Karen Armstrong's "Through the Narrow Gate" book review

Karen Armstrong - Through the Narrow Gate

This was perhaps the best autobiography I've ever read. Armstrong chronicles her life from the time she was born until the time she left the religious order after becoming a nun for 7 years beginning when she was only 17.

She reveals all of the intimate details of her life as a nun in a very friendly, easy to read manner. She does so with a great deal of honesty--not placing the blame for some of the unfortunate circumstances that befell her on any certain person, institution, or group.

Armstrong struggles with her own self as she attempts to find out who she is and who she wants to become. On the one hand, she wants to give up herself so that she can find God, but on the other she wants to become a freethinker who does what is best for herself and others rather than what tradition has dictated. Slowly the side that seeks to find God by losing herself loses out as she realizes that using her mind is what God would surely want her to do.

This book is an excellent read for anyone who has sought God at one point or another in their lives. As a former Mormon missionary, I found many of the trials and lifestyle changes that she had to go through as a nun to be very similar to that of LDS missionaries.

You won't be disappointed with this book.