The Gate: Things My Mother Told Me (Paperback)

~ Stan I.S. Law (Author)
Key Phrases: Father Mulligan, Sister Angelica, Bristol Cream (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An intimate novel of an eighty-year old women spending the last years of her life at the Institute of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The problems she must face are as different as they are unexpected from anything one can imagine in the 'outside' world, not the least of which is her husband's gradual deterioration under the unforgiving progression of Alzheimer's disease. As we follow the inevitable loss of her own faculties, we discover what unexpected compensations nature offers to those whom no one else can help. Surprisingly, the book is spiced with abundant humour....

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: INHOUSEPRESS (December 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978026705
• ISBN-13: 978-0978026707
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #764,047 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gate -- a must, January 29, 2008

By	M. Beaulieu (Montreal, Qc Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gate -- A haunting, contemplative work, January 18, 2008

By	Kate Jones "mind junkie" (Pasadena, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gate (Things my Mother told me). A must read, December 27, 2007

By	Bozena Happach (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.