Customer Reviews

The Bishop in the West Wing: A Bishop Blackie Ryan Novel (Blackie Ryan Novels)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let me preface this review by saying I have read most of the Blackie Ryan series and have loved them all, despite a few irritations. Let me also disclose that I am a moderate Republican and practicing Roman Catholic. If that shoots my credibility in the foot for you, move on to the next review.

I found the story line in Bishop in the West Wing to be very thin. The central problem of the poltergeists in the White House is brought up from time to time to string it all together, but it seems an afterthought. The true purpose of this novel seems to be to recount Father Greeley's visits to the White House during the Clinton administration, with Blackie playing the part of Greeley and President McGurn as President Clinton. While I would be interested in reading about that subject, I would prefer it in a nonfiction text, as opposed to under the guide of fiction. Having Republicans as a group stereotyped as hate-spewing elists, as they are in this book, is no more fair than stereotyping all Catholic priests as pedophiles, which they are most certainly not. Also, there is a real Rasputin-ish quality to the part that Blackie plays in the White House in this novel. Am I the only one who noticed this?

I was bothered by Father Greeley's characterizations of teenage girls in this novel, as I have been in his past novels. It seems especially evident in Bishop in the West Wing. He portrays them as modern-day "Valley Girls", with ditzy personalities and brainless slang used in every sentence. When one conducts a conversation with most teenage girls and young women, I believe one will find that most of them, especially those of the type Father Greeley is representing in his novels, speak much like the rest of us. I won't even get started on the "ebonics" he imposed on a high-level African-American White House aide in the book.

I am hoping that this novel is an abberation in the Blackie Ryan series, and not a sign of things to come in future novels. Despite the negative tone of this review, I would still nonetheless recommend this novel to Blackie fans such as myself (hence the two stars instead of one). Blackie is a fun, clever character, and spending some time in his world is always an escape from our own. Just hold your nose in parts and pray that Father Greeley will juice things up in the next Blackie novel.

I have read every work of fiction that I can find that Father Greeley has written, and I love the Father Blackie mysteries. However, I was disappointed in this book because so much time was devoted to promoting the Democrats as victims of a vicious Republican conspiracy. I have always known that Father Greeley was a Democrat, but this was a bit much. It seemed he even went so far as to imply that maybe our former president was not guilty of some of the moral decadence that he finally admitted to, but was really set up by the Republicans of that time period. If you can get past or ignore the political chapters, the Father Blackie story is a good one. I hope this was a one time only jaunt into this level of politics or I may have to find another favorite author.

Like many, I have been a long-time fan of Father Andrew Greeley and especially his Bishop Blackie Ryan series. The good Father, however, has now betrayed the trust of his readers with this book of bias and hate.

Throughout the book, the author accuses Republicans (not some or a few but all) of being wealthy, corrupt, and crooks. He does not miss an opportunity to level an attack againsts all Republicans, even those who died well over one hundred years ago. One might expect that from a partisan book written by political lackeys. One expects more, however, from a novel written by a priest.

What is most disturbing is that a Catholic priest using a fictional Catholic bishop to directly and indirectly debase all Republicans leaves the impression that his views have the imprimateur of the Catholic Church. Unlike the ficitonal church in this book, the real Catholic Church teaches love and forgiveness.

While he condemns the demogogues of the religious right, Father Greeley has adopted the very same tactics of hate and bias which he supposedly deplores.

Perhaps Father Greeley should write future novels with the words of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who also hailed from Illinois, in mind: "With malice toward none, with charity for all."

This is one book which should not have been written. Or, perhaps it should have as it exposes the real Father Greeley.

The prejudice of the author comes through loud and clear from the dedication to Bill and Hillary to the bashing of conservative views at every opportunity. I was extremely disappointed. It's the last of Greeley's books that I'll waste my time reading. Also, it was much too easy to figure out who and what was happening.

"The Bishop In The West Wing" by Andrew M. Greeley, 8 Cassettes, Audio Renaissance 2002.
There is a saying, "There are two kinds of people: the Irish and those that wish they were." The author, Rev. Andrew M. Greeley, may have used this saying for a theme in his this latest mystery. The newly elected president,an Irish Catholic, Jack McGurn, from Chicago, surrounds himself with a close staff that is Irish Catholic, and, artistic license,(patently) they are all portrayed as beautiful, bright, and filled with witty anecdotes and stories. The major exception in the close staff is an Italian Catholic Ph.D. from Brooklyn, the resident expert on China. Everything would be fine (except for the opposition of the usual Republicans and right wing radicals) but there is a poltergeist in the White House.

Fr. Greeley defines the poltergeist as a presence that causes a ruckus but does no real physical harm. (I checked on the Web, and there are plenty of examples where the poltergeist presence typically does some nasty physical things... example, biting a young girl on the behind and leaving teeth wounds.) But any way, artistic license again, (patently) and this White House poltergeist just throws things around; nothing or no one is hurt. She is constantly knocking down the portrait of George Washington in the West Wing. Bishop Blackie has to figure out which woman, of nine potential candidates, is the cause of all the ruckus. This is the central mystery in the book. By the way, all the candidates are beautiful, and all are Catholic, except the least good looking, a WASP with angular features. By the last cassette, the "elevator doors have opened" and the good Bishop has identified the culprit woman (patently).

Paul Michael did a great job on reading the book, with accents for all the characters, although I think that he only approximated a New York accent, not a Brooklyn accent, for lady Ph.D. expert on China. In my writing conferences, I am constantly being taught to throw out any thing, no matter how well I've written it, that does not advance the central theme or the plot. So, I do not understand why Fr. Greeley spent so much time on the conversation (almost an altercation) between the character of President McGurn and the bishop of Washington, DC. It advanced nothing in the story. Same thing with the references to stealing the Presidential election in Florida (in 2000). I counted at least three mentions. Finally, besides being a noted author, Andrew Greeley is an established sociologist. In that role, I would expect him to take notice of the fact that many Irish Catholics from big cities are no longer Democrats. As an Irish Catholic from NYC, I once was a Democrat. My oldest daughter came home from college and convinced me to register Republican (in Massachusetts!). My daughter and I and the other three children in the family are all Republicans. Sociologist Greeley should be aware of this shift in the newer generations of Irish Catholics.

As others have said, this book is really an apology for the Democratic party. That would be fine, but I would expect better of someone of Father Greeley's intellect than repetitive phrases such as "Republicans have always been good at stealing things, especially elections." By the way, where was the ACLU when there was a mass said in the White House. A building belonging to the people of the United States, terrible, terrible, the sky will probably fall on us all now. I stopped in disgust three quarters of the way through the book. I had already figured out the ending anyway.

Sadly, Andrew Greeley finally gets his wish, pushes Monica aside, and takes over on Bill Clinton...

silly story of a "vast right wing conspiracy" where Republicans, whites, conservatives, protestants...all evil, plot to blow up the white house, and plant ghosts to spook the new president.

Greeley's characters are straw men; light a match and watch them burn! ok, ok, I get it. Abortion, gay rights, stolen election, republicans are all killers, and Bill Clinton is god....we get your picture! what a silly, uninteresting story by an ego gone wild. Ridiculous cartoon like characters, including the southern politician who denounces all as "de-generates"---the transparency leaves little to the imagination...Even the NY Times, PBS, and Washington Post are all in on the vast right wing conspiracy because, as we all know, they are responsible for all the evil in the US and just disguise themselves as liberal.

Liberal or conservative, this book is a bore and is childish in its theme. Poltergeists in the white house, planted there by republicans to get back at bill clinton! Father Andrew has run out of ideas! At least we get all the token characters...

This fun, humorous, jaunt through the White House, is pure entertainment. However, to really enjoy this novel realize that the author is a liberal Roman Catholic, Democrat from Chicago who loves his faith, politics, and the Chicago Cubs. Greeley is a true humorist who has fun with Republicans, but also gets readers to laugh about his Irish heritage, the quirks of his faith, his family and himself.

Bishop John Blackwood Ryan, who prefers to be called Blackie, is a priest detective and the Cardinal's flunky for all troublesome problems. In this case Blackie is given the mission to visit Washington and fix two difficulties for a friend of the Cardinal, the President of the United States. The first task is to handle poltergeists that haunt the White House. The second is to resolve an embarrassing sexual harassment case filed against the President by former female campaign workers. Surprisingly, poltergeists are not asserted to be Republicans but rather teenage girls.

Although the "mystery" is rather simple, the descriptions are magnificent. Blackie's view of the Inside of the Executive Mansion is clever, clear and often funny. For example, he observed a "wide corridor which was arranged like a hotel lobby or perhaps the biggest drawing room in the world", and after learning that Winston Churchill had occupied his assigned bedroom, he noted that an "orotund English gentleman . . . just emerged naked from the bathroom smoking a cigar."

Greeley's descriptions of the main characters are clear: Jack McGurn is perhaps five feet ten with a square dimpled face that seems impeccably honest. His blue-green eyes dance with charm ... his black kinky hair parted in the middle over a low forehead edges into silver suggesting a mix of youthful vigor and mature wisdom. In Greeley's terms most of the women are beautiful, but of course most women are gorgeous to their lover and to healthy, single, celibate priests.

This is the first of Greeley's Blackie series novels that I read. I was fascinated by some of the minor characters, like his sister Mary Kathleen Ryan Murphy and Mike "the cop". There seemed to be more to them than the novel revealed. When I learned that this is the thirteenth novel in the Blackie series, I understood. Many of the minor characters were introduced in detail in earlier editions. Accordingly I found the earlier books and decided to read them in order. That has made a huge difference. Blackwood's family and friends have become almost "real." They are now like part of my family. I read Bishop in the West Wing again, in its proper place, and enjoyed it immensely the second time around.

This was a very thin and obvious story -- I figured out who the perp was after the vice president and her daughter were initially introduced. I agree with all the points made with another reviewer who gave this novel two points. Especially on how Andy portrays certain people in a sterotypically fashion. However, I have a stronger dislike for novels written by liberals who use them as political platforms. Seems history was trying to be rewritten here, and a sickly yearning back to the Days of Camelot were very much evident and not appreciated by this reader. Overall this was a stupid and ignorant novel.

I consider this book much too polarizing to recommend it as a fun read for the general public. The focus was too political. The author vilified conservative republicans and glorified liberal democrats. He then had the audacity to have the President (liberal democrat of course) denounce partisanship. He also seemed to negatively stereotype the Christian religious right in order to support an Irish Catholic power team in the White House. If you have a particular disdain for Republican-Conservative Christians, this book will resonate with you.