Average customer rating:
- Historical / Biographical Fiction at its Best
- (3.5) Larger than life, almost...
- More Soap Opera Then Opera
- The Great Caruso and the Three Women Who Idolized Him
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Tenor of Love: A Novel
Mary di Michele
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Caruso, Enrico
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Literary
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ASIN: 0743266927 |
Book Description
A NOVEL OF PASSION AND BETRAYAL, ART AND AMBITION BASED ON THE LIFE OF ONE OF THE GREATEST OPERA SINGERS OF ALL TIME
One summer day in 1897, a young singer, Enrico Caruso, arrives at the home of the Giachetti family. He has come to Livorno to sing on the summer stage with Ada Giachetti, a famous and beautiful soprano. Ada's mother offers him a spare room, and before Ada herself has a chance to meet the unknown tenor, her younger sister, Rina, arrives home from the market and falls fatefully in love.
With the help of singing lessons from Ada, Caruso wins the leading role in Puccini's new opera La Bohème. Although Caruso loves Rina, it is Ada he adores, and they soon become lovers. Heartbroken, Rina becomes an opera singer too, hoping to take her sister's place. For decades, the two sisters are locked in a struggle to be the star on Caruso's stage and in his bed, while Caruso's voice grows more and more unimaginably beautiful.
But as his relations with the two sisters break down in scandal and tragedy, the now world-famous Caruso builds a new life for himself as the star of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. There, far from the drama and passion of Caruso's Tuscan life, a shy young American woman will win his heart and, taking the greatest leap of faith of all, supplant Ada and Rina as his one true love.
Customer Reviews:
Historical / Biographical Fiction at its Best.......2005-07-12
This is not a book about opera, per se, nor is it about the career of Enrico Caruso. It is a sad story of unrequited love, betrayal, and finally love found and lost again because of an untimely death. Mary Di Michele's talents as a poet are evident on every page; her story brims with vivid description, simile and metaphor. The only other author whose descriptive powers can compare is Diana Gabaldon. Although not a fan of poetry myself, I loved the way Ms. Di Michele brought turn-of-the-century Italy and New York City just before the Roaring Twenties to life. Her research, of her settings and of the characters who are based on real-life people, is meticulous and serves to draw the reader confidently into the times and places the characters lived and breathed. Nothing irritates me more than a romance novel whose inauthenticity insults the reader's intelligence. This is NOT a romance novel, yet neither is it biography. "Tenor of Love" is a fact-based novel filled with romance, and highly sensuous without the graphic sexual scenes that contribute nothing to a story. You will spend hours smelling gourmet Italian cuisine, fragrant spring and summmer flowers, men's cologne, slept-in bed linens, and cigarettes. You will feel what these women feel, in loving a man both in life and death. Despite its tragic nature, you feel yourself willingly becoming a part of it. If you want a book that can draw you into another world, cause you to hope and despair along with its characters, and leave you wishing there could be more scenes to lose yourself in, "Tenor of Love" is a book I highly recommend.
(3.5) Larger than life, almost..........2005-04-14
This novel is about the women in Enrico Caruso's life. A man of insatiable appetite, he surrounds himself early on with zaftig women for inspiration, to nurture his incipient genius, instinctively understanding the importance of unconditional love. When first he meets the Giachetti family, the older sister, Ada, is already married with a child. The younger, Rina, sets her heart on the aspiring operatic tenor only to be pushed aside by a determined Ada, who throws away her marriage to share the stage with Caruso. Once she bears him children, he prefers Ada remain at home in the role of wife, albeit without the benefit of legal marriage.
By 1904 Caruso is making the majority of his income from recordings, enough to build Ada a fine house to raise their two sons. Meanwhile, Rina pursues her own singing career and by 1909 has spent ten years on the stage in Naples. But her heart belongs to Caruso (Rico). After Caruso breaks with Ada, Rina lives at his estate and raises his sons, thinking her chance has finally arrived. But he continues his schedule as before, spending only summers at home. True to form, refusing the reality that surrounds her, Rina lives in a world where she is Rico's beloved, anticipating marriage.
Rina is disabused of her fantasy when Caruso marries an American, returning home to Italy with his bride. So begins Part II of the novel ("An American Fairy Tale") in New York in 1917. Dorothy is a simple woman with few pretensions, surprised that such a man has chosen her for a lifetime companion. Through Dorothy's eyes, there is more of a sense of the man and the force of his personality on those around him. Their marriage is happy, if short, as Caruso falls seriously ill. After only three years of marriage, their life together is over. But it is Doro's story that most humanizes the man and sheds some light on his astonishing charisma.
The prose is flowery and detailed, yet oddly flat, lacking in passion, especially the grand passion one would expect from opera. I read about these characters but am not invested in what happens to them, such statements as: "The photograph in my hand was a poor facsimile of the woman I remembered", or "Then it was another summer again when sopranos and tenors must give way to the chorus of insects."
While the first half of the novel is flat, the second is far more interesting, the momentum of the plot carrying the novel to its natural conclusion, Caruso's personal relationship with his wife, his pursuit of her and their mutual attraction, although she is considerably younger, only twenty-eight when he dies. A man of copious tastes, Caruso freely plucks the willing women who attend his every need, larger than life, no doubt requiring far more from a relationship than a mortal man. Luan Gaines/2005.
More Soap Opera Then Opera.......2005-04-02
This novel is a fictionalized version of the love life of Enrico Caruso. It is a tale of three women - the two Giachetti sisters, Ada and Rina, and Caruso's wife Dorothy. The first half of the novel takes place in Italy and is told from the view point of Rina Giachetti whose older and married sister Ada carries on a tempestuous affair with Caruso for over a decade, bearing him two sons. Rina, the younger sister suffers unrequited love for Caruso all of her life. He manipulates and uses her love. Ada ultimately leaves Caruso for another man and he uses Rina to care for his two sons who Ada has abandoned for her lover. He leads Rina to believe he cares for her, but ultimately casts her aside when he marries Dorothy. The first half of the book portrays Caruso as manipulative, controlling, narcissistic and self-involved. The second half of the novel is told from the point of view of Dorothy, a shy and insecure young woman whom he meets in New York. Theirs seems a true and deep love unfortunately cut off after a mere three years of marriage by Caruso's premature death.
As an opera lover I was attracted to the story, but was ultimately disappointed. There is barely anything about opera in the novel other than naming an opera here and there in which Caruso appears. None of the passion and magic of this ecstatic art form was conveyed which makes me wonder how much the author really knows about opera. She never conveys what Caruso finds in opera and what draws audiences to it. Unfortunately the author's writing is terribly pedestrian and is peppered with ghastly similes and metaphors like these, " in the heavens the dying stars were moving ones, quickly burning out in a trail of incandescent dust, like moths immolated in their own light" or "the dusk was a poet coating the texture of things with layers of beautiful obscurity". Referring to a grandfather clock she writes, "it's sound was muffled compared to the tom-tom of my heart". The skyscrapers of New York look more like 'skewers than scrapers'. A jumble of voices is 'a mush of different languages'. You get the point. Literary writing is not the author's strong point. However, if you are looking for an operatic romance novel that is mildly entertaining this book is for you.
The Great Caruso and the Three Women Who Idolized Him.......2005-01-20
Author Mary di Michele treats the love life of tenor Enrico Caruso as a grand Verdi-esque opera full of epic gestures and over-the-top passion. It's not a bad approach considering how colorful a character the world-renowned singer apparently was. At times, her fictionalized biography feels more like a Harlequin romance one could easily call "A Love Song for Three Women". The novel's first narrator is Rina Giachetti, the seventeen-year-old girl who falls for the young tenor, who then loses him to her older sister Ada. It is with the help of singing lessons from Ada that Caruso wins the leading role of Rodolfo in Puccini's then-new opera "La Bohème". In spite of being a promising soprano herself, Ada goes on to bear Caruso's sons, but it is Rina who goes through self-sacrifice to help raise them. Caruso loves the Giachetti sisters, who come across as passionate and lustful characters in a Vittorio de Sica film. Because he doesn't trust the sisters, Caruso marries the dedicated and dowdy Dorothy Park Benjamin, the American whose loyalty endures beyond death.
Caruso's early demise is graphically portrayed in the book as if it was the final act in the opera where one ends up feeling sorry more for the three women who loved him. But di Michele does a good job of making Caruso come alive as larger-than-life whose destiny is to sing but whose foibles, sexual and otherwise, make him utterly human. At the end of the book, I still don't get a clear sense of what made Caruso so special as a performer despite di Michele's best efforts to capture his musical genius. But through the author's poetic writing style, what I do get is a strong sense of his personal charisma and the passions that seem to drive him to succeed. If you are looking for a good use of an opera singer in a dramatic setting, I would recommend Ann Patchett's "Bel Canto" before reading this book.
Average customer rating:
- Fast-paced, tense.
- Fun book, ending was a bit anti-climatic.
- The Year that no one forgets...
- Engrossing Tales With So-So Ending
- Best Abnett novel yet.....
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Riders of the Dead (Warhammer Novels)
Dan Abnett
Manufacturer: Games Workshop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dark Fantasy | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Series | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 184416019X |
Customer Reviews:
Fast-paced, tense........2007-03-09
Abnett has a knack for literary warfare. He has done a splendid job emersing the reader in a world of dark fantasy here. The characters and their histories are beautifully fleshed out. Perhaps the best thing to note in this book is the gradual, painstakingly well-crafted way that a protagonist makes his way down the path of darkness. From a hero to a villian, the transition is so well honed that you'll be awestruck.
My only complaint is that, after spending hundreds of pages building these characters up and detailing them flawlessly, the final battle between our protagonists lasts nearly half a page, and feels somewhat unsatisfying. You've followed a main character for a long time, soaking up his mannerisms and ways, only to have him cut down quickly and efficiently, with little time spent on his own thoughts as it happens. Perhaps Abnett did this on purpose, but it left me feeling a little flat.
Despite that, this is an excellent piece of fantasy, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in brutal action and warfare.
Fun book, ending was a bit anti-climatic........2006-06-02
This was a fun fantasy warfare book from Mr. Abnett which tracks the divergent lives of 2 cousins after a military defeat in which they are separated, and the sequence of events which was obviously going to bring them into conflict.
I think either of the subject's stories would have been a good standalone novel's basis, as the inevitable confrontation between the two seemed like a lot of effort to get nowhere. The scenery and background/settings were very well written, along with the individual threads of the 2 stories.
I prefer Mr. Abnett's eisenhorn trilogy to this.
The Year that no one forgets..........2006-02-12
... or actually the book that no one forgets.
The book was about two demilancers of the Empire who went to war and got separeted.
It was the 2521 and a full scale war was goin' on. One of the empire armies march north and face the northern tribes.
The northern tribes were more and outnumbered then and most of them fell.
Some were made captives to their own sports and others fled south.
And this is how our story begins.
Dan Abnett made a story about two different friends, if you can call it. One is a noble (anti-hero) and other is a educated person (Hero). In the book they go to drastic changes.
This book is about the main characters but we can see other aspects. Dan Abnett portraits exclently the Viewpoint of Empire, of the Kislevian's (who are the empire allies but seen as under-developed people), and the Northers (Norsca) Who are the antognists of the empire.
In the end I personally admire each and every other realm.
The norcsa who aren't that all chaos and mayhem, the kisvelians who live in the stepps and aren't that under-develped but rather code and faith followers.
I like the all book. If there is a part where I don't feel so excited its the end. I guess it was rather precipated. But the end after the last battle was tottaly unpredictable. (It remind me of Dan Abnett's Double Eagle)
If you want to start reading Warhammer you can start anywhere since they are all great books.
But Abnett's book are just marvelous. I would recomend this one to people who love a book about war and character development.
(I am not a native english person but portuguese)
Engrossing Tales With So-So Ending.......2005-09-10
Dan Abnett is easily one of the best writers in the Black Library stable, and shows his talents in the fantasy, sci-fi, and comic realms, though arguably he's best know for his work in the Warhammer 40K universe.
Like the twin tails of the Sigmarite comet, this offering provides parallel tales of transformation. The main, and supporting, characters have realistic, complex motivations, and do an excellent job of drawing the reader into the work
Fans will find references to all the history and units that make the Warhammer Fantasy Battle world so popular, and though I'm not an expert of that history, there didn't seem to be any contradictions to canon.
The end of the tale, when our two protagonists finally come back together, is something of a disappointment. It feels rushed and is over almost before you realize that it's supposed to be the climax.
All in all, a good read except for the finale.
Best Abnett novel yet............2004-03-20
This is a very good read. If you ar into battle scenes, Abnett is your man. No one is better than Abnett at descibing the blurr,blood, and chaos that is medevil combat. But it not just the battles that make this book great, its cultures add a huge amount of flavor and substance to it also. Would be a 5 star classic if not for the sudden ending. Abnett likely had a page count given to him to stay under by the publisher.
Average customer rating:
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Academy of the Dead, A Matt Rider Story
Christopher Wright
Manufacturer: Hard Shell Word Factory
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0759942366 |
Book Description
Matt Rider is made an offer that seems too good to miss. Go to Prague, find some priceless music manuscripts - and share in a fortune. Unfortunately, even for a confident backstreet PI, the clues are rather thin on the ground. All Matt knows is that a young Jewish girl called Hana Eisler had the manuscripts in Prague in 1942. Using old records from the Helios Music Academy in England, Matt tracks Hana's movements to a Nazi concentration camp in the Czech Republic. And there the trail seems to end. The American violin teacher at the Helios Academy claims to know something about Hana's family. And so does the Academy dean. Matt decides to contact Hana in a séance. Taking place in England and the Czech Republic, Academy of the Dead is an exciting hunt for lost treasure and a missing child. There are big stakes to play for - and maybe not everyone can be trusted. Academy of the Dead is the third Matt Rider detective thriller.
Average customer rating:
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Dead Aim (Long Rider No. 24)
Clay Dawson
Manufacturer: Diamond Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Westerns | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1557739196 |
Average customer rating:
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Dead Riders
Elliott Odonnell
Manufacturer: RIDER & COMPANY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q0XTF2 |
Average customer rating:
- Entralling and mentally engaging
- A gifted and promising writer.
- Technological Dark Fantasy, not SF
- Never has a plot been more poorly developed
- Interesting ideas and style
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Crescent City Rhapsody
Kathleen Ann Goonan
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Goonan, Kathleen Ann
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General
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The Bones of Time
ASIN: 038080350X
Release Date: 2001-07-03 |
Amazon.com
What would it feel like to live through a biological revolution? Many science fiction writers chronicling a vast technological shift lose sight of the people who would have to deal with it. Not so Kathleen Ann Goonan, whose Crescent City Rhapsody is the third of her Nanotech Cycle novels. Each of her characters is profoundly real, and the things that happen to them are as confusing, awe-inspiring, and terrifying as you might expect.
Goonan's story begins with the assassination of Marie Laveau, New Orleans cyber-entrepreneur and grand-niece of the famous voudoun queen. By prior arrangement, Marie is resurrected into a cloned body and prepares for revenge, but she awakens into a world beset by the Silence--periodic bursts of microchip-destroying radiation from space. Enter Dr. Zeb Aberly, a bipolar astrophysicist whose manic episodes help him understand that the Silence contains an alien message and perhaps the potential to change humanity's biology radically. Meanwhile, in Japan, a young biotechnician seals her fate when she helps steal the recipe for a Universal Assembler, a nanotech tool of fearsome power and destructive capability. The stage is set for a revolution, and Goonan delivers, with complex, interwoven story lines that resemble the rhythms and structure of a jazz composition.
Brightly colored lines were inching their way up buildings like plants in a fast-growing jungle. She moved briskly, but her heart was lifeless. She was looking at her past and seeing a future that she was not a part of.
People sat leaning against buildings here and there, which was the hardest to see. They were not begging. Their brains were changing.
They were adapting to the new city.
As cities become organisms, a new generation of profoundly different humans comes of age and hope dawns in Crescent City, and Goonan directs the show with artistic flair. Crescent City Rhapsody is confusing and delightful, a swoony harmony of words swirling around crisply melodic ideas. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
This is how it begins......
with the Silence, born of mysterious, space-originated phenomena that render Earth's dominant technologies useless -- inspiring paranoia and alien invasion fears within secret government agencies, which, in turn, inspire repressive actions against a perceived enemy populace....
and with murder, as New Orleans mob boss and voudoun queen, Marie Laveau, dies in a hail of gunfire -- and is remade through the wonders of nanotechnology.In a new world that necessity has transfigured -- an exhilarating, seething stew of microscopic machinery and genetic engineering; of totalinarianism, eco-terrorism and violence -- Marie Laveau's hunger for vengance is giving way to something greater.For Destiny has named her savior of the outcasts, the opressed, the crazies, the hunted and the Silence's mutant children, who all flock to her dream of a future as sweet as an Ellington riff...and a safe haven called Crescent City.
Customer Reviews:
Entralling and mentally engaging.......2006-12-03
I'm mystified that people thought this book was too long, not based in reality enough (hello?? science FICTION, anyone??) to be plausible.
Personally I felt that it paced well, engaged my mind and provided both characters and story that were not only sympathetic and interesting but at the same time compelling.
Is Ms. Goonan's vision of the future realistic enough? Is it based on too many wild assumptions and implausibilities? I don't know. What I do know is that it raised interesting philosophical issues around mankind's rampant charge into unknown technologies and the possibility of not only technological disaster, but of the social and policitical ramifications of such events.
If you're looking for a primer to science, this is likely not it. If you're looking for an interesting human story in a plot based on scientific possibility, this might be for you.
One caveat to this review is that I didn't realize it was the third in a series of four books, so I've started with this book--I don't bring any baggage or pre-knowledge to the book from the other books in this series.
Its highly likely that I'll go back and read the rest of the series.
A gifted and promising writer........2006-05-03
Crescent City Rhapsody envisions a world transformed by nanotechnology and art. This intriguing novel explores many of the sins of the moderns age--child prostitutes in Asia, clandestine government operations, sexism, agism and the legacy of slavery.
The various protagonists of the story suffer in various degrees from some aspect of modern culture. Their talents allow them to contribute to the changes brought about by the breakdown of old technology caused by interference from extraterrestrials. The new technology transforms both cities and individuals.
This was an enjoyable read. The first half of the book was more compelling as our heroes struggled with the breakdown of culture and the resulting change. The second half as things were starting to come together was not as interesting but I definitely wanted to know what happened at the end.
Technological Dark Fantasy, not SF.......2005-06-16
For those who are looking for a good tale of hard SF, I would advise you look elsewhere. Much of the science in this book is, at best, half-baked. Pivotal points in the plotline which involve nanotechnology run amok (the old and busted gray goo scenario) are simply glossed over. The technologically informed reader who decides to pick up this book is left with two choices: suspend any and all disbelief, or stop reading.
A good SF book involves making the fantastic plausible. Authors usually make one fantastic assumption (i.e. time travel is possible) and extrapolate what might happen after that. This particular author made multiple assumptions (any single one would have made a good SF book) and tried to brew up a single great story. For this reader, she failed.
For those who do not consider themselves fans of hard SF, there are still problems with this book. The plot is badly fractured, and has absolutely NO resolution. Every character is in some way damaged goods, and the author dwells upon this for the entire book. In the end I felt no compassion for any of the main characters, who seemed to wallow in self-pity.
Are there any positives to this book? Yes. The author seems to be skilled in describing environments. That is the only reason I gave this book two stars.
Never has a plot been more poorly developed.......2004-05-17
OK, where to begin? The ONLY reason this tale merits more than one star is the tremendous idea on which the book is based and the arrangement of material into symphonic movements. The tale: An alien energy pulse (EMP) knocks out sophisticated electronic systems, all governments go bonkers and a woman in New Orleans has a plan to save the world. What follows is an unmitigated disaster on almost every element - characterization, plotting, authenticity, social comment, science...you name it.
There is enough here for three books: Voodoo, globetrotting, New Age nonsense, dire environmental warnings, unconvincing characters, nanotechnology, biotechnology (two fields the author continually crossbreeds) and space travel. And that doesn't include the UN military force (a la black helicopter) or the socio-economic comments that sound like Daffy Duck attempting Mandarin.
The sheer number of stories prevent any of them from standing out. The evil government forces are never seen, heard from nor given a chance to explain their actions. Marie (our erstwhile heroine) is attempting to set up a new type of human society, Crescent City, somewhere in the Gulf that will operate "without a government" according to bio/nano technology - as if these fields contained moral truths for humanity. The author seems clueless about the real world and of course the action is totally illogical and improbable.
Let's see: A Tibetan learns the secret of the messages, cities secede from the United States, the future revolves around nanotechnology, jazz, New Age tripe and a "mixture of socialism and capitalism." My pet peeve (and not just here despite the breakdown of society, the return of barter and barbarism, and the presence of conflicts, science and scientific advances continue unabated. That is NOT the way the world works. THis is just so pathetic. We start a slow slide reaching the nadir on the last page. Not Recommended unless trapped in an elevator.
Interesting ideas and style.......2004-04-07
I love the meticulous way in which Goonan describes her world. I also love the way she cuts back and forth between characters, showing how the "Silence" affects different people in different situations. This requires the reader to do more thinking and analyzing, and perhaps this turned some other readers off.
It is true that the speculative science is not all explained in detail, but there is a strong implication that this will be resolved in later books (or earlier? This is my first Goonan book). The parts that are explained are those that the characters understand, which is eminently reasonable.
(possible spoiler)
The one problem I had with the book was the extreme reaction of the U.S. government at the beginning of the "Silence," but this is actually explained towards the end of the book. I haven't decided if I like this part or not, but at least it was explained.
Book Description
Concentrating on the post-Vatican II revisions of its teachings, this book tells the story of the destruction of the Roman Catholic tradition, a defining event of the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
RELIGION UNDERMINED.......2007-09-21
This book recounts in detail and with amazing penetration the incredible history of the undermining of a spiritual and religious patrimony of two thousand years.
Everyone interested in knowing, in depth, the tragic consequences this auto-destruction of the Catholic religion -- by the ones entrusted to defend it -- have wrought upon Western society should read this crucial book.
Mateus Soares de Azevedo
a great traditionalists view.......2007-03-10
Rama Coomaraswamy, like his father Ananda, possesses a great mind for culling resources and framing them in a perspective of logical and convincing persuasion. Here, he demonstrates how the post conciliar church is actually the continuation of the modernistic views propagated by Pope John the 23, reaching fruition in Vatican 2, effectively muting the voice of tradition while propagating the errors of modernism. A good read, despite redundant passages at times.
A Straight Forward Book That Won't Bore You Away.......2007-03-09
Fr. Rama Coomraswamy, M.D., was a Roman Catholic priest ordained to the priesthood by Fr. Malachi Martin, who was a Jesuit bishop and cardinal consecrated a bishop under the orders of Pope Pius XII to help the underground Catholic Church that was and still is being persecuted by the communists. Fr. Rama Coomraswamy was born to a famous pagan father, Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy, who specialized in the scholarly studies of Indian culture and Hinduism. Fr. Rama Coomraswamy's most brilliant talents include being Mother Teresa's personal physician, brain surgeon, psychologist, psychiatrist, seminary professor, university professor, and a priest.
His book explains the aggiornamento of the Conciliar Church and how it changed it the [Catholic] Church with a new ecclesiology, i.e., the nature of the Church being "updated" with times. Fr. Coomaraswamy explains that most of the 7 sacraments have gone invalid. The New Rite of Episcopal Consecration for Bishops and Ordinations for Priests are doubtfully valid due to defect in form and intention. The New Rite of Holy Orders as stated by Fr. Coomaraswamy were changed by Archbishop Annibale Bugnini and the 6 Protestant ministers who composed the Novus Ordo Missae for Pope Paul VI.
This book will inform you about the teachings and the nature of the Catholic Church as it was and has been until now.
I am not a sedevacantist and I don't agree with sedevacantism. Nevertheless, he does state that sedevacantism is only an opinion and does not constitute heresy or schism. If you don't want to be a sedevacantist, I suggest that you take great caution. The articles that he wrote on this book are available on his website and as well on Google. Check them out while ommitting the article on his support of sedevacantism.
Has the Papacy Deserted the Catholic Church?.......2006-03-04
When Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ appeared, many people heard about "traditional Catholics" for the first time, since Gibson described himself as a true Catholic who didn't believe that the (then) Pope was genuine. Anybody who wants to know the difference between traditional and "Vatican" Catholics needs to read this book. A person who believes that religion is a matter of feeling not principle, and that religions are invented by human beings, not sent by God, will probably neither accept nor understand the argument of this book. But anyone who knows that true religions are revealed by God will discover just how far the present "Novus Ordo" Catholic Church has departed from what the Catholic Church has always been, from the day of its founding up to the early 1960's. Despite repeated denials by the Church hierarchy, the fact is that many basic theological principles have been radically altered, and the forms and intent of the sacraments - especially Eucharist and the Holy Orders, as well as the form for consecrating bishops - have been changed so much that, according to the author, anyone who knows what the Church's teaching and practice have been for two thousand years will be forced to conclude that their validity is now seriously in doubt. If Catholicism were a human creation, this would not be such a scandal: what human beings have created they are free to re-create. But if the Catholic Church was actually founded by God - and no-one who does not believe this can call him- or herself a Catholic - then a violation of the principles on which it is based, and the forms that express the principles, can only be compared to the violation of a natural law. We may be "free" to jump off a cliff, but this freedom in no way repeals the law of gravity. If a child is adopted rather than begotten in only one generation of a family tree, the whole original genetic heritage is lost. Likewise, if Bishops are not really bishops, and the priests they ordain therefore not really priests, then the "apostolic succession" springing directly from Jesus Christ and the apostles has been broken, and what we think of as the Catholic Church is no longer what it was. It has the buildings, the lands, the art objects, but it no longer possesses the true Magisterium, which is being kept in existence only by a compara-
tively small and half-underground (though quite widespread)
remnant. If what Rama Coomaraswamy says has happened to the Catholic Church has in fact happened - and his arguments are devastatingly convincing - then Christ is no more in the Vatican than he was in the tomb after His resurrection. As the angel said to the disciples who came to seek Him there on Easter morning, "Who are you looking for? He is not here."
~~ Charles Upton
An eye-opener but not without faults.......2006-02-01
Rama P. Coomaraswamy's "The Destruction of the Christian Tradition" contains an in-depth account of the post-Vatican II gutting of almost all that had been spiritually effective and metaphysically sound in the Roman Catholic Church. This is the story of an unbelievable suicide (perhaps assisted) of an "eternal" institution which is now infested with radical feminists, militant homosexuals and heretical "theologians".
Unfortunately, Coomaraswamy is not always quite objective or honest. He stresses the negative input of the post-conciliar popes but passes in near-silence their more traditional pronouncements. On occasion he even resorts to a mild innuendo as, for example, when he comments on Karol Wojtyla's (the future John Paul II) employment during WW2 that "all Polish chemical plants were geared to help the German war effort" (page 105.) First of all, these plants were not Polish since Poland did not then exist; second, every job in the occupied Polish territories of necessity helped the German war effort (Wojtyla did this hard physical work in order to be able to continue his underground seminary studies instead of being sent for forced labor in Germany proper.) I find comments like that petty and vindictive.
Let's hope that the upcoming new (revised and enlarged) edition of "The Destruction" will be purged of such unseemly elements.
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