I have a weakness for anything to do with the Church. Be it vicars, parsons, convents whatever so this was irresistible for me. Must be the convent education here!
Frank O'Connor takes a very common thing - the Catholic priests of Ireland and makes them into iconic figures. The humour, the wit, the fantasy, the implausible and the hypocrisy of the Church are all rolled into this collection of short stories which kept me entertained so much.
From the cover up of a curate's suicide - what will the people say and what about his dear Mother - who on earth is going to tell her that her son cannot be buried on consecrated ground. I thought these mind sets only existed in Asia where the matter of what would the people say and saving face were matters literally of life and death. To find it existing in Ireland was comforting.
The over riding hatred/dislike by the Irish for the English. I do hope that this is now a thing of the past. Everyone was involved and it did include the clergy whose faultless condescension towards anything and anyone English was marvelous. Difficult to fathom but good nevertheless to read about!
I enjoyed this book. Whether it meant to be enlightening or whether it meant to poke fun at the whimsy of the Irish clergy I do not know. I just know I enjoyed the read.
Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Open Road Integrated Media.
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