Conclave by Robert Harris

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

The Pope is dead.

It falls to Cardinal Lomeli, as Dean of the College of Cardinals, to manage the Conclave, the gathering of Cardinals from all over the world, who will select the next leader of the Catholic Church.  Lomeli is grieving, both from the loss of the Holy Father and the loss of a man who was his friend. Their last meeting had been a difficult one; Lomeli was questioning his own abilities to carry out his duties, but the Pope had refused his request to resign, much to Lomeli’s dismay.  There’s no time to ponder the question as the cardinals gather and factions soon form.  Lomeli is committed to being fair and not allowing his personal views to influence how he manages the Conclave, but sometimes that is a difficult matter indeed. This is especially true after he hears that the late Pope may have dismissed a cardinal in the hours just before his death, a cardinal who is one of the leading candidates to be the new Pope.  With all the cardinals sequestered and access to the outside world limited, Cardinal Lomeli is faced not only with the question of how to investigate but whether he should even try for fear of jeopardizing the voting unfairly.

To confuse things even more, a new cardinal appears, one that appeared on no one’s list because he was appointed in secret.

I came to the book after watching the movie.  The movie is a visual treat: I was mesmerized by some of the images.  There were amazing performances from the cast, which included Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.  The Oscar nominations were well deserved.

Since the movie did win for “Best Adapted Screenplay,” I was curious to see just how closely it followed the book and the answer is very closely indeed, with much of the dialog coming directly from the book. There were, of course, a few changes such as Cardinal Lomeli in the book becoming Cardinal Lawrence in the film but the changes were mostly very minor.  Reading the book did clarify a few things for me and gave me a deeper understanding of what I was shown.

It’s been called a political thriller, which means it relies on characters’ ambitions and motivations rather than car chases.  Since my preferred reading material is character driven rather than action oriented, this suited me just fine.  Thriller fans might find both book and movie to be too slow for their tastes. Every book (or movie!) is not for every reader.

The book allows us greater insight into Lomeli’s character, but the film does an excellent job of conveying some of his struggles visually:  his weariness, his frustration, and his faith. There’s a good map showing where the important scenes take place, from the Sistine Chapel to the Casa Santa Marta where the cardinals are housed during the Conclave. With the recent passing Pope Francis, both book and movie gave me some idea of the process and a mental image of how the real Conclave will unfold.

The library owns copies of both book and movie.