The power and the glory

221 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 2003 by Penguin Books.

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4 stars (2 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.

51 editions

A deserved classic

5 stars

I was lucky enough to spot a copy of Graham Greene's The Power And The Glory on a church charity stall in Tavistock, Devon. This is my 1940s read for the Goodreads / Bookcrossing Decade Challenge.

The Power And The Glory is set in Mexico, in a region where Christianity has been banned and the Catholic population forced to continue their worship in secret. Priests are hunted down and those few who have not abandoned their flocks completely must hide away, travel in disguise and lead mass by night in barns without the traditional tools of their trade. Our hero is a sorry excuse for a priest. An alcoholic 'whiskey priest' who has fathered a child outside of marriage, he is also the last remaining free priest and we see the closing noose through his eyes as the authorities, aware of his continued religious practice, slowly get nearer and nearer. …

reviewed The Power and the glory by Graham Greene (Library edition of the works of 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.

Subjects

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