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The Bishop's Man |  | Author: Linden MacIntyre
Publisher: Random House Canada
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 32.00
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as of 9/3/2010 21:34 CDT details
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Seller: Amazon.ca
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 11094
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.4
ISBN: 0307357066
EAN: 9780307357069
ASIN: 0307357066
Publication Date: July 28, 2009
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 Disappointing May 5, 2010
SH (Ontario)
The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre is written in first person, and revolves around a priest named Duncan MacAskill. I was surprised that there was so little discussed about religion considering that it was in the viewpoint of a priest. I neither liked nor disliked the protagonist, which is exactly what I felt about this book. There were many different scenes that started off with people talking, and I would have to guess who they were. A lot of the scenes, I found, were pointless. There were flashbacks to a time when MacAskill had visited the Honduras, to his attempt at a teenage relationship, and of his abusive father. These flashbacks and the problems the protagonist faced made him more human.
Overall, there isn't as much excitement as I was led to believe. Everything is very subtle, everything happens slowly. I was just reading without being amused or fascinated, and for that, I kept getting lost in the words and forgetting what I had just read and then having to reread those sections. Perhaps if I were a Catholic, I would've enjoyed this book more. I don't know.
The priest, Duncan MacAskill, is seen running errands for the Bishop to prevent bad news related to priests from becoming public information. MacAskill meets with those that have been sexually abused by a priest to help cover up the information, reassuring them that something will be done to the abuser, the priest. `Victim' is a word that the Bishop refuses to use because victims are only creations of an over-active imagination. It is the Bishop who says that he wants priests to keep their "noses out of public matters." So that the public will "keep their noses out of ours." (209)
MacAskill is trusted by the Bishop, and whatever work he is assigned related to situations such as the above one, he is to keep it a secret. Later on, he is assigned his own perish of Creignish. Yet wherever he is appointed, in essence, the job of a priest entails the priest to be alone most of the time. And being the man the Bishop relies on, the bearer of bad news, he is lonelier than most priests. Once MacAskill thinks, "A storm gives purpose to my idleness... Or justifies the lack of purpose." (94) He mentions that when he was choosing to become a priest, he was explicitly told to choose "between the desires of the world and the life of sacrifice and service." (133) It is seen that the loneliness eventually gets to MacAskill and he develops an addiction to alcohol.
MacAskill does wonder what leads a priest to do such things, but he believes that "Deviance is a loss of faith." (96) There is this one former priest named Brendan Bell that MacAskill believes might be the cause of some occurrences. A boy residing in the perish next to MacAskill's, named Danny MacKay, is behaving badly, and in the past had been in contact with the former priest, Brendan Bell. MacAskill wonders if Bell has been the cause of Danny's depression.
The following are some lines I enjoyed:
"Age reopens forgotten places in the memory..." (124)
"The sorrow comes in waves, the way the restless shoreline sighs and rustles long after the passage of a distant vessel." (137)
"A creeping uneasiness intruded like a cloud." (171)
""A conscience is an awful curse... Guilt can turn into a disease if you're not careful. That's the trouble with diaries, at least if you're honest in them."" (203)
"I should have seen what was coming next. But the future has no substance until it turns the corner into history." (228)
"They say the eyes reveal the state of the soul, and his eyes were clear as the blue sky that day." (231)
2.5/5
 Brilliant March 19, 2010
Lauren B. Davis (Princeton, New Jersey)
A stunningly good novel about a Nova Scotian priest facing up to the repercussions of a career spent in obedience to his Bishop's orders -- doing the dirty work of "cleaning up" after abusive priests. A deep meditation on faith, truth, justice and personal responsibility. The Cape Breton setting is brought to life perfectly. The characters are heart-breaking, human, fragile and believable. MacIntyre is a brilliant writer, and I don't often use that word. He asks the big questions fearlessly, but with enormous compassion.
A Human Perspective On A Religious Quandry February 14, 2010
Richard J. Smith (Ottawa, Canada)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Back in the fifties there was a book and a subsequent movie called The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit. The Bishop`s Man is a present day take on another organization except that this one is religious and the problems are more contentious. Linden MacIntyre writes a compelling story of one priet`s personal struggle as he attempts to carry out the wishes of his bishop in the rural areas of Noval Scotia.
Great book and easy to read February 11, 2010
Good reader (Canada)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought this book was very good and am not surprised that it won an award!
 The Bishop's man January 13, 2010
Frederick B. Rodgers (PEI Canada)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
Very disappointed with this book, hard to keep reading and a difficult story to follow. Not sure how this book was selected for the Giller Prize
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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