Mon (The Gate) is a carefully observed portrayal of a young couple who, by an impulsive marriage without parental consent, cut themselves off from relatives and friends. Poverty compels them to live modestly in a shabby house with little hope of future prosperity, but their enforced isolation brings a new intimacy and tolerance to their relationship. When hardship becomes too much, the husband goes to a Zen temple. He knows nothing about Zen and has no idea what to expect, but he goes with desperate hopes of reordering his life. It is at this gateway to a new understanding that the novel comes to an absorbing climax.

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