Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't Put Down
Review: Karen Armstrong's Through A Narrow Gate takes you on a journey through her 7 years in a very strict order. It details her struggles and desires to "die before you live". You get to learn all about what nuns in her order actually did and the experiences they would have. A very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking and complex
Review: The author is a well-known popular writer on religion (if such a thing exists), but here turns to her own experience in a convent for seven years. At the tender age of 17 Armstrong joined a contemplative order--one not totally cloistered but close enough for the first few years--and attempts to destroy her own ego to allow God to fill her mind and soul. Unfortunately, what happens is what all too often happens in life when one human being is given total authority over another, even with that person's consent--the worst human impulses toward cruelty take over--the desire to inflict on another what has been inflicted on oneself is passed on down the line just as the abused child becomes the abusive parent. In this case the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience translate into senseless restrictions on basic human needs like eating and bathing, ridiculous orders being given in the name of testing obedience, neglect of the health of the young novices, refusal to acknowledge abusive behavior of priests, etc. Despite all this, Armstrong manages to convey the beauty of the religious experience and love of God. I was struck by how similar to eastern religions were the methods used to "seek God"--the denial of bodily needs, the isolation from other human beings, the notion that an individual must let go of the self to find God--all are straight out of Buddhism. Is the concept of the self too highly developed and embedded in the Western man or woman for these methods to work? Does the bodily and mental deprivation do something strange to the self that "creates" the experience of God? Is authentic religious experience only for a select few--because if anyone had a "vocation" as I understood the term back then it was certainly Ms. Armstrong--the intensity of her desire to stay the course was overwhelming. In any event this book is a lot more than a broadside attack on the Catholic church pre-Vatican II. I wish the author had answered a few questions in a post-script--her health problems during these years were certainly real but are unexplained, and she leaves the impression that they were caused by the convent--but I suspect that wasn't totally the case. At the very least she seems to have been lactose intolerant--something the convent didn't cause but unfortunately exacerbated. And it's hard to understand how the order thought it could train her to shut down her mind and question nothing for three years and then send her to Oxford. Readers who can get past feeling angry at the treatment Armstrong received will find much to think about.
Rating:
Summary: A book that had to be written.
Review: This book is one of the sadest and most beutiful book I have red in years. Her life in the book is so real. Even if not so many people enter a monastry this is what we as young people have to fight. And all along the way she was faithful and did what she thought was right. It describes what it is to be a human in the phase of growing up. To realise that life is to be accepted but not without a questionmark before.
Rating:
Summary: disturbing account of life in a convent
Review: This is a disturbing personal account of the author's life as a Catholic nun in Britain, which she entered at age 17 and left 7 years later. The backdrop is the 60's, an era of changing values and the Vatican II Council. The relentless harshness of convent life is described in unsparing detail. It emerges as a life of drudgery and hardship, mindless fatalism, sexual frustration and aching loneliness. At the time she wrote this book, Armstrong appears to have been a practising Catholic (in contrast to later books like "The History of God" where she takes an agnostic position). She concludes by praising religious life and by saying that she has no regrets about the years she devoted to it.
Rating:
Summary: Why did she join a convent?
Review: 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.....
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and Soul-Searching!
Review: Through a Narrow Gate is a testament to the personal struggle between feeling the faith and wanting to somehow live it, too. I am impressed with her ability to relive the experience while being fair to both sides and making their decisions and feelings make sense, even when they are directly opposing. The most remarkable thing is her feelings about the modern convents given her struggle and her respect for what was. Her respect is contagious - she gave it to me! She, and her experiences, seem to ratify my own even as mine pale against her story. I recommend it to anyone seriously trying to understand God in their own lives and in their own terms.
Rating: 
Summary: SAD BOOK/ LAPSED CATHOLIC/ FORMER NUN
Review: WE ALL GO THROUGH JOURNIES IN LIFE, IT IS SAD SHEHAS LEFT THE CHURCH, AND EXPRESSES HER OPINION'S IN SUCH A ONE SIDE WAY. WE ALL HAVE OUR PROBLEMS IN OUR CATHOLIC FAITH. READ THE BOOK, BUT REMEMBER THE CHURCH IS SO HUGE THAT ONE OPINION CAN'T FORM ANOTHER'S
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