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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
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.
Saving oneself
From an imperfect deliverance.
Torning oneself
Out of a blind devotion.
Peering oneself
Over a religious sacrifice.
Strait is the gate.
Dread is the self.
From an imperfect deliverance.
Torning oneself
Out of a blind devotion.
Peering oneself
Over a religious sacrifice.
Strait is the gate.
Dread is the self.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-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
Takes a while to get into it, very melodic and captivating once settled. The intellectualising of love and faith are what stood out most to me, and the ardent abstinence of pleasure and joy. The continued suffering in the name of the idea of faith, but what seems to be fear of not being enough.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Yet another "classic". It reminded me a lot of The LIfe and Death of Harriet Frean, which I liked a lot better.
In this book (which was double the size it was advertised - it's acutally 225 pages), Jerome grows up with Alissa and her sister Juliette. Alissa and Jerome have been in love since they were kids.
As they get older, Alissa finds out that her sister is in love with Jerome, and she decides to step aside. However, Juliette was already promised (not sure if she agrees or not) to another guy, and ends up marrying him.
Jerome is still in love with Alissa, but she has found yet another reason for them to stay apart - God. The rest of the book is Alissa tellling Jerome they can't keep in touch because of her faith, and making him miserable. It never gets better.
I think the 1001 Books list needs to be seriously re-written.
In this book (which was double the size it was advertised - it's acutally 225 pages), Jerome grows up with Alissa and her sister Juliette. Alissa and Jerome have been in love since they were kids.
As they get older, Alissa finds out that her sister is in love with Jerome, and she decides to step aside. However, Juliette was already promised (not sure if she agrees or not) to another guy, and ends up marrying him.
Jerome is still in love with Alissa, but she has found yet another reason for them to stay apart - God. The rest of the book is Alissa tellling Jerome they can't keep in touch because of her faith, and making him miserable. It never gets better.
I think the 1001 Books list needs to be seriously re-written.
Verdict: Arguably a love story because ‘story’ implies things happen. On the plus side, it is quite short.
Unlike the French as a whole, I’m quite au fait with their literature so far. du Maurier wrote a better Jane Eyre and, against all expectations, I found Madame Bovary to be a rip-roaring good read. Sadly I’m afraid Gide is letting the side down. To be fair Strait is the Gate is a symbolist work of literature which is fancy speak for ‘nothing happens.’ I will never understand how one movement can produce such fantastic art and such shite novels. Anyway, when Gide picked up pen instead of paintbrush we were never going to be friends. Your prejudices may differ.
Aaaand spoiler ahoy. Strait is the Gate is about Jerome. Jerome loves Alissa, his raised-as-but-not-actually-sister. Alissa loves Jerome and also God. That is cool, ‘cause Jerome loves God too. But no, it’s not, ‘cause Alissa has some (severe) issues stemming from her mother’s whorishness. So Alissa and Jerome love each other for awhile. Then Alissa decides that’s no good on account of God (I’ll admit to some trouble following her exact course of logic) so they say goodbye and she goes to a Paris care home to kill herself with her own mind*. The End.
I never know what to do with this sort of story. What am I meant to be seeing in this? What should I be taking from this? Writing-wise of course it is perfect. Gide is one of those golden-age pre-war authors and knows his way around a composition book. Personally, I could have stood to see the dramatics toned slightly back. Everyone is always flinging themselves about and clasping bits of other people to them which just seems excessive in a book where nothing happens. In fact, this combination of floral words and famined plot suggest that what Gide really wanted to write was poetry and that I have been duped.
I have very definite feelings on poetry. Namely that, once we had invented the alphabet and bards could now write out their tales instead of relying on rhythm and rhyme to remember the epics, poetry had no more usefulness. Sure people can still use it to great effect to enhance a story (see examples Shakespeare and Theodore Geisel) and we can all get behind a good limerick but poetry in its purest form holds no interest for me. (Poetry in its contemporary form I actively despise, but the same can be said for art, music, architecture and fashion so why single it out?) Well Strait is the Gate is failed poetry and I have been tricked into reading it. True to form, I didn’t get it. Luckily (like a poem) it was super short and this has saved it from the dreaded one star. Only books I hate get one star and I didn’t spend enough time or emotion on these sad French people to get past apathy.
*I’m still puzzling over whether or not this counts as brain fever. I’m something of an expert on this forgotten yet lethal ailment of the past and have encountered victims from France to the small Russian town of Skotoprigonyevsk. Whatever Alissa contracted does not quite fit the bill. All the triggers are there. A love that cannot be. Moral wrangling. God. It is certainly self-induced like all proper brain fevers ought to be. She just seems a bit too lucid and there aren’t nearly enough hallucinations. Yeah, I think I’ll stick with my original diagnosis of ‘death by application of willpower.’ Fine by me. I’m so sick of brain fever.
Unlike the French as a whole, I’m quite au fait with their literature so far. du Maurier wrote a better Jane Eyre and, against all expectations, I found Madame Bovary to be a rip-roaring good read. Sadly I’m afraid Gide is letting the side down. To be fair Strait is the Gate is a symbolist work of literature which is fancy speak for ‘nothing happens.’ I will never understand how one movement can produce such fantastic art and such shite novels. Anyway, when Gide picked up pen instead of paintbrush we were never going to be friends. Your prejudices may differ.
Aaaand spoiler ahoy. Strait is the Gate is about Jerome. Jerome loves Alissa, his raised-as-but-not-actually-sister. Alissa loves Jerome and also God. That is cool, ‘cause Jerome loves God too. But no, it’s not, ‘cause Alissa has some (severe) issues stemming from her mother’s whorishness. So Alissa and Jerome love each other for awhile. Then Alissa decides that’s no good on account of God (I’ll admit to some trouble following her exact course of logic) so they say goodbye and she goes to a Paris care home to kill herself with her own mind*. The End.
I never know what to do with this sort of story. What am I meant to be seeing in this? What should I be taking from this? Writing-wise of course it is perfect. Gide is one of those golden-age pre-war authors and knows his way around a composition book. Personally, I could have stood to see the dramatics toned slightly back. Everyone is always flinging themselves about and clasping bits of other people to them which just seems excessive in a book where nothing happens. In fact, this combination of floral words and famined plot suggest that what Gide really wanted to write was poetry and that I have been duped.
I have very definite feelings on poetry. Namely that, once we had invented the alphabet and bards could now write out their tales instead of relying on rhythm and rhyme to remember the epics, poetry had no more usefulness. Sure people can still use it to great effect to enhance a story (see examples Shakespeare and Theodore Geisel) and we can all get behind a good limerick but poetry in its purest form holds no interest for me. (Poetry in its contemporary form I actively despise, but the same can be said for art, music, architecture and fashion so why single it out?) Well Strait is the Gate is failed poetry and I have been tricked into reading it. True to form, I didn’t get it. Luckily (like a poem) it was super short and this has saved it from the dreaded one star. Only books I hate get one star and I didn’t spend enough time or emotion on these sad French people to get past apathy.
*I’m still puzzling over whether or not this counts as brain fever. I’m something of an expert on this forgotten yet lethal ailment of the past and have encountered victims from France to the small Russian town of Skotoprigonyevsk. Whatever Alissa contracted does not quite fit the bill. All the triggers are there. A love that cannot be. Moral wrangling. God. It is certainly self-induced like all proper brain fevers ought to be. She just seems a bit too lucid and there aren’t nearly enough hallucinations. Yeah, I think I’ll stick with my original diagnosis of ‘death by application of willpower.’ Fine by me. I’m so sick of brain fever.
Okay, I really admired the writer's craft, but as a Jew, I am perplexed by the characters. Someone Christian, please tell me: do you think Gide wants us to pity Alissa, to admire her, or both? Is her love real? Is her virtue real? Or are both the delusions of a girl who never grows up? And is Juliette the real heroine of the book?
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes