Strait is the Gate

It took me a little longer to finish this because my head has been out of sorts w jet lag. Once I could get comfortably in sync with Edinburgh time I was able to dive back in and reach the heartbreaking conclusion to Gide's "moral" del. Heartbreaking for the pity inspired by the lead characters. Read together with The Immoralist, and really, it is hard to imagine not doing that, the two stories complete a very interesting project. Two extreme versions of the same center. Gide is at his best when he is writing dialogue or telling a pure story and this novel's set up allows him to play to his strengths. It is wonderfully written and manages to take a potentially sappy premise and spin it into something far more nuanced and audacious.