Comments on: Linden MacIntyre: The Bishop’s Man

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:42:37 +0000

Hi Dianne, we obviously had different experiences with this book. I had a few questions for you though, as I’m not quite understanding your criticism of the book.

I can’t quite understand what you mean by “present” when you say “you felt a real disconnect between the place and time of the novel and the present.” I’m not from Cape Breton, but I know people who are and people who have read this book who think the novel does a pretty good job of it. Do you mean present-day Cape Breton is not like it is presented in the book?

To push again, I don’t know what you mean when you say, “Are we supposed to sympathise and excuse these characters because of their weaknesses? No.” I agree. Are you suggesting the novelist is asking us to? It’s been nearly two years since I read it, but I know I didn’t get that impression.

Lastly, what do you mean by this: “If you tell someone that something is good over and over again, they will believe it.” The novel? The characters? Am I the guilty party?

By: dianne durban

dianne durban — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 22:40:43 +0000

I expected more from Lyndon MacIntyre. I felt a real disconnect between the place and time of the novel and the present – an inability to suspend my disbelief and enter into the motivation and feelings of the characters. I found the writing style tedious and the characters pathetic. Are we supposes to sympathise and excuse these characters because of their weaknesses? No. This is not a novel worthy of greatness. If you tell someone that something is good over and over again, they will believe it.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:03:06 +0000

Tim, I was beginning to wonder if the real and shadow Giller juries were the only readers of this book who found it worthwhile. Glad you felt so too!

Interestingly, with some books when so many others seem to dislike them, sometimes I question my judgment. That hasn’t been the case here.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:30:02 +0000

This book seemed to illustrate the fact that we all lose our innocence to one degree or another as we live…the main character is asked to clean up after men who have performed heinous acts, yet he himself has fallen far short of ideal behaviour. The personal flaws which seem at times to completely overwhelm him complicate his work. he is working for a bishop whose practice of “situational ethics” seems quite inappropriate for one in such a position of moral leadership.
I thought the book was well written, very “real”, and thought provoking.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:12:57 +0000

I’m not sure I can follow you there, Alison. I don’t think MacIntyre ever suggests that because others’ handling the situation poorly (and not just the women, but the priest and the Bishop themselves) excuses the initial conduct at all. I see no shift in blame and I see no concept of “sharing” the blame. I don’t think this book is so easily dismissed.

By: Alison

Alison — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:58:01 +0000

Interesting how the story shifts from male sexual abuse to laying blame on Stella and Jessie for keeping Danny’s secret. Let’s blame the women!!

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:44:38 +0000

I haven’t responded to these last comments because I hadn’t thought of anything to say, not because I haven’t wanted to or because I felt they were invalid. As you can see, I enjoyed the book, felt it was well constructed, and that it deserved the prize given the other options — though it’s merit, to me, wasn’t solely based on my valuation of it in relation to the other shortlisted titles; I felt it was genuinely good. I might have missed many elements, but the book never confused me; I thought it was well structured and thankfully got away from the affair in South America just when it would have started to become tedious to me. As for what some have considered to be an ingenuine structure (not always clear what was going on in Honduras, always alluding to a forthcoming explanation, etc.), I accepted these moments because I felt the narrator was believable, that he really wouldn’t want to bring the unpleasant ghosts of the past to clear light. I hate artificial structuring that is there only to build suspense, but it worked for me here because it also built the character. It wasn’t that he wasn’t being forthcoming to the reader — he wasn’t being forthcoming with himself. I quickly forgave what would have been a fatal flaw in a work with a less interesting narrator.

You probably knew this, Mary, but Alice Munro voluntarily withdrew her book of stories from the contest, or it almost certainly would have won. I’ve been working my way through her book, and it is a marvel.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:17:58 +0000

I saved this book to read on vacation in the south last week, and was very disappointed. I started counting the number of times a line saying or alluding “this will all be explained later” came up and got frustrated after I got to 6. McIntyre is trying too hard to build suspense, and then doens’t come through. I found the ending very weak, didn’t live up to the author’s previous hype. If this is the best Canada had to offer in 2009, we need some new writrs. I also just read Alice Munro’s latest collection of short stories — so superior to McIntyre.

By: Tom Osborne

Tom Osborne — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:06:35 +0000

Like some other readers, I found the book very confusing. I didn’t fully appreciate who was William. I was constantly trying to fathom what happened in Honduras.
Going back to past events in the midst of something currently taking place was frustrating to say the least. I am familiar with the area around Creignish and the depiction of culture and social life was well done.

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:31:45 +0000

I’m am confused as to what happened in Honhuras. Did Father MacAskill have an affair with Jacinta.