SOURCE: Turner, Jenny. “Pierced Hearts.” Guardian (London) (25 January 1994): 11.

In the following review, Turner considers the stories in The Rest of Life to be original, insightful, and entertaining.

Mary Gordon has a name that sounds like the name of many other women writers. The titles of her novels—Final Payments, Men and Angels, The Other Side—sound much the same as the titles of other women writers' books. The biographies on her bookjackets mention that the author is “best-selling” and has in the past won a Readers' Digest Award. But then, haven't they all? You should not let any of these things confuse you. For Mary Gordon is very special indeed. The Rest of Life is composed of three novellas. The first, “Immaculate Man”, is about a woman who gets romantically involved with a Roman Catholic priest. You have barely started reading before you come across this: “It's very...