Reviews

Catholics by Brian Moore

jimmypat's review

3.0

This book angered me. Much like with his novel Black Robe, Moore is supposedly writing a fair and balanced approach to Catholicism and its interaction with secular (or in the case of Robe, native) society. What really comes through is his disdain for Catholicism and especially clerics/church hierarchy. It's clear that this writer is no friend to the Church, even though in both books he attempts to leave the crux of the stories ambiguous and let the reader determine what is being said. Now, that isn't a reason to claim that a book isn't literature or have literary merits, but I felt that he had constructed a straw man (the Church goes so off the rails as to combine forces with Buddhism, fall into moral relativism, and claim that the Eucharist is symbolic only) in order to grind his axe; Moore's feelings toward the Church are starkly revealed in his willingness to think the Church could fall into such apostasy. It's an unrelentingly grim story that presents the ultimate demise of Christianity (and with it the world).

Having said that: it is a well-written book and the characters/situation were interesting in a speculative sort of way. I haven't read a book this well-written that's made me viscerally angry in a long time. I give it three stars because of that. However, I don't think I will ever read any more Brian Moore.

zeekathan's review

4.0

I can’t remember exactly when I read this but it really makes you think. It’s a kind-of-dystopia book where the Latin Mass, private confessions, and clericals have been banned by the Catholic Church, and a young priest is sent from the Vatican to a monastery in Ireland to make sure they obey these rules. It’s really short, I think it was less than one hundred pages, but I highly recommend.

sambowyer's review

reflective medium-paced

4.25

carmentxx's review

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

honestly, i really enjoyed this book. an extremely simple story with many layers. lots of debate about catholicism and what true belief is, as well as the hierarchy of faith. i particularly liked kinsella as a protagonist but the abbot is an extremely interesting character. extremely well written.