Death Comes for the Archbishop
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Average rating4.1
Willa Cather's best known novel is an epic—almost mythic—story of a single human life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert. In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. In the almost forty years that follow, Latour spreads his faith in the only way he knows--gently, all the while contending with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Out of these events, Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a place where time itself seems suspended. BONUS: The edition includes an excerpt from The Selected Letters of Willa Cather.
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Who knew I'd be traveling in a book the same places I was traveling in real life when I picked up Death Comes for the Archbishop? It was the perfect book to read while I was in New Mexico, the perfect book for this new Catholic.
The plot centers on two French priests who come to work in New Mexico in the 1850's, but the real story is the story of the peoples of New Mexico. Willa Cather finds a way to include the stories of the appearance of Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico and the murder of a cruel Spanish priest as well as speculations about God and religion and the Native Americans of New Mexico in this wonderful little book.
A solid, historical read about New Mexico in the latter half of the 19th century. Each chapter is like a piece of art to lose yourself in, a landscape to think about. It is based on the true story of Bishop Lame who came to New Mexico and revitalized the Catholic religion there. The author describes his travels throughout New Mexico as he visits several pueblos and Mexican towns. Cather's landscape descriptions are simply breathtaking (of course, I love the Southwest, perhaps that helps me enjoy them all the more). The story gives character and meaning to what you might read in a dry history book, and was deeply touching. A great read, especially for Southwest history buffs.
