Bill Dodds (1)

This is a delightful book.  On the surface, it appears to be the story of an American priest who is one of those alcoholics who holds his liquor well and is a charming dinner companion.  As such, he makes his way up the ecclesiastical ladder, finds himself doing duty in Rome, and somehow ends up being chosen as the pope.  Here's where the story gets interesting.  He realizes he's in way over his head, but can't seem to figure out how to retire so he can just hug his bottle and go off into his foggy drunk dreamland.

So, while on a papal trip to Canada, he evades his keepers one morning as he sneaks out in search of a "little something" to clear his seriously hungover brain, goes off on a toot, and never returns.  This could have turned into a tongue-in-cheek satire but instead, the author takes the reader on a serious journey through the hell of recovering alcoholics, shows us a hopeful story about the 12 step program, a serious look at social and religious practices, a slight mystery, and introduces us to some of the most loveable (if disreputable) characters to inhabit the pages of a book in quite a while.  Ultimately it's a story of sin, sorrow, forgiveness, redemption, and conversion.

Although it certainly sings of Catholicism, it paints a clear picture of the church, its clergy and all their warts.  Dodds is a writer who is able to give us real people, who are real sinners, real friends, and who are willing to allow themselves to experience the grace they preach to others. A little gem.… (meer)

Having a sibling with a disability and realizing it is okay to be jealous and irritated sometimes must be liberating. I’m a legally blind ventilator-dependent quadriplegic. At different times I received the majority of the attention from family. This resulted in little flares of jealousy from the children. It is not uncommon for a child to have these feelings. The book portrays an honest glimpse into the mind of a child that has a few issues with a disabled sibling.

The book teaches a couple lessons. After doing a couple things that he does not agree with to fit into the Bombers, he decides on his own that the group is not for him. Never does it come right out and say it, but the message is relayed. If the “in-group” is doing things you know are wrong, then you should not be part of the group. Take a stand against peer pressure. The message that a disabled sibling should not embarrass the “normal” sibling is very subtle, too. I would have liked both messages to be spelled out more clearly, but in a way that is not too pushy.

I recommend this book.… (meer)