A Classic Novel We Forgot to Review

According to an e-mail I received today , earlier this year I had been sent

a review copy of the new trade paperback edition of Andrew M. Greeley’s THE CARDINAL SINS.  This past Thursday, in a post on the Los Angeles Times’ book blog, Jacket Copy, former President Bill Clinton listed 7 books he’s currently reading, including The Cardinal Sins! His list included his own brief notes on several of the books, including one for Greeley’s classic book, noting that it was “(now almost 30 years old).” 

That a former president is reading this classic novel attests to its relevance nearly 30 years after its publication.  This classic book is just as fresh today as it was upon its 1981 publication.  Please let me know if you’d like any more info on the book, or if you need another review copy.

Does anyone dare confess they've read this classic?

Comments

[James Kabala]

Is this book (which I have certainly never read) the one that is supposed to be a roman a clef about actual figures in the 1970s-1980s Chicago Archdiocese? In that case it is likely to either be horribly dated or (in view of worse scandals since) all too relevant. With the Greeley byline, though, it is unlikely to be a good book.

I can't imagine what interest Bill Clinton would have in it.

[Margaret]

Include me out.

[Rob G]

Some people seem to define a classic as any book over 20 years old that was popular once but that no one reads anymore.

[Susan Peterson]

I may have read it. I read some Greeleys. If so, it made no particular impression.

My general conclusions drawn from Greeley's novels are 1. I think he has been faithful to his vows because he certainly does not write about sex with knowledge 2. his writings overexalt sex 3. All his good female characters are thin and beautiful and all his evil female characters are fat.

Susan Peterson

[Art Deco]

I am very skeptical of just about anything that passes Andrew Greeley's lips. That having been said, his short story collection, All About Women is actually engaging. His memoir, Confessions of a Parish Priest can be instructive, though I think in ways he did not intend.