The power and the glory.

The Viking critical library

by ,

552 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 1970 by Viking Press.

ISBN:
978-0-670-01806-2
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OCLC Number:
128223

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3 stars (3 reviews)

One of Greene’s most powerful novels, the book takes as its theme the era of religious suppression in Mexico during the early 1930’s. An unnamed Catholic priest, an alcoholic with a shameful past in search of either oblivion or redemption, travels through Mexico administering the rites of the church to the poor landless peasants, hunted by a remorseless police officer and always in fear of being betrayed by those he is attempting to help.

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reviewed The Power and the glory by Graham Greene

Review of 'The Power and the glory' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

As an aetheist I don't have much access to the forces that moved the whiskey priest, but I liked how he seemed to be at his best when he was closest to losing everything. The contrast between his confused, unhappy end and the grandiose story martyrdom that accompanied it was striking. I guess the reader is left to wonder whether all Catholic martyrs were afraid and worried when they died, rather than serene.

I read Graham Greene because I heard he does dialog well, and that seems to have been true here.

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Subjects

  • Anti-clericalism -- Fiction
  • Catholics -- Fiction
  • Clergy -- Fiction
  • Mexico -- Fiction