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alicihonest's review
3.0
This book was a nice short read, but unfortunately it was too short for the story it wanted to tell. And it did so want to tell a lot of stories. A mix of proseltizing female ordination in the Catholic church, the religious journey of a deeply hurt woman, and the conflicts of faith in vocation of priests, Tongues of Angels only managed to do one of those concepts justice. But, it did it good justice, hence the four stars (although if I had the option it really would be 3.5).
First the bad:
The 'female ordination' bits were absolutely shoehorned in. I would guess it's a pet cause of the author, but it could easily be the opposite cleverly done: these parts were so unsynchronized with the book and poorly presented that it could be an attempt to turn the reader off the idea. The main characters of the book only consider the idea in a "oh yeah, why don't we do that" way, absolutely no more depth involved. As I said, this book could have been longer, and if so perhaps explored the notion more, as it is an important consideration for modern Catholicism. But as it was, it should just have been left out.
Next, Jess, the female protagonist. Even with good decision making at the end, Jess just came off as a complete Mary Sue, shallow and simply there for to give Rob something to play off. It felt like the chapters regarding her and the rest of the book were written by two completely different authors. I realize that my condemnation of her and of the above makes me sound anti-women, which is bizarre because I am a frothing feminist. But, as objectively as I can insist, although the author is female, in this book she just could not write women.
However, this is totally different from her presentation of the priests. Both Rob and Lawrence are characters of complexity and intensity, both likeable and frustrating, but in a good way, a frustration that lets you know you're invested. I would have loved to see Lawrence explored more, and learned more about the other priests. It was such an entertaining and fascinating story of the private lives and passions and concerns of Catholic priests. I absolutely loved it, and despite the problems I had with this book, the good actually did outweigh the bad.
First the bad:
The 'female ordination' bits were absolutely shoehorned in. I would guess it's a pet cause of the author, but it could easily be the opposite cleverly done: these parts were so unsynchronized with the book and poorly presented that it could be an attempt to turn the reader off the idea. The main characters of the book only consider the idea in a "oh yeah, why don't we do that" way, absolutely no more depth involved. As I said, this book could have been longer, and if so perhaps explored the notion more, as it is an important consideration for modern Catholicism. But as it was, it should just have been left out.
Next, Jess, the female protagonist. Even with good decision making at the end, Jess just came off as a complete Mary Sue, shallow and simply there for to give Rob something to play off. It felt like the chapters regarding her and the rest of the book were written by two completely different authors. I realize that my condemnation of her and of the above makes me sound anti-women, which is bizarre because I am a frothing feminist. But, as objectively as I can insist, although the author is female, in this book she just could not write women.
However, this is totally different from her presentation of the priests. Both Rob and Lawrence are characters of complexity and intensity, both likeable and frustrating, but in a good way, a frustration that lets you know you're invested. I would have loved to see Lawrence explored more, and learned more about the other priests. It was such an entertaining and fascinating story of the private lives and passions and concerns of Catholic priests. I absolutely loved it, and despite the problems I had with this book, the good actually did outweigh the bad.
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