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A review by berylbird
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
We don’t go to a novel for a sermon, but in a time that has its troubles, it’s good to have stories of courage and coming through, and in a time when there’s too much fixation on the differences between people, we need stories about making a stand for one another. And I like a story about men and women who question what they’re told. They remind me we’re not actually here to obey fools or monsters. We’re here to stand up for better. From an interview with Joseph O’Connor
Standing up for others and for better is the throughline of “My Father’s House.” The story revolves around the fascinating character of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a priest from Kerry, Ireland, who has landed in the Vatican. However, it is far from his story alone. ‘The Choir’ composed of some of O’Flaherty’s friends and associates are also major notes in this storytelling venture. Their undercover mission is to help escaped prisoners and Jews flee Nazi-occupied Italy. Significantly they were Catholic, Atheist, and Communist, but they did not let theology nor political ideology deter them from the partnerships crucial to their success.
This moderately-paced story is written in short chapters. Each chapter takes on the POV of a member of ‘The Choir,’ with most chapters coming from Father Hugh O’Flaherty’s POV. With this multi-voiced approach, O’Connor deftly develops generous character analyses. These characters are operating under the stress of the Nazi regime with everything they’re doing promising death if they’re caught. An hourly countdown to the 1943 Christmas Eve Rendimento (mission) is given in chapter subtitles. 1962 interviews and written statements are interspersed with these chapters plus an excerpt from a memoir. The action of the story and the countdown intensify the suspense.
Father Hugh O’Flaherty is a flawed and honorable man. Once Paul Hauptmann, “the Gestapo chief of Rome” is introduced, the lines between good and evil fall into place like tetra blocks. Hauptmann’s favorite “interrogation tool is the blowtorch” and he would love nothing better than to drag O’Flaherty in for a torch blowing. Hauptmann is aware that an Escape Line is operating in Rome and he thinks he knows who the major players are but so far he’s been unable to catch them or prove anything.
Father O’Flaherty’s fight is not only with the Nazis. The Pope and others of his superiors have told him to stand down lest the Nazis disregard the Vatican’s neutrality and destroy it and hundreds of years of Christian culture and history. O’Connor reveals O’Flaherty’s internal and external struggles, his angels and demons.
This is my first time reading Joseph O’Connor. I enjoyed his prose style which had its soaring moments.
“Some consolation of the spirit, some release happens when human beings sing in a group, wherever and however that occurs. In a place of worship, on the terraces of a football stadium, in a cramped and draughty attic, bombers droning overhead. Nearly all music has beauty, but when it includes the marriage of baritone and soprano, of bass and alto, chorus and soloist, it becomes something more than merely the upliftingly beautiful. Harmony is an everyday, achievable miracle.”
This is a beautiful description of the magic of music and an analogy for the achievements of the unique “Choir” in this story where the sum became more than the parts.
Standing up for others and for better is the throughline of “My Father’s House.” The story revolves around the fascinating character of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a priest from Kerry, Ireland, who has landed in the Vatican. However, it is far from his story alone. ‘The Choir’ composed of some of O’Flaherty’s friends and associates are also major notes in this storytelling venture. Their undercover mission is to help escaped prisoners and Jews flee Nazi-occupied Italy. Significantly they were Catholic, Atheist, and Communist, but they did not let theology nor political ideology deter them from the partnerships crucial to their success.
This moderately-paced story is written in short chapters. Each chapter takes on the POV of a member of ‘The Choir,’ with most chapters coming from Father Hugh O’Flaherty’s POV. With this multi-voiced approach, O’Connor deftly develops generous character analyses. These characters are operating under the stress of the Nazi regime with everything they’re doing promising death if they’re caught. An hourly countdown to the 1943 Christmas Eve Rendimento (mission) is given in chapter subtitles. 1962 interviews and written statements are interspersed with these chapters plus an excerpt from a memoir. The action of the story and the countdown intensify the suspense.
Father Hugh O’Flaherty is a flawed and honorable man. Once Paul Hauptmann, “the Gestapo chief of Rome” is introduced, the lines between good and evil fall into place like tetra blocks. Hauptmann’s favorite “interrogation tool is the blowtorch” and he would love nothing better than to drag O’Flaherty in for a torch blowing. Hauptmann is aware that an Escape Line is operating in Rome and he thinks he knows who the major players are but so far he’s been unable to catch them or prove anything.
Father O’Flaherty’s fight is not only with the Nazis. The Pope and others of his superiors have told him to stand down lest the Nazis disregard the Vatican’s neutrality and destroy it and hundreds of years of Christian culture and history. O’Connor reveals O’Flaherty’s internal and external struggles, his angels and demons.
This is my first time reading Joseph O’Connor. I enjoyed his prose style which had its soaring moments.
“Some consolation of the spirit, some release happens when human beings sing in a group, wherever and however that occurs. In a place of worship, on the terraces of a football stadium, in a cramped and draughty attic, bombers droning overhead. Nearly all music has beauty, but when it includes the marriage of baritone and soprano, of bass and alto, chorus and soloist, it becomes something more than merely the upliftingly beautiful. Harmony is an everyday, achievable miracle.”
This is a beautiful description of the magic of music and an analogy for the achievements of the unique “Choir” in this story where the sum became more than the parts.