"Conclave" - Robert Harris

When I first saw Conclave (the movie), my initial thought was “wow, that was a really great film! There were a few parts that felt kind of sped through, I bet they go more in-depth about them in the book.” 

Reader, they did not. That doesn’t change the fact that I quite enjoyed this. 

Conclave is a 2016 novel by writer Robert Harris, set in and around a papal election. We follow Cardinal Lomeli (renamed Lawrence for the film), Dean of the College of Cardinals, as he manages, prepares, and directs the conclave to elect a new pope. Initially, the conclave has four front-runners: reluctant Bellini, bombastic Adeyemi, ambitious Tremblay, and traditionalist Tedesco. But as the election goes on, over the span of a few days, the front-runners find their positions challenged due to backroom dealing, late-game reveals, the unassuming newest Cardinal Benitez, and (despite his despair about the matter) Lomeli himself.  

Conclave is an airport book. This is not a dig, this is not an attack, this is simply a statement of fact. Some of my favorite books are airport books! For me, an airport book does not describe how good or bad a book is, just the sort of style it is: long enough to last a whole flight, usually a boilerplate thriller, something that isn’t pure fluff but doesn’t require much in-depth analysis, with a plot that’s easy to follow so when you pick it back up again after changing terminals, you’re not lost. Though Conclave sets itself above the James Pattersons of the world by actually trying to say something. The subtitle on the front of my copy read “the power of God, the ambition of man.” 

The theme of ambition runs through the book. Adeyemi, Tremblay, and Tedesco are blatant in their ambition, radiating to the entire conclave that they feel they deserve to be Pope. While initially reluctant to take up the metaphorical cross, Bellini’s ambition pushes him into the race—it can’t be any of our other front-runners, it has to be me. Even Lomeli’s ambition comes into play. Though he initially starts off hoping for a peaceful conclave, acting as a manager instead of a deals-maker, his ambition grows to the point where he’s viewed as a potential candidate, to the point where he gives into vanity by picking a possible papal name. And this is the point where I spoil a ten year old book. Because all of their ambitions come crumbling down, fruitless in the end. Because it’s new arrival Benitez, the least ambitious and least well-known of them all, who ends up taking the stage. 

Benitez is a particularly baffling character. He lingers in the background, tagging along like a little brother, popping up every now and then to offer a piece of saintly wisdom, pushing back against the wheeling and dealing, the manipulations and backroom deals of the rest of the conclave. He is the only person here untouched by the world, the living embodiment of that old Onion article: beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure. You spend the vast majority of the book unsure why he’s here, only for a late game reveal to baffle you any further. Still, though he’s awkwardly used, having an actual genuinely good character is a breath of fresh air in between all the conniving. 

All in all, I highly recommend Conclave. Despite its aggressively Catholic setting, the book goes out of its way to normalize the weird, esoteric conclave traditions, explaining things in layman’s terms. What you end up with is a fast-paced, compelling book, a political thriller that’s focused on an underused side of politics, with the balance between God and man’s ambition playing out on an international stage. Give it to your dad! Though probably not your dad who keeps dead-naming your nonbinary friend, unless you want a REALLY AWKWARD CONVERSATION once that late game reveal hits.