Customer Reviews

The Gate: Things My Mother Told Me

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This was the first Stan Law book that I read, and I have become an instant fan. Law's tale about old age and retirement homes takes takes us on both an intellectual and spiritual journey, and it is a wonderfully enlightening read.

Throughout this tale of an aging Polish wife and mother who struggles to understand her own mortality and those of her friends and loved ones, Law teaches us about life, love, friendship, loneliness, religion, etc.

The author is obviously a scholar in many of the topics noted above which he presents throughout the book in strikingly detailed narratives, yet he draws the reader in, then lets them form their own conclusions on the information presented, rather than forcing his opinions on the reader.

While at times a very challenging read, it takes us on a great journey that leaves us better at the end of the book then we were before we started.

In the context of society's obsession with youth, and most peoples' disinterest in, if not fear of old age, Stan I S Law has chosen to write about a very difficult subject. Yet he has created a beautiful, moving story. I recommend this book, having read it with pleasure myself, and having bought two further copies as presents for my friends.

I've been a fan of Stan Law for some time and the Gate is one of his best. A departure from his international spiritual thrillers, this book locks us away in the unknown world of a retirement home where people waste away waiting. But through this bizarre world that most of us hope never to find, Law creates vast landscapes of memory and experience where an old woman teaches us that god isn't a big guy on a cloud and that what we do day to day is only part of what life is really about. A must read for the old and the young.

Stan Law must be one of today's most unusual writers: he can create intellectual excitement with nothing but introspective dialogues, mind-stretching explorations of complex concepts like life, death, love and loyalty. This saga of an elderly Polish woman who records, for her sons' benefit, her thoughts as she ages and loses one faculty after another, has such authenticity of voice that one wonders whether it is really fiction. She is blessed with sons who visit her in the elder hospice and engage her in deep philosophical conversations. The author's erudition ranges over religions, Buddhism, spiritualism, and one rejoices that this 90-year-old woman's mind is as sharp and penetrating as her sons'. The writing has classical grandeur and poetic beauty, the characters are vividly drawn, especially the nurses' helper, a giant of a man named Raphael whose sensitivities and erudition match the author's. This is a jewel of a piece of writing, with an honesty that makes transcendence and incontinence equally noble a part of the narrative. If you value the life of the mind, this book is for you.

If you think your own life, or that of your loved one, might end up in an Old People's home, then this books is a MUST READ. You'll learn about Alzheimer's, dementia, loneliness... but also about unexpected joys and friendships. You will enter a strange and wondrous world where old age offers unexpected compensations. And finally, you will also learn to laugh at yourself, even if, on occasion, through tears.