Clerical Errors: A Novel [Paperback]

Alan Isler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2002

Edmond Music, Catholic Priest, is a man with secrets, he doesn't believe in God, and has been sleeping with his housekeeper for 40 years. Then Professor Fred Twombly, a half-century-long enemy arrives determined to destroy him. A comic and moving novel.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Father Edmond Music is no model priest. For one thing, he is a stone cold atheist. For another, he has been a sexual athlete in his time, and still sleeps with his housekeeper, Maude Moriarty. Not only has he enjoyed a robust sex life, he's profited from it: his lover nearly 50 years before, in the 1950s, English Lady Violet Devlin ("Kiki"), gave the church her inherited family seat, Beale Hall, to be turned into a scholarly Catholic retreat with the proviso that Music be its director general. These blips on Music's moral radar don't bother him, really but he is irked by what he sees as the bloody strain of anti-Semitism in the church and his complicity in it. Music was, after all, born a Jew. In occupied France, his parents thought it the better part of valor to have him convert before they disappeared his mother to a concentration camp, his father into hiding in the French countryside and, eventually, to Israel. Music's immediate worry, and the gambit for the novel's intrigues, is the investigation mounted by his old enemy, Father Twombly, into the mysterious transfer of a reputed Shakespeare manuscript from the Beale Hall library to a private bookseller in Paris. While Music races around trying to prevent the exposure of that transaction, Maude, inching toward 70, is becoming poisonously disillusioned with her lover. Isler (The Prince of West End Avenue, winner of the National Jewish Book Award) mixes the Jewish comic tradition and the high church comedy of Waugh and Murdoch to produce this scathing yet touching farewell to faith, hope and charity in the mad, bad 20th century. (June)Forecast: This book defies marketing Catholic readers will quickly be appalled by the unapologetic blasphemy, and Jewish readers will tend to say, what is this, a book about a priest? Yet Isler's amiable refusal to please sets him squarely in the tradition of Philip Roth; his tone is reminiscent of Malamud. With luck and a few good reviews, his book will sell despite itself.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Isler (Kraven Images, et al.) surpasses even high expectations in this superb novel about a rogue(ish) priest, born a Jew, nearing the end of his long life. A lot goes on here there's a stolen Shakespeare rarity (from a library our cleric oversees, much to the Church's chagrin), a spiteful but ineffectual priest bent on revenge and a crumbling lifetime love affair with a "house- keeper" but what shines through is the voice of Father Edmond Music, erudite, witty, ironic, sad, and urbane. As a bonus, there's some Shakespeariana "written" by an 18th-century Jewish mystic, who also gets involved in the plot; to see how, you'll just have to read it. Accompanying material says "Isler's satirical prose has rightly been called Nabokovian," but that's not quite right. This reads a lot like a Robertson Davies novel, from the narrative voice right down to central characters who change their names. And that's high praise. Very highly recommended. Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743210611
• ASIN: B000H2N5J4
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,476,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXQUISITELY LITERATE AND TOUCHING, July 20, 2001

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clerical Errors: A Novel (Hardcover)

Forget kindly, selfless Father Flanagan - his antithesis is Father Edmond Music, a priest gone far astray. He finds joy in celebrating the pleasures of the flesh with his housekeeper, Maude, is involved in the disappearance of a thought-to-be Shakespeare manuscript, was born a Jew, and worst of all, he's an unabashed atheist.

Let's say up front that some will be offended by what they may consider blasphemy; it's pure Isler who won the 1994 National Jewish Book Award for "The Prince Of West End Avenue." He's satirical, laugh out loud funny, exquisitely literate, and touching. He's also unwilling to be reined in by "popular constraints."

Thanks to a much earlier love affair with the robust Kiki, who gave the church her family home, Beale Hall, Father Music is contentedly assigned to be the Hall's director with the stipulation that it be used as a spiritual retreat.

Regrettably, the priest's laissez faire attitude has earned him a persistent enemy, one Father Twombly who is determinedly investigating the disappearance of a valuable manuscript from the Hall's library. Thus, at a rather advanced age Father Music is forced to try to outwit his vengeful nemesis.

Mr. Isler laces his text with ruminations on life, love, and faith - not longueurs but substantial food for thought offered with sly winks and witty prose pictures. "Clerical Errors" is a rich rabelaisian feast.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Left me breathless, November 30, 2001

By 

Raphael Rubin (Merion Station, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clerical Errors: A Novel (Hardcover)

After reading the masterpiece "Prince of West End Ave", I dove into Clerical Errors. Isler does not disappoint. This too is a gem. Isler belongs in the modern pantheon.

Devoted Catholics may be offended by the work. However, this misses the point. Its not really about Catholics. Any more said would spoil this carefully crafted tale.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhere in the middle....., September 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Clerical Errors: A Novel (Hardcover)

After reading Clerical Errors; then the reviews "Distasteful" and "Exquisitely Literate...." I'm somewhere in the middle. I think 5 stars gives this work far to much credit, 1 too little. Mr. Isler ruminates is right -- in excess; to the point it's distracting. On the other hand Clerical Errors is filled with some amusing (though hardly original) observations. If a "poke" at catholicism offends, then don't read this book. In truth, any study of history will expose much of what Isler uses as jabs to the faith. This is nothing new.

Unfortunately, he also seems to use Father Music's ruminations about his life and "career" as a Catholic priest to periodically trot out the obligatory mention of the WWII atrocities committed against the Jews, the religion of Father Music's family. In addition, Father Music appears to view his cast off faith (Judaism) in a better light than the one that provided him with a secure and comforatable life. Despite the misgivings of his later years, he doesn't show any sign of giving up his present comfortable position.

Each religion has it's contradictions, problems, and flaws. Unfortunately the book is lopsided in it's assessment of the two faiths that have impacted Father Music's life.

All in all, don't expect much that's original, but have some fun with the antics of Father Music and Father Twombley.