eShop USA > Books > Eminence
Eminence
List Price: $14.95Our Price: $11.96 You Save: $2.99 (20%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Save $5.00 when you spend $25.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781902881690
ISBN: 1902881699
Label: Toby Press
Manufacturer: Toby Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 328
Publication Date: January 28, 2003
Publisher: Toby Press
Studio: Toby Press
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Morris West, author of the bestselling novel The Shoes of the Fisherman, manages in many of his books to balance a steadfast Catholic faith with a razor-keen perception of the flaws of the Church. Eminence begins with Monsignor Jorge Novak's 1995 admonishment of the Church's "complicities [in respect of] illegal repression" in Argentina and a short citation from William Pitt (1770): "Where law ends, tyranny begins." West uses these political statements as the launching point for his very personal story of Cardinal Luca Rossini. Luca is a compelling character--a haunted man who offers the world a stern visage to cover a deeply troubled soul. As a young and outspoken priest he was brutally tortured in an Argentine military prison and was then nursed to health by the beautiful Isabel, wife of an Argentine diplomat. To cover the scandal of his unacknowledged treatment, he was recalled to Rome and exiled to the Vatican. As the novel begins, Rossini is now the confidante of the reigning pope. He is admired and feared by his colleagues, for Rossini (like his creator) understands the Church, speaks frankly, and knows how to present his ancient faith to the late-20th-century media. When the pope becomes gravely ill and a successor must be chosen, Rossini takes a central role in the process. In the midst of the political intrigue that surrounds the selection of a new pope, however, Isabel arrives in Rome--along with Luca's daughter. Luca must suddenly confront old and painful memories of Argentina and the scandalous passion of his long-suspended love affair.
Eminence is a brisk thriller and simultaneously a very relevant examination of the byzantine Vatican City; but the ultimate pleasure of the book, as with the best of West's writings, derives from his complex and very human portrait of a modern man of the cloth. --Patrick O'Kelley
An Argentinean cleric, tortured in the 1970s is rescued and brought to Rome. A generation later, having rising within the hierarchy, a candidate for the papacy himself, he must confront his past.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Eminence
I have been a Morris West fan since the early 1970's. I have read nearly all of his books and have enjoyed not just the style, but the thorough knowledge about whatever the topic that was part of the story. He was an excellent researcher. His greatest work surrounded his Catholic Faith and his intimate understanding of both the mechanism of the Church's life, but also the psychology of religious thought and belief.
In Eminence, one of his last novels, we have a celebration of all of his skills ... Read More
Rating:  - A real sad story
This book is a real sad story, it keeps you reading almost all the time, is not exactly a thriller but is very sad, reading this book you will see how live the people in the Vatican and how they feel.
The story of Isabel and Luca is sad since the beginning of the book, also is the story of Piers Hallet and is only written once, but the childhood of Stephanie was awful.
I won't comment anything of how Luca and Isabel met because I will tell you part of the book, but it was terrible, if you are ... Read More
Rating:  - Church and power - once again
Once again, Morris West brings to life a clergyman with a troublesome past. Cardinal Luca, burdened with old memories of being molested by Argentine soldiers, comes to town - THE town, La Citta. So does the love of his life, an ambassador's wife. West weaves an elegant web of love and politics (churchly and worldly). As the Pope dies, Luca has to cope with his love's fatal illness, the election of the successor of St Peter - and his own past. Of course, the election turns out more exciting than anyone ... Read More
Rating: - Can you hear the tune?
The emotions and struggles of West's characters are real, heartfelt, and dated to the beginning of mankind. In this way, I always relate to his stories, tantalized and drawn in by his graceful style and--often un-American--sense of dignity. On the other hand, the dialogue tends to flow from pre-ordained scripts, rather than from the down-on-the-street world most of us live in. I usually overlook this stilted quality because of the seductive narrative. His words nearly hum a tune of honor and the quest ... Read More
Rating: - A "must read"
EMINENCE is a breathtaking journey through the political fabric of the Vatican during a crucial period, set in the near future. The hierarchy wrestles for direction in the lead up of the election of a new Pontiff. Morris West's novel is clearly a "must read" for anyone enjoying a well written, compelling novel.
While you are masterly entertained by the author, he uses skilfully a highly accomplished structure of the novel as his Trojan Horse to present compelling argument to sketch out the fundamental ... Read More
Related Categories:
| |
 |
![Korean Level 1 Win/Mac Personal Edition [Old Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EX9HHXVYL._SL75_.jpg
)
