Customer Reviews

Eminence

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

 

 

EMINENCE is a breathtaking journey through the political fabric of the Vatican during a crucial period, set in the near future. The hierarchy wrestles for direction in the lead up of the election of a new Pontiff. Morris West's novel is clearly a "must read" for anyone enjoying a well written, compelling novel.

While you are masterly entertained by the author, he uses skilfully a highly accomplished structure of the novel as his Trojan Horse to present compelling argument to sketch out the fundamental problems facing the Roman Catholic Church, and Christianity at large, everywhere. West's insight and maturity takes you on the path to new thinking on essential questions on spirituality, traditional faith, and illuminates our own search for God, and life's meaning in a new age.

I hope it becomes compulsory reading for high office bearers of the Roman Church, as they soon might need to wrestle with the election of a successor to the ancient throne of Peter.

As to the wisdom of a great writer, we ought to be truly grateful.

The emotions and struggles of West's characters are real, heartfelt, and dated to the beginning of mankind. In this way, I always relate to his stories, tantalized and drawn in by his graceful style and--often un-American--sense of dignity. On the other hand, the dialogue tends to flow from pre-ordained scripts, rather than from the down-on-the-street world most of us live in. I usually overlook this stilted quality because of the seductive narrative. His words nearly hum a tune of honor and the quest for truth in a world gone mad. West is one of my favorite authors and I enjoyed this story of Luca and Isabel and the political jockeying within the Vatican, but I wouldn't rate it among his best. I hope he has one more truly original premise to vent in his latter days. Meanwhile, try his nonfiction offering "A View from the Ridge." This man truly attempts to reconcile faith with the darkness of the world around us--and for that he sits high on my list of influential authors.

Once again, Morris West brings to life a clergyman with a troublesome past. Cardinal Luca, burdened with old memories of being molested by Argentine soldiers, comes to town - THE town, La Citta. So does the love of his life, an ambassador's wife. West weaves an elegant web of love and politics (churchly and worldly). As the Pope dies, Luca has to cope with his love's fatal illness, the election of the successor of St Peter - and his own past. Of course, the election turns out more exciting than anyone could guess, with an unexpected turn at the end. As usual, West gives us a thoroughly researched background - this time on the pulling of strings behind the scenes: Maybe this is the way popes are elected; we can not really know. West has a flair for telling about live people in odd circumstances. And he does not let us down.

Morris West has produced a novel of great detail, passion and intrigue. It is an immensely enjoyable read, although I found not as a profoundly religious book as he has previously written. You would expect to be shocked by some of the revelations of the Catholic church at its hierarchy, however you are not. Morris West brings his focus to Luca Rossini, showing the shame and struggle he endured as a junior cleric. Abominations suffered during the "Dirty war" in his country strip him of all feeling, manhood and potentially faith. The passion and love that Luca experiences as a young Argentinian priest is paramount to the story. His love is with his rescuer, and throughout you don't seem inclined to pass judgement on his actions. Instead yout feel for his situation and ultimately that of the world as they wait for the election of the new pope. The election for a new pope being the backdrop of the novel, is wrought with political intrigue and often, leaves you forgetting they are within the confines of the Vatican City. A deeply enthralling novel that creates its own drama as you read, and think and presume to know what actually does go on in the Vatican and its surrounds!!

I have been a Morris West fan since the early 1970's. I have read nearly all of his books and have enjoyed not just the style, but the thorough knowledge about whatever the topic that was part of the story. He was an excellent researcher. His greatest work surrounded his Catholic Faith and his intimate understanding of both the mechanism of the Church's life, but also the psychology of religious thought and belief.
In Eminence, one of his last novels, we have a celebration of all of his skills in a very insightful tale of both the struggle for integrity and the power of the gift of love to heal the wounds and give courage in the midst of mystery.His characters are vivid, and his pace is both engaging and intriguing. West's knowledge of the times, both in the geo-polity of Argentina in the late 1980's and early 90's, as well as the dynamics within the Church at the time, was dead-on. Without trying to defend the sins of anyone involved in the story, he invites the reader to attempt to understand the frailties of the human condition and the power of faith.
Eminence is a great read and a fitting legacy of a master story-teller.

I have always enjoyed Morris Wests novels. His grasp and understanding come from an insiders view of how the church operates and its relationships with people and governments. He is wonderful at developing great characters so this book will not disappoint you. He makes two significant assumptions in trying to make this a " real " (in his eyes) portrayal of the church, namely that the present pontif regrets his stronghanded conservative stance on the church and that a church, riddled with conservatives will entertain the choice of a moderate for the next pope. These are big jumps that I am not sure everyone is willing to make and thus the ending is somewhat unreal. Most readers are probably not this critical nor are they knowledgeable of the running of the church as West is and therefore might make the jump easier. Neverthrless, it is a good read and will certainly keep your attention to the last page.

This book is a real sad story, it keeps you reading almost all the time, is not exactly a thriller but is very sad, reading this book you will see how live the people in the Vatican and how they feel.
The story of Isabel and Luca is sad since the beginning of the book, also is the story of Piers Hallet and is only written once, but the childhood of Stephanie was awful.
I won't comment anything of how Luca and Isabel met because I will tell you part of the book, but it was terrible, if you are not in the mood of "crying" while you read, don't read this book.

On the plus side, West raises some very important and highly relevant issues in his new book: What would happen to the Church if a pope suffered a severe stroke (or some other sudden, disabling illness) that left him physically and mentally incapable of communicating? Should the Church now develop a process to replace a pope in the event of such an emergency? (With John Paul II visibly suffering from the effects of Parkinson's disease, these questions need to be addressed openly and soon.) Also, West knows the Vatican well enough to give the reader a pretty good feel for how the place operates and the kind of people who populate it. Now, the bad news: the plot is rather farfetched. We're supposed to believe that the College of Cardinals elects as pope a man who admits to having had an adulterous affair while he was a young priest and fathering a child. . . .oh, and he's also an admitted agnostic at the time of his election to the papacy! Another annoying feature of this and West's other Vatican novels is that every character is always witty, pithy and urbane, which, of course, is not the way real human beings speak in normal conversation. The characters' dialogue just doesn't have the flavor of real life.

Anyway, for lovers of West novels and those (like myself) who enjoy an occasional dose of Vatican intrigue, read the book when it comes out in paperback.

Mr. West writes about the Vatican not about the Roman Catholic Church. If he had not been a priest i would have understand some of his descriptions about Catholic Church. Since he has enouph information on the subject it seems he wants to "reprove" some of the Church's institutions by providing information he knows not beeing totaly correct. Saying half a true it is the better way to say a lie Maria Santos