Morte D'Urban [Mass Market Paperback]

J.F. Powers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1963

Morte D'Urban by Powers, J.F.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Popular Library (1963)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000BVEGBM
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,977,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coming back into fashion subject matter, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Morte d'Urban (Paperback)

I discovered this book after reading the recent obituary on J.F. Powers. Now I'm recommending it to everyone. Father Urban is a priest who sounds more like a rotary member, a fund-raiser, a PR man. When the powers that be send him to the hinterlands, he bows to the inevitable. Other victories seem to turn on him at the same time. Hob-knobbing with the weathly, which at first seemed to benefit his order, turns into a nightmare in which he remembers his duty at just the last minute. This prose is so dryly humorous you must read it carefully to catch it all. You will become enchanted with Father Urban and sorry to leave him at the story's end. I wanted this story to go on and on.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars READER BEWARE! Don't read introduction first!, April 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Morte D'Urban (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

I was stunned (and then just plain angry) when I discovered (too late) that Hardwick's "introduction" was little more than a synopisis of the novel's plot. Why do publishers insist on including these dopey intros anyway? By unveiling all the susrprises contained in the novel's plot before the novel begins, the publisher ruins an otherwise fine book for a generation of readers yet to discover it. And it is a great book, though I would have enjoyed it far more had I not, thanks to Ms. Hardwick, seen every plot twist coming from a mile away.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bless me, father, January 2, 2001

By 

Richard LeComte "richlec" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Morte D'Urban (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

One of the best books I read in 2000. "Morte" takes apart the pre-Vatican II Catholic church and puts it back together, complete with a compelling hero. Father Urban, exiled to Garrison Keillor's prairie,takes his lumps and does the best with what he's dealt. And in two courageous acts late in the novel, he discovers, almost by accident, the meaning of Christianity and of his priesthood. It's hard to figure out quite where Powers stood on the Roman church, but he certainly creates a world where any believer can find delight and meaning. It's a great dynamic read.