In the following essay, Bennett explores major themes in the stories of Temporary Shelter.

In the following essay, Bennett argues that the three novellas included in The Rest of Life “form a deliberately crafted whole,” and explore some dominant motifs that resonate throughout the volume.

In the following essay, Wymward comments that the stories of Temporary Shelter are infused with the author's religious sensibilities.

In the following essay, Dwyer discusses the theme of Irish-American identity in the stories “Delia,” “Agnes,” and “Eileen,” included in Temporary Shelter.

In the following review of works by various writers, Wilhelmus praises the stories in Gordon's The Rest of Life for addressing the complications of life in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Bush describes the collection's three novellas as striking narratives about self-assertive women.

Ah, you may say, here it comes. Another Lapsed Literata has escaped the convent for the marketplace, there to hawk elegant self-portraits complete with stigmata induced by that Freudian demon, the Catholic Childhood. Well, you would be right—and wrong. [Final Payments and The Company of Women]—both bestsellers—can indeed be read as familiar reverse-gear apologetics, Rent-a-Joyce sagas of guilt and liberation with a predictable dash of feminist rancor thrown in.

In the following review, Caldwell praises The Rest of Life, observing that the three novellas express a strong sense of voice, insight, and memory.

In the following interview, Gordon comments on the theme of gender relations in The Rest of Life.

In the following review of Temporary Shelter, Lee comments that the best stories in this volume are written in a distinct voice that is both disturbing and comforting, although some are flawed by an overly solemn tone.

In the following review, Akins praises The Rest of Life as a volume of fine novellas, written in well-crafted prose.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Pols comments on the theme of relationships between women and men in Gordon's collection.

In the following review, See offers high praise for Temporary Shelter, lauding Gordon's craftsmanship, emotional authenticity, and inventiveness.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Breslin comments on the volume's confessional narrative voice and focus on themes of obsession and memory.

If there was any doubt that Mary Gordon was her generation's preeminent novelist of Roman Catholic mores and manners when she published her remarkable first novel, "Final Payments," it is dispelled by ["The Company of Women"]. In Miss Gordon's vision, the church seems to offer an ideal of perfection that dominates the lives of believers and apostates alike. Miss Gordon's new heroine is once again a defector from the church who, as if doing penance for having ...

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Messud describes the stories as both serious and accessible, and asserts that the title novella is the most moving in the volume.

I thought Final Payments was foolishly overpraised—Isabel's friends and lovers were lukewarm dumplings, and Gordon had no flair for writing about sex—but the first sixty pages or so had a weight and assurance rare in a first novel. When Gordon wrote about Isabel's love for her father, the prose was hushed, unforced; the sturdy sentences themselves seemed to shoulder grief. Once Isabel dragged her questing soul out into the real world, the novel became weary and contrived; Gordon ...

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

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Prose praises Gordon's portrayal of complex female characters, commenting that the stories are engaging and thought-provoking.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Kemp addresses the subjects of life's instabilities and “the hazards of human existence.”

Morality and womanhood are the topics addressed by Mary Gordon in her two novels, "Final Payments" [and "The Company of Women"] …: morality posed as a question—is self-sacrifice a form of self-indulgence?—and womanhood as a physical and mental plight…. A perfectionist, Gordon views men as gods or oafs; she doesn't come to terms in either of her books with the idea of them as human beings. Her reflections on men and women are unresolved…. ...

In the following essay, Higgins discusses the theme of Catholicism in the novellas of The Rest of Life.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Rodd praises the three novellas for their integrity, rich language, and authentic characterization.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Rubin asserts that the title novella is the strongest of the volume, while the others are unfocused.

Final Payments is a well-made, realistic novel of refined sensibility and moral scruple, informed by the values of orthodox Christianity—qualities one does not expect from the debut of a young American writer these days…. Anything more different from the school of Jong could hardly be imagined; but there is a perceptible affinity between Final Payments and, say, [Margaret Drabble's] The Needle's Eye. In both writers the primary source of interest and concern is the effort of an i...

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Knapp praises the stories as powerful narratives exploring each heroine's existential aloneness.

With the natural instincts of a good narrator, Mary Gordon [in "Final Payments"] has elected to keep to the single-minded voice of her heroine, for Isabel Moore is obsessed with her own story…. One of the great strengths of [the novel] is the suspense that Mary Gordon builds into her plot. What will her bright, untried heroine find beyond Queens and the great dominant passion of her past? Isabel Moore is an extremely complex figure: she is physically attractive, vulnerable, sensuous, se...

The Company of Women is a symbolic meditation disguised as a realistic Bildungsroman. Mary Gordon's study of faith, love and charity begins with four Catholic women, the girl Felicitas, and their priest Father Cyprian all poised in an ecstasy of hope…. By the end of the novel, Felicitas has grown up, had an illegitimate child, and apparently failed to fulfil her early promise. On a deeper level her worldly failure has only confirmed why Felicitas was "called after the one virgin martyr ...

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Hughes praises Gordon's prose for its high quality and precision.

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Teleky praises Gordon as the foremost American Catholic writer of her generation and “one of the finest writers of our time.”

Final Payments is a work of casuistry concerned to examine the conflicting demands of morality, especially Catholic morality. Isabel Moore, the heroine, blunders about, discharging ruin and agonizing about whether she is behaving well. It would be reassuring to feel that Mary Gordon knew she had created a Pharisaic monster and would dissociate herself from sympathy with Isabel's lethal spiritual struggles. This is not made clear and I was left with the feeling that perhaps Isabel was intended by her ...

In the following review of The Rest of Life, Weinman applauds the depth and compassion of Gordon's stories.

In the following review, MacCurtain criticizes Temporary Shelter, asserting that its narratives seem contrived and poorly structured.

Mary Gordon's much-praised Final Payments may be the best American feminist novel yet, though its thematic emphases are skillfully concealed beneath its wry surface picturing of an Irish Catholic girl who "gives up her life" for her invalid father, nervously edges back into reality after his death, then chooses renunciation again (for "having put myself at the center of the universe")—in a drastic penitential act that is simply unbelievable in pure narrative terms (...

Mary Gordon is a young writer who obviously knows the territory she writes about, semi-urban neighborhoods of houses "cared for with a fierce, unimaginative pride," in which education, social life, and daily transactions all revolve around the parish. When she writes of Isabel's Catholic upbringing, she does so with a charming combination of affection and cynical wit. Isabel and her friends are appealing if rather narrow characters. Unfortunately, the plot of the book takes a series of ...