SOURCE: Bennett, Alma. “‘Neither Night nor Morning’: The Rest of Life: Three Novellas.” In Mary Gordon, pp. 148-64. New York: Twayne, 1996.

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.

From the start of her career, Gordon's works have attracted a wide range of readers, and if getting reviewed in People magazine is any sort of reliable indicator, that range has widened since August of 1993.¹ Still, for Gordon aficionados and her newer readers alike, the 1993 publication of Gordon's The Rest of Life: Three Novellas² marks the debut of a new genre interest that the author plans to continue from time to time. When asked about the genre shift, Gordon has explained, “I think that The Other Side [1989] was an enormous structural labor; it really kind of...