The Bishop in the West Wing

Rating:
Summary: It Helps If You Are Irish!
Review: "The Bishop In The West Wing" by Andrew M. Greeley, 8 Cassettes, Audio Renaissance 2002.
There is a saying, "There are two kinds of people: the Irish and those that wish they were." The author, Rev. Andrew M. Greeley, may have used this saying for a theme in his this latest mystery. The newly elected president,an Irish Catholic, Jack McGurn, from Chicago, surrounds himself with a close staff that is Irish Catholic, and, artistic license,(patently) they are all portrayed as beautiful, bright, and filled with witty anecdotes and stories. The major exception in the close staff is an Italian Catholic Ph.D. from Brooklyn, the resident expert on China. Everything would be fine (except for the opposition of the usual Republicans and right wing radicals) but there is a poltergeist in the White House.

Fr. Greeley defines the poltergeist as a presence that causes a ruckus but does no real physical harm. (I checked on the Web, and there are plenty of examples where the poltergeist presence typically does some nasty physical things... example, biting a young girl on the behind and leaving teeth wounds.) But any way, artistic license again, (patently) and this White House poltergeist just throws things around; nothing or no one is hurt. She is constantly knocking down the portrait of George Washington in the West Wing. Bishop Blackie has to figure out which woman, of nine potential candidates, is the cause of all the ruckus. This is the central mystery in the book. By the way, all the candidates are beautiful, and all are Catholic, except the least good looking, a WASP with angular features. By the last cassette, the "elevator doors have opened" and the good Bishop has identified the culprit woman (patently).

Paul Michael did a great job on reading the book, with accents for all the characters, although I think that he only approximated a New York accent, not a Brooklyn accent, for lady Ph.D. expert on China. In my writing conferences, I am constantly being taught to throw out any thing, no matter how well I've written it, that does not advance the central theme or the plot. So, I do not understand why Fr. Greeley spent so much time on the conversation (almost an altercation) between the character of President McGurn and the bishop of Washington, DC. It advanced nothing in the story. Same thing with the references to stealing the Presidential election in Florida (in 2000). I counted at least three mentions. Finally, besides being a noted author, Andrew Greeley is an established sociologist. In that role, I would expect him to take notice of the fact that many Irish Catholics from big cities are no longer Democrats. As an Irish Catholic from NYC, I once was a Democrat. My oldest daughter came home from college and convinced me to register Republican (in Massachusetts!). My daughter and I and the other three children in the family are all Republicans. Sociologist Greeley should be aware of this shift in the newer generations of Irish Catholics.

Rating:
Summary: Appealing Characters,
Review: Any book that mentions the name of my good friend (Bill Clinton) gets my attention ASAP... I enjoyed Andrew M. Greeley's "The Bishop in the West Wing. I found the storyline, dialogue, and characters to read true to life. An appealing combination.

John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures
B.H. California

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Let me preface this review by saying I have read most of the Blackie Ryan series and have loved them all, despite a few irritations. Let me also disclose that I am a moderate Republican and practicing Roman Catholic. If that shoots my credibility in the foot for you, move on to the next review.

I found the story line in Bishop in the West Wing to be very thin. The central problem of the poltergeists in the White House is brought up from time to time to string it all together, but it seems an afterthought. The true purpose of this novel seems to be to recount Father Greeley's visits to the White House during the Clinton administration, with Blackie playing the part of Greeley and President McGurn as President Clinton. While I would be interested in reading about that subject, I would prefer it in a nonfiction text, as opposed to under the guide of fiction. Having Republicans as a group stereotyped as hate-spewing elists, as they are in this book, is no more fair than stereotyping all Catholic priests as pedophiles, which they are most certainly not. Also, there is a real Rasputin-ish quality to the part that Blackie plays in the White House in this novel. Am I the only one who noticed this?

I was bothered by Father Greeley's characterizations of teenage girls in this novel, as I have been in his past novels. It seems especially evident in Bishop in the West Wing. He portrays them as modern-day "Valley Girls", with ditzy personalities and brainless slang used in every sentence. When one conducts a conversation with most teenage girls and young women, I believe one will find that most of them, especially those of the type Father Greeley is representing in his novels, speak much like the rest of us. I won't even get started on the "ebonics" he imposed on a high-level African-American White House aide in the book.

I am hoping that this novel is an abberation in the Blackie Ryan series, and not a sign of things to come in future novels. Despite the negative tone of this review, I would still nonetheless recommend this novel to Blackie fans such as myself (hence the two stars instead of one). Blackie is a fun, clever character, and spending some time in his world is always an escape from our own. Just hold your nose in parts and pray that Father Greeley will juice things up in the next Blackie novel.