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Title: Rome (Pocket Classics) by Emile Zola, Ernest Alfred Vizetelly ISBN: 0-7509-0451-8 Publisher: Sutton Publishing Pub. Date: September, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3 (2 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: Messy and cumbersome
Comment: The French priest Pierre Froment, hero of Zola's novel "Lourdes", arrives in Rome seeking an audience with the Pope. The reason for this is that Froment's book "New Rome" has been placed on the Papal Index, and Froment wants the Pope to intercede in order to get the book removed from the Index.

Froment is frustrated by the inertia of the conservative Papal bureaucracy and with the ins and outs of Italian and Church politics. At times, the novel felt like a work by Kafka (a pre-echo of Kafka, you might say) in that Froment is lost amid a seemingly meaningless and endless process: the Church absorbs his efforts.

What really made me struggle with the novel though was Zola's lack of focus - had he concentrated on Froment's experiences,it would have been a better novel, but he meandered for very long stretches: his descriptions of Rome become travelogues, the main plot just disappears. There are other long rambling passages too, for example on Church history, which although not irrelevant to the context of the story, go on far too long, and there is a pot-boiler of a sub-plot about two "star-crossed lovers".

In all, a disappointment compared to "Lourdes".

Rating: 4
Summary: A wonderful glimpse of Rome and the Vatican of 100 years ago
Comment: Rome is the second book of a trilogy that started with Lourdes and concludes with Paris. Often called the Three Cities trilogy, the books could also be called Faith, Hope, and Charity. Rome picks up the story of a disillusioned priest as he goes to Rome to defend his book which is to be placed on the Index of Prohibited Books. The story explores his hope for a new Christianity that will meet the needs of modern society and his confrontation with a religious organization unable to change with the times. Zola's critical description of Papal bureaucracy will not endear this work to devout Catholics, but his description of the inner workings of the Vatican is informative and fascinating.