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Death Comes for the Archbishop

Willa Cather

Start date: April 1, 2020

Finish date: April 30, 2020

Discussion: 2020 Historical Fict. Tournament

Discussion leader: Christopher

Why we're reading this: 2020 Historical Fiction Tournament
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2020 Historical Fict. Tournament

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What Members Thought

Jul 15, 2013 Genia Lukin rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, historical

I think that this book goes into the small but not-insignificant department of what I call "cute" books.

"Cute" books are books that don't necessarily carry a world-shattering message, are not always elevated to the point of rocking the reader's world, or revealing some life-changing messages. Cute books are books that are a pleasure to read, whose characters are genuinely personable, the descriptions are poetic, and the atmosphere as a whole is one of hidden pleasure, rather than of angst and w ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Mar 10, 2010 Petra rated it it was amazing

Lovely story. Willa Cather has done it again. The descriptions of the Southwest landscape enters the story as a character. It's personality is as strong as any human we meet in these pages.
In a fairly short book, Willa Cather manages to include the pioneering spirit & difficulties, the history of the region, the spread of colonization and the changing of the land & people as time continues. During all this, the moral and spiritual concerns of Fathers Latour and Valliant are respectfully explored ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2020 Christopher rated it liked it

Shelves: american, fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century

This feels like a book in search of a story. Each chapter has merits on its own, but they don't really come together into a single story. Moreover, the characters don't really jump off the page... I feel like I got to know the side characters in the episodic chapters better than I got to know Latour. He was like the one morally upright character in a Dostoevsky novel: his character is mostly just defined as "good".

The greatest character in this book is the American Southwest. The arroyos, the ca ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2020 Pamela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Beautifully understated historical fiction set in nineteenth century New Mexico and Arizona. Cather tells the story of two idealistic Catholic priests, based on real historical figures, and their mission among the Mexicans and Indians.

As always, Cather excels at depicting the landscapes of the area - from the opening chapters where she describes the light on the church roofs of Rome to the descriptions of the deserts and mesas. The landscape becomes a character in its own right, vivid and full ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 05, 2017 Elise rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2017, women, club, 1920s, western, historical

Given my hostilities towards religion, I ended up liking this more than I thought I would. The two main priest characters are sympathetically drawn and are genuinely invested in helping the Mexican and Indian populations that they encounter in a series of mostly gentle vignettes. There's a lot less murdering than in other westerns I've read, so when there is violence, it has a tragic and meaningful impact. This is Cather though, so the main attraction is the depiction of desert landscapes, which ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 09, 2021 Erika rated it it was amazing

Read this while visiting Taos and Santa Fe. Stunning book, and the best setting to read it, especially if reading is punctuated by wandering the two cities. Her writing is nearly perfect, and it fits the story and landscape impeccably.

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Oct 02, 2015 Kathy Chumley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Willa Cather's prose never disappoints. ...more

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Sep 08, 2024 Lauren rated it liked it

As the story of an archbishop, this book did not work particularly well for me. It felt too disjointed, and I never became invested in his story. But the book can also be read as the portrait of a landscape at a fascinating time in history, and at that is was much more effective.

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