As a mystery/thriller, I enjoyed “the abomination”…once I (sort) of got past what the title refers to. The idea that a woman priest, or even a woman dressed as a priest was referred to as an “abomination” – just really bothers me. That is a word that should be used to describe the worst acts imaginable. The most inhumane, terrifying, cruel, destructive things ever. It seems very wrong that a woman giving her life to God and to helping others gets put in the same category.

“And if a bishop decides to ordain a woman, then as soon as that woman has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders she is a priest, in the eyes of God. A heretic one, perhaps; even an abomination.”

And yet – once the book moves further into the questions surrounding the death of a woman dressed as a priest – I couldn’t help but be drawn in. The main female characters are interesting and pretty well drawn. I wouldn’t say there is anything fantastically original about them – but their strength and determination to find those responsible for that crime (and numerous other ones against other women) went a long way towards making up for the sexist and misogynistic themes. And when the book introduces a new angle – and adds another layer to the story - part of the bigger picture is revealed. The greater mystery of which this crime, this conspiracy is just a small part. (Which one would assume will be further explored in the next books of this trilogy.”

The book ends on a strong note. One of the central characters, Kat Tapo of the Carabinieri) sums up her frustration with the system. With the treatment and experiences of women throughout time. “She said slowly, “It’s not you, Aldo. It’s the system – the way it assumes that it’s me, rather than you, who’s got to be shunted off sideways.”…..”and my own grandmother, who fought alongside male partisans in the war but was made to go back afterwards to baking cakes and having babies. It’s the women who aren’t allowed to be priests, because the Church looks at a two-thousand-year-old tradition of misogyny and calls it Holy Law. “

The treatment of women, not the clothing they wear nor their quest for dignity and respect, is the abomination.

I quite enjoyed this, and was surprised at the military turn of events when I had presumed that it would be a religious one. At first this had a slight similarity to the da vinci code about it, with the disagreement surrounding female priests. As the novel progressed however, it started to remind me of Larsson's Millennium Trilogy due to the use of the media in uncovering a crime.

I tried. The story is all over the place. A murdered woman dressed as a priest, an American soldier looking into possible collusion between the US and a Croatian war criminal, a computer nerd who runs a vertical reality Venice site all combine to make a disjointed, boring book. I dnf'd it half way through.

Yorum: https://www.zimlicious.com/yuz-karasi-carnivia-jonathan-holt/?utm_source=GRYUZKARASI

It was okay but I the plot was to slow and there were too many plot lines also the cover was boring and dull. The characters development was okay but it could be done better.