bgainor@bookwyrm.social reviewed Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (Vintage Books)
Mixed bag
3 stars
This book has a lot of lovely descriptions of the landscape of New Mexico, some very interesting characterizations, and a lot of nice turns of phrase. But as @gwenprime@bookwyrm.social noted, it's very much a book of its time. In particular, the fact that Kit Carson is featured as a (mostly) sympathetic character feels very inappropriate from a modern perspective. I believe that in the 1920s, its sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans and the Long Walk of the Navajo was pretty progressive, but a lot of it now seems rather paternalistic. Worth reading as long as you can keep all that in mind.
This book has a lot of lovely descriptions of the landscape of New Mexico, some very interesting characterizations, and a lot of nice turns of phrase. But as @gwenprime@bookwyrm.social noted, it's very much a book of its time. In particular, the fact that Kit Carson is featured as a (mostly) sympathetic character feels very inappropriate from a modern perspective. I believe that in the 1920s, its sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans and the Long Walk of the Navajo was pretty progressive, but a lot of it now seems rather paternalistic. Worth reading as long as you can keep all that in mind.