Clerical Errors

By Alan Isler

Book Overview

Aside from his blatant lack of piety -- and the fact that he's Jewish -- Father Edmond Music could have been a model priest. Now, entrenched at an English estate with a vast library, he would rather pursue a decades-old liaison with his housekeeper than crack down on his assistant's dial-a-confession phone ministry, or, more important, investigate the whereabouts of a rare Shakespeare text gone missing on his watch. Then, out of nowhere, penance comes due. His car is found totaled (possibly by Vatican hit men), his annoying archrival of the cloth is looking to nail him as a thief, and the once-passionate housekeeper is lapsing into religious fervor. With his forty-year idyll falling apart, Edmond can no longer ignore the danger of the present, or the echoes of his buried past. National Jewish Book Award-winning author Alan Isler delivers a hilarious and touching literary homily, confirming his unique gift for mingling comedy and tragedy in this deeply moving exploration of faith, love, and identity.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743210611
• ISBN13: 9780743210614
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.8" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Left me breathless

After reading the masterpiece "Prince of West End Ave", I dove into Clerical Errors. Isler does not disappoint. This too is a gem. Isler belongs in the modern pantheon. Devoted Catholics may be offended by the work. However, this misses the point. Its not really about Catholics. Any more said would spoil this carefully crafted tale.

EXQUISITELY LITERATE AND TOUCHING

Forget kindly, selfless Father Flanagan - his antithesis is Father Edmond Music, a priest gone far astray. He finds joy in celebrating the pleasures of the flesh with his housekeeper, Maude, is involved in the disappearance of a thought-to-be Shakespeare manuscript, was born a Jew, and worst of all, he's an unabashed atheist. Let's say up front that some will be offended by what they may consider blasphemy; it's pure Isler who won the 1994 National Jewish Book Award for "The Prince Of West End Avenue." He's satirical, laugh out loud funny, exquisitely literate, and touching. He's also unwilling to be reined in by "popular constraints." Thanks to a much earlier love affair with the robust Kiki, who gave the church her family home, Beale Hall, Father Music is contentedly assigned to be the Hall's director with the stipulation that it be used as a spiritual retreat. Regrettably, the priest's laissez faire attitude has earned him a persistent enemy, one Father Twombly who is determinedly investigating the disappearance of a valuable manuscript from the Hall's library. Thus, at a rather advanced age Father Music is forced to try to outwit his vengeful nemesis. Mr. Isler laces his text with ruminations on life, love, and faith - not longueurs but substantial food for thought offered with sly winks and witty prose pictures. "Clerical Errors" is a rich rabelaisian feast.