Suzy's Reviews > Death Comes for the Archbishop

I'm so glad to have reread this in audio and to have learned from other readers in the group discussion. Cather is one of the top authors when it comes to conjuring a landscape in the reader's mind, and this might be her best in that regard. I loved being transported to New Mexico again, made even more vivid by David Ackroyd's narration. The relationship between Archbishop LaTour and Father Vailant really came to the fore for me upon reading a second time. LaTour's respect for the locals and determination to do good work in this diocese stood out more for me this time around. All in all, an excellent experience, whether in print or audio.

How did I not know before that these two were based on real people?!! Cather fictionalized the lives of Jean-Baptiste Lamy and his priest Joseph Machebeuf, the actual French Catholics who came to build the diocese in New Mexico.

Why I'm rereading this: This was a recent monthly read for a group I belong to. I learned in that discussion that there is now an audiobook which enticed me to reread this through my ears. Cather is one of my favorite authors!

review June 2015
Early in life, a young Frenchman knows he will become a Catholic priest. He meets another man in seminary, they become fast friends and go to Paris to prepare to establish the Catholic church in the New World. The two go initially to Ohio, but ten years later are called to build a diocese in the newly acquired territory of New Mexico. It is then when they both discover where they are supposed to be and what truly they are supposed to do in life. That early decision leads to places and relationships the young man probably couldn't have dreamed of, but it also leads to a life well-lived.

I am an acknowledged Willa Cather fan and have been eager to read more of her. I knew that this book is well-regarded, but I had no idea of what it was about. I had trouble getting going with Death Comes for the Archbishop, I think because I was expecting to be swept away like I was with My Antonia. While everything I love about Cather's writing, especially her descriptions of place, was in evidence, I was not swept away. The sum total of this book was exceptionally satisfying, however. The last chapter is what made it so as Archbishop Latour reflects on his life and prepares for his death. He is a model for fulfilling ones destiny, even if life leads one to unexpected places.

To enjoy this book, I found that I had to keep reminding myself that Cather was writing of the mid-19th century and the settling of the American southwest. The treatment of women, Mexicans and Native Americans and the assumed superiority of the Catholic Europeans is at times hard to stomach, but for me it rang true given the era.