- Poster
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Feb 25 1993)
- ISBN-10: 0747515417
- ISBN-13: 978-0747515418
- Shipping Weight: 503 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In a work as compelling as his Booker-shortlisted Lies of Silence , Moore tells a swift, spellbinding tale of faith and politics that is plainly based on recent events in Haiti, whose priest/president Aristide is still in exile. The priest/president of Moore's fictional Ganae is Jeannot, a brilliant black boy plucked from rural poverty by the Canadian missionary who tells the story. Jeannot becomes a highly charismatic priest, draws an enormous following from among the poor and becomes enmeshed, inevitably, in island politics as an outspoken enemy of the corrupt army, the mulatto elite, drug dealers and American business interests. As a priest, he also becomes embroiled with Rome (since, as a cynical fellow priest remarks, "Liberation theology is out of date. This is a capitalist world and we have to live in it.") The issue of whether a priest has a duty to help the poor in their material lives or simply to concentrate on their immortal souls is at the heart of the novel, but it is by no means a didactic affair; for one thing, Jeannot is created with real passion. Written with great speed and economy, but with a strikingly brooding atmosphere, the narrative hastens to an enigmatic and mournful conclusion. This is the best writing Moore has done in many years, and certainly bears comparison with that other 20th-century classic about Haiti, Graham Greene's The Comedians.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
A Catholic priest presents the parable of the rise and fall (or is it an apotheosis?) of a charismatic statesman and holy man--an ambiguous contemporary messiah--on a poor, deeply troubled West Indian island. After taking in the orphaned Jean-Pierre Cantave from the poor hamlet of Toumalie, Father Paul Michel, a Canadian missionary to the island of Ganae, acquiesces in the boy's request to be ordained abroad as a priest himself, watches Jeannot (as Father Paul calls him) return under the banner of liberation theology, and then sees him expelled from his order and relieved of his parish duties, only to emerge as the overwhelmingly popular choice for president after the death of the brutal dictator Jean-Marie Doumergue. When Jeannot, who repeatedly invokes the example of Christ in his speeches (their cadence as well as their subjects) and in his actions, seems to be following Doumergue into tyranny--surrounding himself with a cadre of close followers, refusing to share power with the opposition, staging show trials for symbolic ``oppressors,'' and dramatizing his mandate by fomenting continual demonstrations on the government's behalf--the church fathers threaten to excommunicate him. In response, he walks a fine line between political accommodation and self-justification through the mantra of ``the poor''--leaving even his loyal mentor Father Paul doubtful about his true loyalties. So far, we could almost be reading a recent history of Haiti; but when the long-awaited military coup against Jeannot comes, he meets it with a climactically Christlike stroke that's unprecedented in Haitian politics or political fiction generally. Moore's gift (Lies of Silence, 1990, etc.) for framing volatile political and religious questions in terms of particular human experience has never been taken to such extraordinary lengths as in this brief, ambitious, deeply unsettling novel. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing,
By A Customer
Ce commentaire est de: No Other Life (Hardcover)
i think this is one of best books that ive read in many years i htink that its out going and not even my words can explain .. thank you Brian Moore fo gicing me this opertunity to reading this book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Again, superb Moore,
By A. Hogan - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: No Other Life (Paperback)
No Other Life is a vieled portrait of Jean Betrand aristide,told of course in fictionalised form.Told through the eyes of his fellow priest and discoverer,if you will, it tells the story of an activist priest,watching his people become further and further oppressed,until he himself decides to enter politics.{this book was written in the period that aristide was in exile}The descriptions of island life are pure Moore,as is the age-old moral ambiguities,the question of faithvs.politics.{Moore claimed to be agnostic,which wouold fit this book quite well} The books title comes from the narrators own soul quest,and his affirmation thereof.The ending is open-ended,as the aristide character becomed messianic,which,along with powerful colusion of military,corporate and religious powers leads to his downfall.Another moral, challenging novel form the late Mr. Moore.Excellent!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Has the Spirit and Cadence Down,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: No Other Life (Paperback)
A very nice read from Mr. Moore. Well paced and well stocked with voices at once familiar and seemingly authentic. A good meditation on the rights of outsiders to interfere with the affairs of State, and on the split loyalties between serving man and God. This book is in a similar vein as Black Robe (also by Brian Moore) and Monsignor Quixote and The Power and The Glory (by Graham Greene).
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forces at play in the Caribbean,
By Bomojaz - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: No Other Life (Hardcover)
Jeannot, a child born into poverty on a Caribbean island, is "rescued" by Father Michel and raised by the Church. But Jeannot, who is a dynamic figure, goes beyond the spiritual-only concerns Father Michel has invested in Jeannot's upbringing and becomes a revolutionary, concerned with the plight of the poor on his island.He is elected president of the country, and institutes a series of sweeping reforms that put his own life in danger. Father Michel begins to question what Frankenstein's "monster" has been "created." Moore looks carefully at the three institutions fighting for power here: the Church, the military (representing greed and the "standard way" of doing business), and the "people" (Jeannot). Moore's writing is suspenseful and intelligent. Very well done. |
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