering was not to be an abstract concept but a concrete reality. Those young nuns were to put up with the sadism of some of their superiors in the same way as Christ had to endure the sadism of his tormenters. They were not only to tolerate it but to welcome it and even seek out even more spiritual pain and physical hardship. (As the British often jokingly say about the paddlings they endured in school, "Please sir may I have another?") This concept of self-denial is probably not well understood in our modern climate of "personal fulfillment."
The total abnegation of self, of one's personal desires, of pride, of the hope for friendship and love, was the goal of the harshness they inflicted upon themselves. Their goal was to die to themselves in order to reach God. If you do not grasp this concept I think you'll miss the heroism inherent in the story of Karen and her fellow nuns. Naturally, that kind of life is not for very many of us, as Karen eventually found out for herself. It may be totally misguided or, by modern standards, even pathological, but it's the way some people have reached true holiness.
I'm very happy for myself and for all her readers that Karen Armstrong eventually chose to leave the convent and to follow another path in life. This book is not only a gift from her but, through her, a gift to us from all those other nuns who took - and take - the road less traveled. A truly wonderful and enlightening gift.
Captivating Story of Internal Conflict.......2007-01-27
As this is a book relating to Catholicism, it is fitting for me to start the review with a confession. I bought this book not because I was interested in it, but because I wanted to read its sequel - The Spiral Staircase - and felt I should read this book first. I was not interested all that much in the story of becoming a nun and my only curiosity was how Miss Armstrong would find anything interesting to say about it.
Well, I was off the mark. Karen Armstrong's recounting of her 2 years in the convent (and subsequent disenchantment with the process) are fascinating. Most of the action in this story takes place inside the subject's head as she tries to wrestle with being human in a place where humanness is to be shed (as one must renounce worldy desires, thoughts, and feelings to be close to God).
Karen Armstrong does a magnificent job of depicting what this conflict is like. The process of becoming a nun, as Armstrong describes it, is a rigorous program of self-denial. One is not to complain, be tired, be mournful, be happy, be questioning, or let onesself feel any of the things that come with the territory of being human. Rather, it was taught that the pinnacle of the spiritual life was the abillty to shed one's humanness, to think and feel only about one thing - God.
Armstrong also tells of a very hierarchal system where to question one's superiors is to question God (as one's superiors are closer to God than onesself; that is why they are superiors). With accuity of word, Karen Armstrong recounts how she was constantly made to feel insignificant and imbecilic by her superiors. At the same time, feeling bad about this was attributed to her weak spirit and - so it was called - her selfishness.
Armstrong's story ends when she voluntarily leaves the convent after experiencing much too much. Here she tells of the schock of living in a 'regular' world after years of physical and emotional seclusion.
This is much more interesting a book than i had originally thought it would be. Owing to Armstrong's ability to describe the internal struggle between her desire to be human and her desire to devote herself to God, Through the Narrow Gate has an incredible forward motion. As The Spiral Staircase picks up where this book leaves off, I cannot wait to read the latter half of Karen Armstrong's remarkable journey.
Hail Mary Excellent!.......2006-11-18
In this, [Book One of Two], written twelve years after Karen Armstrong left her life as a nun, she describes the genesis of her vocation or "calling" and reveals how reluctant her parents were about letting her embrace a life of ascetism. She was a mere seventeen years old at the time.
What follows is a chronicle of what it was like to go through the rigors of becoming a nun. The nine months as a postulant, the two years noviceship, the two years of the scholasticate.... the mind-numbing discipline of achieving full-fledged nunnery-ness (my word).
She was one of the last people to go through the old system before it was reformed by the Second Vatican Council and Pope John XXIII. In what I consider extreme generosity, she admits that her own immaturity was the cause of many of her difficulties, but ultimately what happens is that Karen finds out that she is simply not suited for the life of a nun.
In the convent, God was conspicuous only by His perceived absence, and confessing this to her superiors was not helpful. It only sent her back into herself and confirmed her theory that God's silence was her own fault. In all of the seven years on the inside, never once did she "hear from God" nor realize the pre-convent aspirations of her heart. It is a powerful story of religious devotion gone awry.
I could talk forever about how IMPORTANT I think this book is.
An excellent read!
A compelling story of abuse in the search for Divine Love.......2006-09-06
I applaud Karen Armstrong for having the guts to write this book. Although I am guessing that it was cathartic for her to review this period in her life, she wrote quite dispassionately about her experiences. It is remarkable to me that she did not play the role of victim. In fact, she showed more love and compassion to those who abused her than those who were supposed to guide her on the path to love.
Her autobiography details the influences that led Karen to choose the life of being a nun. Years later, she is able to describe her youthful idealism is choosing such a life. Woven throughout the story are her reflections years later after she had chosen to leave the order.
Through the Narrow Gate could be viewed as an indictment against the Roman Catholic Church or any other organization that thrives on abuse. Karen does not take that tact. She views everything as a lesson to be observed and learned from.
The book was riviting. Karen laid out the familial, cultural and religious framework which made her susceptible for the horrors that she experienced during her training. It was barbaric and humiliating. Anyone going through it in these modern times would have sued.
The book is truly an insiders view of what used to transpire behind the convent walls pre Vatican II. Thank goodness for those reforms.
As I read Through the Narrow Gate, I felt challenged to review my own belief systems. I thought about my upbringing in Catholic schools and my religious training. I contrasted this with my current understandings. There was quite a chasm there for me. This was an unexpected benefit from the book.
This book is not an expose filled with lurid details designed to titillate. It is the story of a love affair gone wrong, an abusive system and a woman seeking love and peace.
A harrowing inside look.......2006-03-14
Karen Armstrong has written a compelling memoir of her time in the convent in formation to become a nun. She wants this life so badly that she will forsake everything, including her own mind, to attain a perfect relationship with God. This is what she was told she must do. She did this despite gut feelings to the contrary, despite physical illness, and despite slowly dying inside. In fact, she believed this was a sign of progress.
The cruelty of her superiors, whether intentional or not, truly shocked me, even in the era before Vatican II reforms. That someone is put in such supreme authority over others (the superiors are seen as direct agents of God, to be obeyed no matter what) is just inviting abuse, even if the superiors believe they are acting correctly. The austerity of the order (which is not named) also seemed misguided. By denying themselves friendships, intellect, and enjoyment of God's creation, they seemed to be missing the whole point of a relationship with God.
As someone who was raised Catholic, I found this a very eye-opening tale. I do hope that the sort of abuse Ms. Armstrong suffered is the exception rather than the rule in religious life. And I'm amazed that she came out of her experience without more bitterness. But her story reminds all of us that blind faith in any human authority figure is very dangerous indeed.
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- Anthills of the Savannah
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- Best Short Stories of Jack London
- Best Short Stories of the Modern Age
- Bringing the Devil to His Knees: The Craft of Fiction and the Writing Life
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