The Accidental Pope : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: "Pope Bill"
Review: John Paul II has died, the College of Cardinals is locked in a contentious conclave, an Irish cardinal tells a story about a friend of his, and suddenly a former priest, a widower fisherman from Massachusetts is elected pope, and takes the name Peter II! If you can accept that premise, you'll probably enjoy this interesting, but poorly written, book about the first American pope and his family.
The idea is interesting, and it's worth reading to see where the authors intend to take the title character, and the Church. It's unfortunate that the characters are so poorly drawn, to the point that some of them are like stick figures. Events happen that have no basis in reality, and characters act, and react, in ways for which the authors have not prepared the readers, so that you're left scratching your head at times. The religious feeling of the authors comes through quite clearly, but they have taken a good idea and packaged it in a poor wrapping.

Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly good read
Review: Sometimes you pick up a book because it looks interesting, or because you read everything a particular author has written. Sometimes books suprise you, sometimes they disappoint. I bought this book because of its unlikely (and seemingly humorous) premise, and kept reading because it turned out to be a good read.

The book, co-authored by the former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, examines the papacy of Pope Peter II, who just happens to be an American fisherman who happens to be a laicized Catholic priest. While on the surface the premise seems almost ludicrous, by the middle of the book it no longer seems to be outside of the realm of the possible. Pope Bill, as he likes to be called, has to deal with the scrutiny of the world press, a stunned curia which cannot believe that they elected him, and, of all things, his children living at the Vatican. The authors use the new pope to examine the role and position of the Catholic Church as it moves into the third millenium. Pope Bill's actions and proclamations, while disturbing to the traditional-bound cardinals in the book, "play well in Peoria" and reflect the type of progressive thinking that the authors (not to mention many contemporary Catholics) seem to believe should prevail in the church today.

While the story moves along well for the most part, the authors do get bogged down in a few places and miss several opportunities for an interesting expansion of the story. For example, the pope's oldest daughter, who had been agnostic (at best) since her mother's death, has a sudden and stunning conversion in the story. Unfortunately, there is virtually nothing said about this change nor how it affects the father-daughter relationship. In addition, there are superfluous plot devices (the romance between Colleen and Jan, for instance) that seem to be tossed in a fillers while other issues--such as the novelty of an American pope--are left almost unexplored. Most disconcerting, however, is the irregular and maddening way in which the authors discuss but never fully reveal the contents of the letter from Bill's predecessor. At times, it seems that the authors simply forgot where they had left off in the story and started writing anew, leaving out key details that result in plot holes. But beyond these minor quibbles, the book is very entertaining.

This book will definitely be of interest to those interested in the inner workings of the Vatican and to those wondering what role the Catholic Church might be able to play as the new century begins.

Rating:
Summary: Good premise, poor execution
Review: The plot of this book sounded so good--a Cape Cod fisherman who is a former priest, once married and now widowed, is elected to the Papacy. What a shame the writing did not live up to this interesting premise. The first half wasn't too bad--the excitement and novelty clouded the holes in the story and the awkward writing.

But once Bill Kelly became Pope and moved to Rome, the story became incredibly heavy and the writing got even worse. There were so many editorial errors that one wonders if it was ever proofread. The depiction of the Pope's children was terrible, not age-appropriate at all. It is as if the writers knew nothing about kids!

The dialogue was the worst - it was almost embarrassing to read it, it was so stilted. It was a struggle to finish this book and I had to skim much of the last fourth.

Even as a "retired" Catholic I found much misinformation about the Catholic religion.

Rating:
Summary: Good information seeking some direction
Review: This book is interesting enough for a 10-minutes-before-bed-each-night read. And the writing itself really lends itself to such reading. The authors display excellent inside knowledge of Vatican processes, but so-so writing and character development skills. The basis for the story is thought-provoking, though. Slightly painful in the mechanics at times, but not altogether unpleasant to read.