Book Log 2011 #1: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

A long-ago quizbowl question on this book got me interested in reading it, and I finally followed through (several years later, I should note). It's the story of the first archbishop of the Catholic diocese of Santa Fe, a French missionary priest transferred from Ohio to work in the territory ceded to the US from Mexico. Bishop Latour taps his friend and fellow missionary, Vaillant, to serve as his vicar.

The book then covers their life's work in New Mexico, from rooting out the local priests who are either too incompetent or too crooked to continue serving to gaining the trust of the locals (Hispanic and Native American alike) to adapting to the burdens of a large, thinly-settled diocese. The story is told in episodic fashion, which is kind of useful when you're reading during a commute.

The book is best known for its descriptions of New Mexico, and it does paint some vivid word pictures of the untamed land. The characters suffer for this a bit, I think, and I'd have preferred to have had the relationship between Latour and Vaillant get more depth earlier on rather than being put at the end when Latour is reflecting on his life.

There were some aspects of the book that surprised me, such as the genuine interest both priests had in respecting local culture and beliefs within a Catholic framework. We've been conditioned to think of missionary priests as being fairly severe in getting the natives to toe the line spiritually, so it was refreshing (and perhaps a touch optimistic?) to see the priests approach this problem in a more tolerant way, I think knowing that a slower approach would reap more benefits over the long term.

Overall, I liked the book quite a bit and will likely read more Cather in the future (I should just download O Pioneers already).

This was the second book I read using the Stanza reader for the iPhone. You can pretty much expect that any time I read something older or in the public domain I'm doing it on the phone. It's still a little distracting given how often you have to turn the page, but it's a nice option when I can't get to the library or have limited space to hold something.