Book Review: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

The Power and the Glory follows a priest in Mexico during a ban on the Catholic church. All the priests have been rounded up and shot or married off, except for this last whiskey priest. This man comes into contact with lots of individuals as he tries sometimes to stay alive, sometimes to just be caught by the police constantly following him. He tries to come to terms with his fallen lifestyle and the religious office he still feels obligated to fulfill. Increasingly, he sees the ridiculous in his performance of rites on the sly and his own personal sins.

This is a powerful story of religion, corruption, redemption and probably lots of other things I didn't pick up on. It is not the most accessible book, with sometimes difficult language and cryptic references. I would have liked to study it in a college course to further understand all it implies.

RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
I am sure it had some language in it, but it did not detract from the story.

mrg-factor: X
The priest fathered a child, but it is not described in the story.

v-factor: ->
Priests are killed during the story, but it is not graphically represented.

Overall rating: ***