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The Power and the Glory

by Graham Greene

3.96 · rating details · 7,070 ratings · 586 reviews

In a poor, remote section of southern Mexico, the Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed, and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest strives to overcome physical and moral cowardice in order to find redemption.

Introduction by John Updike

Paperback, 240 pages

Published February 25th 2003 by Penguin Classics (first published 1940)

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The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

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Catholic Fiction

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Mar 20, 2010

mp rated it

Recommended to mp by: Ben Harrison

Shelves: reviewed, kickass

This little gem turned out to be quite a surprise. It is indeed powerful and it is glorious. Greene's writing seems really simple and is easy to read, and yet is so full of meaning. I am still soaking it all in.

As the lead character, the 'whiskey-priest', moves from one place to another, Greene takes us along on a journey taut with suspense and tension. However, it is really his moral journey which is the most captivating. We not only witness the priest's struggle to escape, we also ...more

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Jul 30, 2009

Jen rated it

Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Jen by: Montambo

Shelves: lit-fic, spirituality-religion

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I like books that have more questions than answers. But the questions have to be good, like this:
"... she unhooked the child and held the face against the wood...Did she expect a miracle? And if she did, why should it not be granted her?...The priest found himself watching the child for some movement. When none came, it was as if God had missed an opportunity. Why, after all, should we expect God to punish the innocent with more life?"

The Power and the Glory st...more I like books that have more questions than answers. But the questions have to be good, like this:
"... she unhooked the child and held the face against the wood...Did she expect a miracle? And if she did, why should it not be granted her?...The priest found himself watching the child for some movement. When none came, it was as if God had missed an opportunity. Why, after all, should we expect God to punish the innocent with more life?"

The Power and the Glory started off slow and stifling. The air is hot, and the sound of a fly hovering around your ear is about all you get. There is no water. A scraggly guy shows up and talks to a mediocre dentist. Ho hum. Then the scraggly guy is off, somehow needed at a dying person's side. Somewhere in the jungle lightning cracks. The air shifts. The world of the book cracks open and the ground shifts. And suddenly, tiny razor cuts of prose start to sting. You're alive, the book's alive, the scraggly man is alive. The pain is an exquisite reminder of reality and humanity. The scraggly man is Christ in the stranger's garb. Hunted, maligned, but pressing onward, riding a donkey, shunned by his own family and surrendered to forces beyond himself that he only wishes he could fight fairer and without drops of whiskey.

Obviously, I see this man being shown as a fool for the divine- a holy fool-the biblical kind of foolishness that somehow, like many Old Testament prophets, hits square on the center of truth and blackens the eye with true humility despite, because of, or combined with crazy assed behavior like being covered with matted animal skins, mouths dirty with smeared honey and locust tidbits. Am I reading too much into Greene? Consider this, the sacrificial servant passage:

"If he left them, they would be safe:and they would be free from his example:he was the only priest the children could remember. It was from him they would take their ideas of the faith. But it was from him too they took God - in their mouths. When he was gone it would be as if God in all this space between the sea and mountains ceased to exist. Wasn't it his duty to stay, even if they despised him, even if they were murdered for his sake, even if they were corrupted by his example? He was shaken by the enormity of the problem: he lay with his hands over his eyes: nowhere, in all the wide flat marshy land, was there a single person he could consult...."

But this is not the only thing to see through Greene's looking glass. There's more- that right and wrong/good and evil is not a black and white road as the Catholic Church seemed to at times imply, but a gray path through a hard wilderness- that evil people can do very good things and good people can do very bad things. The sinner and the saint come in unlikely bodies and their spirits cross. And this is reality and it is also the most fantastical fantasy.

Authors who deal with religious themes often include characters that, to use the lyrics of a CAKE song, "shine like justice." Greene's whiskey priest character doesn't do this. He wrestles with the divine, like Jacob with the angel the whole night through and when he awakes he finds that, like Jacob, he is limping. The priest doesn't float a foot off the muddy ground blessedly sermonizing to all he meets full of the awareness of his own power among the people, sanctified with a golden ring over his head. He walks through the mud, for years hides out among them, plodding along through life shitting and eating and fucking just like everyone else, making mistakes and trying to find meaning in the mess of it all. Greene takes characters, gives them flesh, feeds them on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then watches them fall like the rest of us mortals. And the way that they fall! There are serial killers who use their last dying gasps of air trying to save someone else, law breakers who remain smug in false piety and feel comfortable enough passing judgement on those who share the same shitbucket, poser priests who have sold their shepherd staffs and flocks for the wolfish clothing of easy survival and governmental compliance, a conflicted lieutenant who would see his own noble theories and principles violently enforced, and a Judas figure who doesn't even have the good sense enough to hang himself from the nearest tree. And the whiskey priest shares communion with all of them, sharing the bread and the wine in equal amounts.

The story distills itself by the end, culminating in a powerful and heady sip of the inevitable. The whiskey priest manages to "work out his own salvation with fear and with trembling" and abide by the Pauline exclamation that the meaning of death is the same as the meaning of life ("To live is Christ and to die is gain.") It is my understanding that the title also expresses this, through a small bit of the Lord's Prayer: "To thine be the Power and the Glory forever, amen." But, like the whiskey priest, I am open to others' interpretations.

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Jul 27, 2009

Dave Russell rated it

Shelves: novels

That was another mystery: it sometimes seemed to him that venial sins—impatience, an unimportant lie, pride, a neglected opportunity—cut off from grace more completely than the worst sins of all. Then, in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone: now in his corruption he had learnt...

There is a key scene which takes place in a prison after The Priest is arrested for the less serious crime of possessing brandy and not the more serious crime of treason, for which he is also deeme...moreThat was another mystery: it sometimes seemed to him that venial sins—impatience, an unimportant lie, pride, a neglected opportunity—cut off from grace more completely than the worst sins of all. Then, in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone: now in his corruption he had learnt...

There is a key scene which takes place in a prison after The Priest is arrested for the less serious crime of possessing brandy and not the more serious crime of treason, for which he is also deemed guilty by the authorities. There he meets a woman whom he describes as "complacent" in her piety. His own struggle with complacency forms the core thrust of this story.

Before religion was outlawed The Priest led a rather comfortable, albeit bland existence. Reading his description of his old life I was reminded of Dante's Inferno specifically the Uncommitted, the lukewarm who chose neither good nor evil. They are condemned to a sort of eternal twilight existence outside of Hell. An eternity of waiting outside the velvet rope.

It's only after he is on the run does his life take on any dimension--he is unrecognizable from his photograph from those earlier days. It's while on the run that he encounters true sin, the kind that gets you past the velvet rope and into the second or third circle of Club Inferno: He fathers a child out of wedlock, an unpardonable sin because he is not truly sorry for it. He loves his daughter.

Here's the paradox: it's through a sin which will condemn him to Hell according to the Church rules that he comes to understand true love and humility:

This was the love he should have felt for every soul in the world: all the fear and the wish to save concentrated unjustly on the one child.

But in the end he is incapable of it:

He prayed, "God help them," but in the moment of prayer he switched back to his child beside the rubbish-dump, and he knew it was for her only that he prayed. Another failure.

This is what makes the ending so fascinating for me. Throughout the novel the struggle of The Priest is contrasted with the struggle of The Lieutenant, a misguided and often brutal reformer who is capable of small acts of kindness nonetheless. The Lieutenant is not one of the complacent ones. In his own way he is saint, one of "Hell's Saints" to use a phrase from The End of the Affair.

Even though The Priest cannot achieve saintliness, there's reason to believe that he may win a victory over The Lieutenant after all. In a world where suffering and sin is almost unavoidable, "Saintliness" (by the Church's definition) may not be necessary after all. Such a wonderful ending and such a humane vision. (less)

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Jun 02, 2011

Kemper rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, classic-lit, 100, sky-cake

One thing I know after reading this, All the Pretty Horses and Joe Lansdale’s Captains Outrageous, I ain’t going to Mexico any time soon.

Graham Greene’s classic account of a priest living on the run in a Mexican state after socialists have taken political control and are trying to abolish the Catholic Church is a grim tale of human nature at it’s best and worst. The unnamed priest is a drunk who isn’t particularly brave and has committed sins big enough to register fairly high on...more

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Aug 01, 2009

Kim rated it

Shelves: cultured

~~3.68 stars.~~ 3.85 stars

So, my first jaunt into book club territory. What do I bust in with? The Power and the Glory. What an idiot I am.

I have to say that this is probably not a book that I would have picked if left to my own devices. My first introduction into Greene was The End of the Affair and that’s only because I’m a sucker for a good ‘woe is me’ story. Bitterness and anger to unknown deities? Rock on! But, put into this context - in this setting - I ha...more

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Feb 27, 2008

Adam rated it

The “whisky priest” is on the run from the law from the law in Mexico. Set in period in Mexico’s history where priests where being shot and the Catholic Church was illegal, this book plays like the New Testament mixed with an existential western. Grim and suspenseful, stocked with cinematic imagery in a gothic and decaying Mexico, this book is masterpiece from the first page on. While my personal beliefs are nearer to the nihilistic lieutenant (kind of a Miltonic devil type character) chasing th...more

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Jan 23, 2009

Karlan rated it

Shelves: adult

The novel sets the scene of heat, poverty, misery on the first page. In Mexico, there was a time when Catholicism was banned in certain states, and priests who did not renounce their religion were executed. One priest escaped capture for years and the suspense about his fate builds throughout the book. The minor characters are interestingly depicted. It is a powerful, dramatic story which critics have called Greene's "masterpiece".

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Jan 15, 2009

Anne Broyles rated it

Even though the reader knows what is going to happen to a flawed "whiskey priest" on the run in a Mexican state (1930s) that has outlawed religion, by the end, there is so much in this rich novel. Phrases leapt out of the pages on this my second or third reading (first time, in high school)that summed up so much of life, faith, relationships, humanity. I underlined something on many pages. Little gems like:

"His conscience began automatically to work: it was like a slot...more

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Aug 03, 2009

Ben rated it

Shelves: read-in-2009, religion-spirituality, darkness, memorable-characters

My first Graham Greene novel was The End of the Affair and it rocked my world, and affected me in some profound ways. It was the perfect novel for me at the time, and I am forever indebted to Mr. Greene for giving me that enlightening experience.

Going into this, I knew better than to expect the same magnitude of visceral reaction that I had with The End of the Affair, but nonetheless, because the connection I had with the aforementioned was so strong, I couldn't help but have decen...more

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Jul 29, 2008

Jesse Cone rated it

For years I’ve heard that I should read Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, and I finally picked it up this week. The previous week I had the pleasure of watching the BBC miniseries version of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” which left me profoundly moved yet quite unsatisfied. Waugh was a great admirer of Greene, a fellow Roman Catholic novelist, and at one time defended three of Greene’s novels (including The Power and the Glory) from a bishop’s condemnation.

...more

For years I’ve heard that I should read Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, and I finally picked it up this week. The previous week I had the pleasure of watching the BBC miniseries version of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” which left me profoundly moved yet quite unsatisfied. Waugh was a great admirer of Greene, a fellow Roman Catholic novelist, and at one time defended three of Greene’s novels (including The Power and the Glory) from a bishop’s condemnation.

The Power and The Glory is much like Brideshead in its incessant bleakness, but in an greatly dissimilar setting. As opposed to the height of British civilization, the novel is set in a barren and sun-scorched part of Mexico. The book circles like a vulture around the exile of an unnamed whiskey priest - with an illegitimate child whom we get to meet for the few precious moments the priest gets to spend with her.

Our unnamed priest is stuck in a Mexican state that has banned both the Roman Catholic Church and alcohol, so our poor protagonist is unable to participate in both his vice and his sacred duty. He’s the last priest in the region other than a cowardly priest who capitulated to the demands of the state, and as such has married and refuses even to offer up even the most necessary of public prayers, or hear confessions.

In the tenth year of the priests’ fugitive state the governor, discovering that a priest is still in his province, offers a 700 peso reward for the priests’ capture (as opposed to the 500 pesos offered for an American bank robber and murderer). The most attractive character of the book, an ordered and cleanly lieutenant, is determined to catch the “treasonous” priest who epitomizes everything he despises about life. Of all the characters in the book, only the lieutenant seems to have any purpose or direction. The majority of the book is spent as the priest moves from impoverished town to impoverished town; partly wanting to escape across the border - or die - but feeling compelled to offer what only a priest can offer. As he hauls his confused and haggard carcass around the police take hostages from the villages he’s been to; shooting those who have helped him. The pious despise him because of his sins, and the rest for all the trouble he brings. He wishes he could turn himself in, but he’s bound by a sense of divine duty: “It’s not about what you want, or what I want…”

While the book maintains a cool sort of distance from the priest, the real meat of the book is the intimate spiritual struggle that accompanies his ceaseless scramble from place to place. It’s as if the only thing that keeps him from settling into despair is the movement from place to place: peace and home might still be somewhere, and the process of elimination just keeps moving along.

He has no illusions of being a saint or a martyr, but his own sin and poverty have broken through enough of his pride to allow him to love in some way everyone he meets - though they are not saints either. Even the miserable fang-like half breed that continually plays the part of his Judas he holds in high regard, and when the times come when he wants to be captured, he refrains because he wouldn’t want to encourage someone to sin by betraying him.

There are really only two things that the priest thinks he is good for (even his prayers he thinks useless): the absolution he offers people at the end of confession, and serving the Eucharist. These graces are totally unmerited, “putting God in someone’s mouth” is a tremendous gift, and for this reason his identity as a priest is never compromised. The good life, decency, peace, and piety, in this world are all illusions, but the Eucharist… well that’s the center of reality, or at least the center of this man’s meaning.

It would be wrong to say that I didn’t like the book - I appreciate it tremendously - but I have some trouble agreeing to the reality that Graham Greene spins. First of all, I have to agree with RCC theologian Hans urs von Balthazar that the pervasiveness of sin in Greene’s world is misleading. Saints are real, but they are not the sort that Greene has ever met. Though I appreciate the heavy theme of the glory of suffering, there’s a sickness to this thread, due to the immoderation of the theme. The victorious Christian life is not either the pietisitic pride of Greene’s Mexican spinsters, or the collapsing despair of his fugitive priest. And these are the only options available in this world.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit” is certainly true, but “Thou preparest a table for me in presence of mine enemies” is also true. I found Greene’s depiction of the worthlessness of a purely pietistic faith convicting, and some true beauty in the weeping, sweating, and suffering priest. But there is more purpose to the Christian life than suffering. There are walks in the cool of the day with God; the are green pastures that He makes us lie down in.

The sacramental life cannot be overemphasized, but the sacraments can be mistakenly pulled from their context. They Holy Mysteries are nothing if not life-giving. True they are the greatest instance of our unmerited relationship with Christ, but how can one separate them from the life of prayer? I think of the Russians - they know pain - but there is a joy in Dostoevsky and a mirth to Tolstoy that Greene cannot seem to take seriously. As blessed Chesterton would say, mirth is perhaps the one thing that we should always take seriously.
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Apr 13, 2011

jeremy rated it

i am not certain which is more striking: the moral hypocrisy of the church (as evidenced by the whisky priest) or self-righteousness under the guise of authority (as demonstrated by the lieutenant). while i did enjoy greene's novel, i was moved more by steinbeck's to a god unknown as a work that explores belief, faith, and unerring devotion.

he stood with his hand on his holster and watched the brown intent patient eyes: it was for these he was fighting. he would eliminate from thei...more

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Jan 14, 2011

Emir rated it

When I visited my mother on her birthday, January 1, this year, I also inspected the books below the wooden stairs of her house, the home of my youth. There, gathering dust in the wooden shelf, are several books I and my brother owned. A cursory inspection and flipping through some of the books rendered my hands grimy, a testament to the sad state of the small collection that only one of my nephews bothers to read. Among the books, two or three Graham Greene novels share the dust and despair, al...moreWhen I visited my mother on her birthday, January 1, this year, I also inspected the books below the wooden stairs of her house, the home of my youth. There, gathering dust in the wooden shelf, are several books I and my brother owned. A cursory inspection and flipping through some of the books rendered my hands grimy, a testament to the sad state of the small collection that only one of my nephews bothers to read. Among the books, two or three Graham Greene novels share the dust and despair, all, unfortunately, unread.

Such disregard can be forgiven by virtue of one's youth-- I hope. (We bought books almost randomly; we feasted on Grishams, Sheldons, Pattersons and a sprinkling of "serious" stuff that made their way to our shelf.) The fact that Greene made it to our shelf is a credit for his authorial fecundity.

Now almost 30, while my wife was gripped with birth pangs, I read The Power and the Glory, a gift from a GR friend.

In The Power and the Glory, Greene trains his eyes on the travails of a "whisky priest" as he evades authority to exercise his vocation, and, inexorably, his vice. As the story progresses, Greene unfolds the humanity of the agent of God and the "children of God" around him--persecutors, supporters, oblivious characters. In Greene's Mexico, life hustles and bustles while death, ever present, hovers like vultures, always waiting; salvation lies among the damned, or damnation settles among the saved; faith is always on the brink of the precipice, swayed by the winds, but always affirmed by the earth it hinges on; humanity is reduced to inhumanity--as snatching a bone from a hungry dog, or taking a lump of sugar from a dead boy's mouth-- or perhaps humanity's scope is enlarged to include it. Greene limned his characters to illuminate their humanity, especially the priest's, so that his struggles are imbued with commonality set apart only by his office. The breath of reality makes one wince and pay attention, the contrasting elements so deftly weaved betrays a sure hand, the enriching thoughts the whole yarn elicits gives the novel its compelling power and glory.

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Aug 20, 2009

Jeremy rated it

· review of another edition

This one started off - I wouldn’t say slow, but a bit confusing and I was thinking I’d have to chalk it up as a good reading experience. There is no question about it that Graham Greene was a great writer and even as I was thinking I might not enjoy the plot, I was still digging what the man had to say. The underlying message. This was just written so much differently than the other two books I had read by him. Then when the focus turns to the Whiskey Priest and his flight things began to co...moreThis one started off - I wouldn’t say slow, but a bit confusing and I was thinking I’d have to chalk it up as a good reading experience. There is no question about it that Graham Greene was a great writer and even as I was thinking I might not enjoy the plot, I was still digging what the man had to say. The underlying message. This was just written so much differently than the other two books I had read by him. Then when the focus turns to the Whiskey Priest and his flight things began to come together for me. And each subsequent part of the book kept building into something quite precious of a read.

Greene puts us into a corner where we have no choice but to judge the priest and the choices he is making. My first reaction was to think of how selfish he was and how ironic that he should be a religious leader. With each passing scene, I started to realize that the priest was flawed, but no more so than myself or any other human. He was placed into flight by unfair laws and forced to make choices that nobody should have to make. It made me wonder about our laws and which ones I have broken and how I have justified doing so. And what it would be like to live in a country where one is condemned for practicing religion. And how desolate life would be if my choice in reading was limited to what a zealout leader chose for me. Are there people that live in the same boundaries as myself that feel that their own choices are being constricted by the governing laws and how fair those laws are depending upon which angle you are viewing them from? Clearly this story made me think about a lot of things. This is what Graham Greene can do for you. He was able to make me savor the writing, become entrapped into the narrative, question humanity and learn about a piece of history that I wasn’t truly aware of.

Beyond all of those things I find that the three books I have read by Greene are all strikingly different in tone and point of view. Perhaps it is because they were written at different points in his career and life experience but I found it quite refreshing. At the beginning of this particular work he used a few seemingly random characters and stories to build the main storyline and theme. I was baffled when he appeared to have abondoned those characters and side stories but was very pleased how he brought everything back together in the end.(less)

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Jul 11, 2011

Daniel Villines rated it

· review of another edition

If you are looking for Graham Greene, be assured that a part of him resides within The Power and the Glory. In the tradition of some of his previous works he does not hesitate to perform invasive exploratory surgery on the human condition in order to uncover more than a few basic human truths. As such, there is no sense of Hollywood within these pages.

The interesting part of this book is his protagonist. Greene all but creates the common man within his pages, complete with pitiful...more

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Dec 07, 2008

Golden rated it

I read this on the recommendation of my friend Nate. I’d never heard of Graham Greene before and decided to do some research on his works. I’m glad Nate turned me on to him because this is a great book. It’s a wonderful study of a man (a priest) who is good and immoral. It implicitly asks the question over and over again: “is it possible to be both?”.

I love it because I think that’s who we are. Most of us want to be good and try to be good, but we all have flaws and weaknesses...more

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Dec 11, 2008

Lynn rated it

I am almost done with this book yet I find that I just dont care about it and am treating it more like a chore to complete...we will see.
I have in the meantime started reading another book therefore this one just might go on the shelf next to The Blind Assassin which I didnt finish either.
Welp, I finished it. I finally decided to pick it up and just get to the end. The end was a little bit better that the meat of the book. Perhaps I just was reading this book at the wrong time. I do...more

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Jan 11, 2012

ASongForSimeon added it · review of another edition

"[…]questa è un’altra differenza tra noi. È inutile che lavoriate per il vostro scopo, a meno che non siate un uomo buono voi stesso. E non ci saranno sempre uomini buoni nel vostro partito. E allora si avrà di nuovo tutta la vecchia fame, le violenze, l’arricchirsi ad ogni costo. Ma il fatto ch’io sia un codardo, e tutto il resto, non ha molta importanza. Posso mettere Dio lo stesso nella bocca di un uomo, e posso dargli il perdono di Dio. Anche se ogni prete della chiesa fosse come me, no...more

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Sep 01, 2009

Alec added it

The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene was an odd but deep read. The book demonstrates that by combining duty and sheer willpower together, one can defeat their fear and anxious feelings. This empowers the individual with the compassion and strength to fulfill their duty to the end, regardless of possible consequences.
The book’s theme is demonstrated within the priest’s journey throughout the book. He starts by simply trying to escape from the “red shirts” occupied town. Eventually, he ...more

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Jan 25, 2009

Beth rated it

Shelves: world-portals

About the last priest in southern Mexico, running for his life. Fascinating journey through the small towns, villages, mountains, banana plantations...

Well-written with a distinct style of repeatedly revealing characters (exposing the reader to this in "ah ha" moments later). The work is wrought with worldviews; would need a second read (or third read, etc.) to explore the depths of dogma, belief, conviction: rehearsed, rejected, cherished.

The fact the book is...more

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Jan 25, 2009

Matt rated it

Favorite passages:

He brought up his bile again and shot it out into the hard sunlight. (p. 7)

He had the kind of dwarfed dignity Mr. Tench was accustomed to - the dignity of people afraid of a little pain and yet sitting down with some firmness in his chair. (p. 13)

The good things of life had come to him too early - the respect of his contemporaries, a safe livelihood. (p. 17)

She was very young - about thirteen - and at that age you are not afraid o...more

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Jan 15, 2009

John rated it

This is the story the great novelist Graham Greene was born to tell. Himself a man more haunted than blessed by his belief in Christ, Greene’s legacy as one of the twentieth centuries’ premier novelists (not to say simply “Catholic novelists”) would have been secure if "The Power and the Glory" had been his only work. With this novel, Greene brings all his considerable talent, craft, and gift for suspense to bear on a story that penetrates the heart of one tortured man’s mystery. For a...more

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Nov 20, 2008

Lisa rated it

I recently read The End of the Affair, which also describes the difficulties and graces in believing in God, though this masterpiece focuses more on the forgiveness of sins and our ability to believe in that salvation. Set in a militaristic socialist state in Mexico which has forbidden Catholicism, The Power and the Glory describes the struggles of those who believe, as well as of those who don't.

The book begins with brief vignettes of particular characters (a dentist, a neglect...more

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Oct 02, 2011

M. D. Hudson rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was pretty moved by this book when I first read it in 1987, so I thought I’d see what it was I saw in it eons later, older, meaner, faithless, apostate…

An unnamed “whisky priest,” weak, cowardly, slothful, and thirsty, is, however, the only priest who does not abandon his parish in an unnamed 1930s Mexican state where the local government has turned virulently anti-Catholic (the State of Tabasco, according to Wikipedia; good idea to leave it unnamed, since it is kind of hard to pic...more

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Jun 10, 2011

Jim Barton rated it

I've always been a big fan of Greene, but the first three quarters of the story seemed to meander about aimlessly. Worst yet, I found the dialog without the usual quotes, tags and separate paragraphing difficult to follow. Inner monologue, dialog between characters seemed to be mixed in with narration. I had to re-read sections several times to make sure I correctly understood who was saying what. The first half also skipped abruptly between scenes without any extra line skips between paragraphs...more

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Jan 16, 2011

Shaun rated it

The fact is, a man isn’t presented suddenly with two courses to follow: one good and one bad. He gets caught up.

I’ll admit it, I was pleasantly shocked by this book. Simply put, it was a phenomenal story and it pulls off an incredible feat. It’s a moral book that leaves no very specific moral ending. Allow me to explain, but first about my own personal experience with this book. Years ago a trusted friend / teacher and fellow book lover recommended this book to me. I read it b...moreThe fact is, a man isn’t presented suddenly with two courses to follow: one good and one bad. He gets caught up.

I’ll admit it, I was pleasantly shocked by this book. Simply put, it was a phenomenal story and it pulls off an incredible feat. It’s a moral book that leaves no very specific moral ending. Allow me to explain, but first about my own personal experience with this book. Years ago a trusted friend / teacher and fellow book lover recommended this book to me. I read it but didn’t understand it in the slightest. I only remember that I finished it just so I could tell him, yep, read it. However, I happened to come across this book while in a hostel in South America, where finding quality books in English is a rare, rare event. Considering I was going to Mexico I figured, hey, why not.

I wasn’t exactly excited to read it, and even more reluctant when I glanced at the introduction (not read mind you, just glanced) and noticed the phrase “Catholic novel.” Great I figured, obvious moral lesson, good and evil painted as clear as day and night, probably a Christ figure in the mix. I started it thinking as soon as this book starts to suck I’m putting it down. Instead, I never actually put it down. I flew through it in about 3 days and the ending sent chills down my spine.

What is remarkable about this book is just how hard it is to figure out the protagonist. Considering it’s a Catholic novel, let’s judge the protagonist. Simply put he’s hard to place in either heaven or hell. While he is a drunk and also a father, there are heroic qualities about him, the very qualities that Catholicism at its core is truly about. Riddled with guilt yet driven by duty and love, he is a fascinating character. I suppose he’s saved in the end, but what an odd martyr. Perhaps that’s the point, demonstrating that a martyr is a normal person with the same struggles as you and I.

Another compelling character is the lieutenant, the man who is hunting him with the intention to kill him throughout the novel. The book is set during a period of Mexican Revolution when Catholic priests were being forced to marry or be killed. We follow this game of cat and mouse while gaining insight into the consciences of several characters. Besides the character development, there are certain scenes which are etched into the mind with Cormac McCarthy like brilliance. Images of a woman bearing a dead child on her back, a lump of sugar in his mouth. The scene where the wine intended for mass is gobbled up before the priest’s eyes. Simply amazing scenes.

The story simply builds in complexity and wonder until the very end. Scratch that, there’s kind of a Peter Pan ending chapter. By that I mean a passage that is totally superfluous to the story, one that if excluded would have had a much more profound effect. What is it with some authors that they can’t end on the best note, the one of most uncertainty? Oh well, the final four pages didn’t ruin the story, they just put a punctuation mark on it. Perhaps it was written to quell some of the uncertainty, the very uncertainty that I think makes this a fantastic book. I think it would have done better without it, but there is no denying the power of this story. It is remarkable, complex and compelling. I recommend it highly.

Quotes
Home: it was a phrase one used to mean four walls behind which one slept. There had never been a home. 11
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. The hot wet river-port and the vultures lay in the wastepaper basket, and he picked them out. We should be thankful we cannot see the horrors and degradations lying around our childhood, in cupboards and bookshelves, everywhere. 12
The boy came out of the hut and watched them: everybody watched. It was like a bull fight. The animal was tired and they waited for the next move. They were not hard-hearted; they were watching the rare spectacle of something worse off than themselves. He limped on towards the hut. 43
She was one of those garrulous women who show to strangers the photographs of their children, but all she had to show was a coffin. 48
He was feeling happy. It is one of the strange discoveries a man can make that life, however you lead it, contains moments of exhilaration; there are always comparisons which can be made with worse times: even in danger and misery the pendulum swings. 59
Suddenly we discover that our sins have so much beauty. 130
Unlike him, she [the dog] retained a kind of hope. Hope is an instinct only the reasoning human mind can kill. An animal never knows despair. 141
Why, after all, should we expect God to punish the innocent with more life? 155
The fact is, a man isn’t presented suddenly with two courses to follow: one good and one bad. He gets caught up. The first year – well, I didn’t believe there was really any cause to run. Churches have been burnt before now. You know how often. It doesn’t mean much. I thought I’d stay till next month, say, and see if things were better. Then – oh you know how time can slip by. 195
(less)

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Dec 27, 2010

Stephen Gallup rated it

· review of another edition

I last read this one 36 years ago and must confess that my memory of it was sketchy. Having worked through a substantial pile of new books over the last few months, I decided to give it a spin, and believe now that the material is much more suitable and meaningful for someone with lifetime experiences than for the callow twerp I was back then. ;)

The greatest theme in literature, I suspect, is the struggle of a character vs his own hell -- as opposed to the challenges thrown up by wha...moreI last read this one 36 years ago and must confess that my memory of it was sketchy. Having worked through a substantial pile of new books over the last few months, I decided to give it a spin, and believe now that the material is much more suitable and meaningful for someone with lifetime experiences than for the callow twerp I was back then. ;)

The greatest theme in literature, I suspect, is the struggle of a character vs his own hell -- as opposed to the challenges thrown up by whatever bad guys cross his path. The Power and the Glory certainly has the latter, in the form of an anticlerical Mexican state government in general and a socialist zealot determined to enforce its policies in particular, the main character confronted by them being a priest. However, the real struggle goes on in the priest’s soul while he endeavors with little enthusiasm to avoid capture. He could have taken the easy path and either left the area or renounced his vocation, and so to almost anyone his decision to stay and try to minister illegally to the people would seem heroic. He doesn't see it that way, because his imperfections are always before him. He has become an alcoholic. He has fathered a child -- and even worse, he cannot repent having done so, because he loves her.

He said: "O God, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live for ever." This was the love he should have felt for every soul in the world: all the fear and the wish to save concentrated unjustly on the one child. ... He thought: This is what I should feel all the time for everyone, and he tried to turn his brain away, ... calling up a long succession of faces ... He prayed: "God help them," but in the moment of prayer he switched back to his child, and he knew it was only for her that he prayed. Another failure.

Almost all readers today, I think, will conclude that he has an overactive conscience. If he were not so humble, he would see that he is as close as anyone can get to being a hero. But paradoxically, he would not be a hero if he were not humble.

It's an exotic novel, not just in its physical setting but more importantly in subject matter, because the workings of the soul in relation to God are not at the center of modern consciousness. For that reason as well as for the near-perfect prose, it's also a very important novel.(less)

· see review

Oct 06, 2010

Brad Lyerla rated it

In a remote province of Mexico, the socialist Red Shirts have outlawed the church. Priests are hunted down and executed as traitors to the state. A nameless 'whiskey priest' has eluded the police for 8 years. He begs food, shelter and hiding from the citizens of small villages where he receives confession and performs baptisms and mass.

But his days are numbered. A zealot police lieutenant is taking hostages from villages where the priest has visited. The hostages are executed unless...more

· see review

Aug 13, 2010

Jason rated it

Shelves: read-2010

This is a simple and a difficult book to read. Graham Greene, while an impeccably talented and smart writer, chooses to express himself clearly, not lingering overlong on descriptions or poetic type prose and yet managing to evoke breathtaking passages. Yet in this subtle elegance the story can become seemingly simplistic. It is the story of a priest who is a drunkard in his tenth year of evading the red shirts after they had make Catholicism a crime of treason and it is the story of the people ...more

· see review

Mar 04, 2010

Jen rated it

Shelves: classics, favorites

I fell in love with the priest. Loved his weakness and his fear, his mental process, and for trying to be brave though he belived he wasn't... I think I actually ached with love for this character's humanity. Incredible dialogue... this is one of the most poignant, resonating novels I have ever read. I found myself dog-earing every other page.

Fav quotes:

"The glittering orlds lay there in space like a promise - th world was not the universe. Somewhere Christ might...more

like 1 like

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Nov 21, 2009

Paula rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 1001

Done as a book on CD, this was a dark and rather depressing book. It covers the story of a priest in post-revolution Mexico, a time when being a priest was tantamount to treason. The priest is wanted by the people and hunted by the police, and often the two are combined, whereby the people are afraid of the repercussions of aiding the priest, yet long for the services he can offer in the way of religion.

The priest, Padre Jose, is not the quintessential priest; he has a predilication ...more

like 1 like

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About Graham Greene

Graham Greene was an English novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenplay writer, travel writer and critic whose works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene combined serious literary acclaim with wide popularity.

Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a “Catholic novelist” rather than as a “novelist who happened to be Cath...more

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