Read "The Narrow Gate"

Reading "Strait is the Gate"#

I finished reading "Strait is the Gate" in two days. The book is thin, around a hundred pages, and the story is not complicated.

Overall Impression#

I have always been aware and tried to avoid a behavior where I give someone or something a very simple evaluation and then view their development with that evaluation or bias.

However, this time when I read this book, I did just that. When I was a quarter of the way through the book, I couldn't understand Alissa and thought she brought it upon herself.

So, with this bias, my reading experience of this book was not good. What kept me going was mainly the feeling of the book cover and a few impressive scenes in the book, such as:

The secret code between the male and female protagonist

"Listen, Alissa," I suddenly said loudly, "I have twelve days off, and if you're not happy, I won't stay a day longer. Let's agree on a secret code, if you see it, it means I have to leave Fingermarsh the next day. And the next day, I'll leave without complaint or blame. Do you agree?"
I said this without any preparation, but it came out very naturally. She thought for a moment and replied, "If I don't wear the amethyst cross necklace you like when I go downstairs for dinner... then you'll understand, right?"
"That will be my last night here."
"Can you really just leave like that?" she continued, "Without tears, without sighs..."
"And without saying goodbye, I'll say goodbye to you like the day before, appearing indifferent. At first, you'll wonder if I really understand. But the next morning, when you try to find me, you'll realize that I'm already gone."
"The next day, I won't look for you either."

I like this feeling.
The diary of the female protagonist

Why deceive myself? I felt relieved about Juliette's happiness through rational deduction. I had hoped so much for her happiness, and for her happiness, I was even willing to sacrifice my own. But now that I see her easily obtaining it, and how different this happiness is from what we had imagined, I feel uncomfortable. It's so complicated! Yes... I realized with clarity that a terrible selfishness had returned to me. What makes me angry is that besides sacrificing my own happiness, she can also find a path to happiness elsewhere. In other words, she can be happy without me making sacrifices.

I find this passage very interesting and realistic.

Another aspect of this book that interested me was the description of religion, or rather, Christianity. A significant portion of this book is about Christianity, and even the title comes from it. I am not a believer, but I have a certain respect for faith and am quite interested in different religions. I even want to have the opportunity to read the main scriptures of various religions.

Analysis of the Female Protagonist#

My initial view was that the female protagonist's situation was entirely her own doing. I don't think this is what the author intended to convey. So I tried to analyze it to better understand the book.

I'll leave it for my future self. I think I will reread this book.

The names of the two main female characters in the book gave me a different experience while reading.

Juliette, translated as "朱莉叶特" in the edition I read, but I kept mistakenly remembering it as Julia.
Alissa, translated as "阿莉莎". This reminded me of Alyosha from "The Sun Also Rises". The character played by Lennon and Zhou Yun in the movie adaptation kept appearing in my mind while reading.

PS#

When I was writing this impression, I had just finished reading the book and was still struggling with a question: If I don't have a clear impression after finishing the book, should I still write my thoughts? Now that I'm almost done writing, I'm no longer struggling. Because I realized that when I started writing or typing, my initially vague impressions became more specific. It made me feel very relieved.
The original title of the book is "La Porte étroite."
The English translation is "Strait is the Gate."
The Chinese translation is "窄门."
The Smiths - A Tale of a Wonderful Woman (Bootleg) This reminded me of the female protagonist, at least in the first half of the book. After doing a reverse image search, I found out that the woman's name is Virginia Woolf, a writer.