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Summary: Willa Cather loves the written word!
Review: If I could only have four volumes to read for the rest of my life they would be: Death Comes for the Archbishop, Joyce's Ulysses, a Shakespeare folio, and the Bible. Death Comes for the Archbishop is a novel of striking beauty, profound debth, and deceiving simplicity. The language employed is the most clear and beautiful I have ever read in prose--it's closer to poetry. The philosophy Ms. Cather espouses is simple enough for the peasant to understand, and too complex for the wisest scholar. This book just baffles me: it's not a novel, per se, nor is it a biography--it's more like an etching of time and place; of ideas and people who travel through the arid, beautiful dreamscape of New Mexico. Ms. Cather wrote part of this novel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She got the idea of the novel from seeing a statue of Archbishop Lamy in front of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, and meditating upon what his life must have been like from her balcony at La Fonda hotel that overlooked the Cathedral. Ms. Cather spent months in New Mexico and the Southwest, and truly loved this land, which is reflected in her book; she was a woman of faith, which is also reflected in this book, and although not a book about religion, religion nevertheless permeates it. More, this is a book about the beauty of a life lived well, with hard work and faith, and the land which touches all who touch it.
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Summary: Classic Novel of the Southwest
Review: Every year, I try to read one or two "classics", whether I need to or not. For 2001, I have chosen Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop. First published in 1927, this fine, spare novel tells of missionary bishop Jean Marie Latour, assigned by Rome to the new southwestern diocese which includes New Mexico. While the story centers on Latour and his vicar (later bishop of Colorado) Father Joseph, to Cather the dry, stunning landscape forms as much a character as her priest heros, as do the "simple" native Indians and Mexicans. In this novel, Cather's writing reminds me a great deal of Harriet Doerr, who wrote of American expatriates in rural Mexico. The title's focus on Latour's death is somewhat misleading; this novel is very much about his missionary life and accomplishments. His death takes up but the very end of the book, and is itself oddly peaceful and uplifting. Musing to Father Joseph upon an apparent "miracle" attested to by a rural monk, Latour comments: "Where there is great love there are always miracles. One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by human love. I do not see you as you really are, Joseph; I see you through my affection for you. The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is about us always." Although the bishop, Latour's holiness and character comes as much from those times he receives ministry from his flock as when he gives it. Thus, when praying secretly with Sada, a servant - - and battered - - woman, Latour experienced again "those holy mysteries as he had done in his young manhood", and remembered that "this church was Sada's house, and he was a servant in it." Well worth reading and pondering as Lent begins and Easter appears on the horizon.
Rating: 
Summary: a great accomplishment to read
Review: I also read this book for the academic decathlon. It helped that I defined every word I didn't know ( A LOT OF WORDS) because it gave me a better understanding of what's going on. When I didn't use the dictionary though, it was very boring and confusing. It was very hard to read but in the end, I guess it was an accomplishment to read. The book was very hard to read. I emphasize VERY HARD to read. For those of you who is reading this book for some kind of project test blah blah blah blah blah, I suggest you underline every word you don't know (which would be a WHOLE lot) and start defining them before reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: A simple, straightforward gem
Review: This is an historical novel set in the Sante Fe area of New Mexico in the mid to late 1800s. It describes the experiences of two French priests (Father Latour - the bishop, and Father Vallaint - his vicar) sent there to establish a diocese. Most of their congregation are Mexicans who have previously been served by the Spanish catholic church, and Native American tribes - some of whom have embraced this new religion but many who have not. The plot line consists mainly of a series of vignettes describing the life of the two priests as they go about their work. Willa Cather writes in a simple, but graceful style much like the personalities of her two priests. It is worth reading this novel just for her descriptions of the austere beauty of the American southwest. Many great authors have an uncanny ability to write beautiful prose with what appears to be very straightforward language, and Willa Cather certainly fits that category. Some have complained that her characters lacked depth in this novel, and though at times they seem to take a back seat to the setting, I found both men to be rich, real, and well-fleshed out characters. A recommended read.
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Summary: Chili, French Pastries, Kit Carson, and Renegade Priests
Review: This book is the best description of the near absurd task that European missionaries faced in the American West. Willa Cather gives a sympathetic (and historically accurate) account of two French priests who are given orders to help the secluded diocese of Santa Fe, NM.
The atmosphere of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Tucson was unique on the american west. These were cities with centuries of Catholic culture resulting from early Spanish influence, but their extreme isolation made them a true oasis of civilization. The two main characters are very lonely on this foreign frontier, and the task they were sent to accomplish (tame renegade priests and rejuvenate the catholic culture) seems impossible due to language, cultural, and ideological differences.
Fortunately, the two priests compliment each other very well, and enjoy some truly interesting adventures. Issues of Indian relations, slavery, lawlessness, heresy, and isolation are expertly dealt with in Willa Cather's narrative. This has been described as stylistically her best book. Willa Cather loved this book and spent years in the southwest researching the terrain and characters. It will not disappoint.
If you find this story interesting, you may also be interested in books about Padre Kino of Tucson.
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Summary: A Fine Portrait of Frontier Life
Review: Death Comes for the Archbishop is an anomaly among Cather's works, and, for that matter, all twentieth-century works. In this book, you will not find chronology, action, or drama. You will, however, find a story that will grip you and will not let you go until Death finally does come for the Archbishop. If you are interested in precise, simple prose, a heart-warming story, and have a few hours to spare (the novel is rather short; the font is large), pick up a copy and enjoy yourself.
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Summary: The horror...the horror...
Review: I had to read this for academic decathlon and I must say it's one of the most boring, blandly-written things I've ever read, and I adore reading.
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Summary: this book sux
Review: erhem...to all you acedeca "decathaleats" i ask one question. Y
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Summary: Death comes for the archbishop
Review: As close to history as Cather can make this story
Written as a novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop is historical fiction based on the lives of Bishop Jean Baptiste L'Amy and his associates within the church. As such, it is representative of Cather's strong spiritual side. Set mostly in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, it chronicles the bishop's efforts to organize the Catholic diocese of NM. A character study in the old sense of the word, this book explores the paths and pitfalls of men determined to build a mission, a cathedral in the wilderness.
After you've read this book, should you travel to New Mexico, be sure to visit the chapel of the archbishop on the grounds of Bishop Ranch, just outside Santa Fe.
Rating:
Summary: Vivid, Surprising, Beautiful
Review: In the early 21st century, Willa Cather is perhaps best remembered for her chronicles of prairie lives, but one of her best works is DEATH COMES TO THE ARCHBISHOP, which depicts the southwest some 300 years after the Spaniards arrived, but barely into its American infancy. In the 1850s, there are no maps yet, and to the European eye, the landscape is a vast, primitive "geometric nightmare." It is peopled by Mexicans and Native American Indians, and by a few rogue priests who so far from Rome and civilization have built fiefdoms and empires in the desert wilderness. It has been left so long untouched that Christian legends have grown up and become ancient alongside the lore of the Indians. By turns, the land and its people are hospitable and inspiring, misguided and harsh. In 1848, the church of Rome believes it is time to find a leader who will bring order to this region. Going against conventional wisdom, the leaders decide on a younger priest, Jean Marie Latour, a Frenchman currently stationed in Michigan, for the task. The first question that persists through this episodic story is, is he the right person? The book becomes a portrait of his steady cerebral yet compassionate leadership through the chaos he finds and the upheavals of an extraordinary period in history. The movement of the book zigzags among the people, both imagined and real (Kit Carson shows up), and the land. Especially, it looks at the land as it is shaped by belief-Christian, Indian and political. Cather does an extraordinary job of creating very vivid, complex characters. She also describes the land in a way that needs no photographs or maps to build it in our minds. Her prose is elegiac and yet nearly as clean as Hemingway's. There is power in it, and just when you think deep into the book that it is a series of sketches, it moves forward in the last part to the later 19th century and reveals how some characters' lives have taken some unexpected yet comprehensible curves and others were able to hold a course-the suspense was building all the time. In Latour there is the story of the human vs. the self, nature, other humans, and God. His personal story reflects the broader array of church and national history.
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