78 reviews for:

Strait is the Gate

André Gide

3.43 AVERAGE

ovelove's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

samnt_i_amnt's review against another edition

3.75

challenging reflective sad fast-paced

moony_reads_'s review against another edition

2.25

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

upnorth's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

scotland_yard's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It's a weird book. The best way to put it is that it's a story of reciprocated, unrequited love, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't.

gigotka's review against another edition

3.0

emotional sad slow-paced

thewhimsicalowl's review against another edition

4.0

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"'Oh, if only we could lean over the soul we love and see as in a mirror the image we cast there! To read in another as in ourselves, better than in ourselves! What tranquility there would be in our tenderness - what purity in our love!'" (35).

Yet again, I'm gobsmacked by divine book timing. I got chills when I reached Alissa's journal (on May 23rd), which she begins on May 23rd.

3.5 stars. Gide weaves a poignant tale of spiritual struggle and a love at once naïve yet strongly felt. This novel is a gathering of vulnerable prayers, faraway letters, and failed encounters. I can understand why some readers have an issue with the text, calling it too slow or unsatisfying. I do not always find it to be pleasant, but I do believe it to be true.

As Alissa writes quite simply, "God having provided some better thing for us." Amen.

sourjane's review against another edition

4.0

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Heartbreaking. Beautifully written. A much different expression of the 'star-crossed lovers' journey than I expected.

luka_djuro's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

j_ata's review against another edition

3.0

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A story of tortured and self-sacrificing love that somehow seems quintessentially European: it’s all delicate, muted shades of feeling. For me this is Chekhov territory, and this just doesn’t compare, though there are a number of beautifully realized moments and the occasional, unexpected burst of painful emotional truth.