White Smoke: A Novel about the Next Papal Conclave [Import] [Hardcover]

Andrew M. Greeley (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (April 1999)
• ISBN-10: 031287118X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312871185
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

More About the Author

A native of Chicago, Father Andrew M. Greeley, is a priest, distinguished sociologist and bestselling author. He is professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, as well as Research Associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His current sociological research focuses on current issues facing the Catholic Church-including celibacy of priests, ordination of women, religious imagination, and sexual behavior of Catholics.Father Greeley received the S.T.L. in 1954 from St. Mary of Lake Seminary. His graduate work was done at the University of Chicago, where he received the M.A. Degree in 1961 and the Ph.D. in 1962.Father Greeley has written scores of books and hundreds of popular and scholarly articles on a variety of issues in sociology, education and religion. His column on political, church and social issues is carried by the Chicago Sun Times and many other newspapers. He stimulates discussion of neglected issues and often anticipates sociological trends. He is the author of more than thirty bestselling novels and an autobiography, Furthermore!: Confessions of a Parish Priest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better, June 26, 2000

By 

A Central Illinoisian in Chicago (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: White Smoke: A Novel of Papal Election (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of those books that after you've read it, you can't tell if it was worth your time or not.

I learned a bit about the Papal election process, and I learned a LOT about what a particular part of the priesthood thinks about the current and previous Popes.

However, as other reviewers have noted, the characterization is paper thin, the plotting is silly, the "bad guys" in the Roman curia are mainly faceless and without redemption, and the "good guys" are completely without fault. I'd go further to add that the bias shown by the supposedly objective reporters in the novel is so severe that the characters cease to be believable in their own right, and become "mouthpieces" for the author.

Now, for fans of Greeley, I'm sure this will be a satisfying read... For those neutral to his particular style, (and it can get really thick, particularly the dialogue) I suspect it might not be. Before I picked up "White Smoke", the last time I read a Greeley novel was over 12 years ago. I liked that book. I don't much care for this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars As a novelist he's a pretty good sociologist., August 27, 2001

By 

D. A. Hosek (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: White Smoke: A Novel of Papal Election (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first Andrew Greeley novel I've read, and I found it more than a little disappointing. There are effectively two levels of characterization here: All the "bad" guys are cardboard caricatures and all the "good" guys are self-portraits. Not a single idea here that he didn't better develop in his non-fiction writing. If you're looking for good Pope fiction, I'd suggest any of the Morris West novels instead.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not One Of His Best, October 2, 2005

By 

Notnadia (Currently upstairs.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Smoke: A Novel of Papal Election (Mass Market Paperback)

This book de-evolves into a manifesto of what Greeley would like to see in the next Pope. It's almost the author's fantasy scenario about extreme liberalism coming to dominance in the Catholic Church, right down to a Spanish Pope who wears business suits and who used to be a married husband and father. This far-fetched novel has so little material on which to construct a plot that Greeley concocts a love story around his Papal election politics. There is a reconciliation of a married couple on the outs, and a half-hearted aside into a secondary plotline about a man who wants to murder the next Pope. Oh, and Father Greeley drags his favorite Chicago Cardinal into the book to fill more pages and gives the poor old man a life and death personal crisis. This soap opera could have been a good short story but it's a dismal novel. Virgin And Martyr and Angels of September are better books by Andrew Greeley, and a few of the Blackie Ryan mysteries are fun, but White Smoke is a clunker.