Review: "The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene

I've changed my mind about what I was going to review this week TWICE. Oops. I've recently considered that the books that I love most are often those which are older, are classics, or are Catholicly themed in some way. Or something like that. Often not YA. Sometimes MG. Anyhow. Many of the books I *review* on here are ones that are YA. I pick out the YA books from my list, the lighter books, the books that I think are more "popular". And I don't really know why I do that--why couldn't I review a classic or something like that just as well? So here's my first try, with a classic book that I read this week and absolutely loved.

When I started writing this review, I actively had no idea what I thought of this book. I mean, I loved it. A friend gave it to me for my graduation on the premise that it's her favorite book about grace & mercy. Which, I mean, did I need any other recommendation? But ALSO it's set in Mexico during the...whatever those were. Cristero wars? When Catholicism was illegal? (Plus, it was a used book, and it was the best smelling used book I have ever had the pleasure of sniffing.) ANYWAY. So, I read it. And it was...strange. Beautiful. Ugly. Different than what I was expecting. And...I want to read it again. And I badly wanted to talk about it! So, here are my thoughts, many of which have been worked out while writing this review. 

In a poor, remote section of Southern Mexico, the paramilitary group, The Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed, and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest is on the run. Too human for heroism, too humble for martyrdom, the nameless little worldly “whiskey priest” is nevertheless impelled toward his squalid Calvary as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers.

Worldbuilding/Writing Style
It's most certainly a book published in the mid-1900s. It's very Willa Cather-ish, and almost Flannery O'Connor-ish, in a way. Perhaps Hemingway-ish as well? And F. Scott Fitzgerald-ish, too? Anyway. It's got that rich setting, that slowness of momentum, that description of the human person, of the characters, in such a way that you can *see* them. And it may not be the writing style that I'm most used to, but I like it. (In moderation.) 

As I said, the setting is very immersive, and even beyond the setting, Greene manages to imbue the book with the mood of the times and the politics of the times. The grit of the times, too. The mundanity, the dirt, the poverty, the broken glass. Somehow, while reading, one is transported into this, and God feels far away, just like He did in those times, for those people. I don't know--it's really hard to describe.

And also, the use of parallelism is PHENOMENAL. Subtle enough that it bugged me at the edge of my brain but that I didn't realize it until I was mentally processing, but obvious enough that I did realize that was what had bugged me when I was mentally processing. The parallelism of the story that the mother reads. The parallelism of Padre Jose. It's amazing.

Plot
The plot follows a priest, "the whisky priest" during his journey through a state in Mexico, trying to figure out what he needs to do. It's really interesting how other characters are woven into it to make different points and contrast and all of that...but really, it's about the priest. But it's also not about the priest, as the ending, which is strangely inconclusive AND PERFECT *ahem*, aptly demonstrates. And as the priest realizes. 

It's complicated, okay? Most things about this book are. 

I also really loved that no presumptions were made about God and eternity. Which is super vague, but if you've read it...you'll get it.

My one complaint is that I can't quite see the grace & mercy in there. Not entirely. I almost can. But that's not a problem with the book, mostly likely--it's a problem with me. As many things are. (I am, after all, what's wrong with the world.) (And apparently in a super whimsical mood today. It's not every day, after all, that I quote Chesterton in the middle of a book review to make the point that I'm not perfect at seeing the nuances of a book. XD)

Characters
Obviously, the other characters woven through the book are well-drawn and interesting, but we really get very few glimpses of that, so I'm going to focus, in this section, on the priest. Whose name, I have just realized, we don't ever know. *mind blown* I mean, when he's called anything, he's called Father. I Approve. 

Anyway. He's a priest who has failed in so many ways and feels it very deeply, and is trying to figure out how to get out of this hole that he's dug himself into with his pride. While at the same time trying to serve his people, putting them first, and sort of resisting trying to pull himself out of all this, and he feels unworthy to be a martyr, and <3 <3 <3 dude, I love him. I'm not entirely sure why. I just do. And really, this love of him has only occurred to me afterwards, and I don't have a reason for that either. But it's okay. Because he's amazing and so very lovable. Suddenly, I understand how Miss Megan feels about Sebastian Flyte. Because this priest, he is very sin-sick. And yet, he's capable of trying, of loving deeply, of feeling compassion for souls in his care. And of knowing exactly how little he is in the eyes of God. Idk. I think he's become humble, without realizing it. Perhaps he has even become holy without realizing it? 

There are so many parts where he has realizations that I absolutely love. But there are two things about him especially, two things that recur, that stand out to me the most:
-His love for the little girl. The way he realizes that this is the love that he was supposed to have for everyone all along. And <3 <3 <3 it's very...beautiful. And he's not wrong. It brought home to me the requirements of the priestly vocation and spiritual fatherhood in a way that I hadn't thought about before, for some reason.
-The way he is SO convinced of the Real Presence all the time. Despite his sin, despite everything, he does not doubt it. And it's so...crazy-beautiful-incongruous. I love it. 

Okay, I can't stop at two.
There's also the part where he thinks that hatred is just a failure of the imagination.
And the part where he says, "It seemed...it would have been quite easy to have been a saint. It would only have needed a little self-restraint and a little courage." The whole context of that (which would be spoilers) makes that so beautiful and poignant. And reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's "she could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick", for various reasons.

In conclusion: this sin-sick man is one of whom I am prodigiously fond. One of the first, possibly.

Romance
None, I believe. Or none that could be called that.

Content
Death/wounds, non-graphic scenes of intimacy, mention/implications of intimacy outside of marriage, priests breaking their vows. Moderate swearing--the taking of the Lord's name in vain only, I believe.

Overall Rating
I would love to give this 4.5 stars, but that would mayhap be breaking my own rules, so I'll give it 4 and say that it'll get more when I reread it! 

Reminds me of...
The setting, and especially the way the setting was written, reminds me of Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, and the sin-sick-ness & themes (that which I could see of them) remind me of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Plus it reminds me of all the authors I listed at the beginning, but there's too many of those to reiterate. :)

Have you read this one? If so, what did you think? Who's your favorite sin-sick character? Who's your favorite early-1900s author?