In honor of the new Pope's election, my roommate named his T.V. Francis and I finally picked up Nikos Kazantzakis's novel Saint Francis, which has been on my shelf for two years.
This book is told in the first person by Brother Leo, the title character's companion. The narrator, many of the other characters, and many of the events are true to history. Unfortunately, while Francis of Assisi is a compelling figure from history, the character in this book didn't work for me. His transformation is too quick and inexplicable and he then spends the entire book torturing himself.
After having done nothing worse than eat good food, play music for the ladies, and desire military glory, Francis turns into a hard core ascetic and begins collecting a number of followers, whose undying loyalty to Francis seems under-motivated. At first he rebuilds a church and shows compassion to lepers, but thereafter he never does anything to help anyone. He just starves, freezes, exhausts, and flagellates himself, ultimately leading to his death, which I must rule a suicide.
Francis comes across as "so heavenly minded he's no earthly good." At one point he literally catches on fire and tells his companions not to put it out. Unfortunately, they do (leading to another 150 pages before he finally kills himself). After his inexplicable conversion, his character doesn't change. Brother Leo is also totally static, but at least comes across as a bit more human.
All of Francis's struggles are internal and seem manufactured. Though if you think God wants some people to torture themselves you may disagree. There was some tension with Brother Elias, but it never went anywhere. I got excited halfway through when the girl he was infatuated with, Clara, showed up again. But, after forcing him to look at her, she immediately joins his order and is shipped off to a convent where she can't possibly tempt him or provide any drama.
The book's message is a mess. He affirms the goodness of creation, but keeps it at arm's length. He puts handfuls of ashes in his food so he won't enjoy it too much. He praises God's goodness in giving us wine, but why? I'm sure he'd just pee in it so he wouldn't like it too much. Francis tells his friars to work for their living, but never works at all himself.
As a whole, this novel has a lot of issues. The pacing is off, the characters are all static, Francis is unrelatable and not very likeable, and the problem he wrestles with seems artificial, and the book's framework doesn't build to a natural conclusion. There are good episodes, anecdotes, parables, sayings, and such throughout. But they don't form a coherent whole.
If you're looking for a novel about the inner struggles of a well-known Christian figure, I'd suggest The Last Temptation of Christ by the same author. There is external opposition to the main character, who undergoes legitimate change, and has a strong conclusion that it builds to. None of that happens here. 2/5 and not recommended.