pov: you're depressed, you have no purpose, you're worried god is planning to give you one.

overral, this should've been a little bolder, a bit rougher around the edges to be classified as a thriller, imo. the potential is there, the yaoi foundation certainly is, but the writing and its ending product make a rather conventional frame for the argument they pose. it makes one wonder if the limited third-person narration was the most adequate choice here. except for the protagonist —a anxious bisexual corpse who doesn't quite match Ralph Fiennes' confidence— the book often fails to explore the characters beyond what we see in the adaptation. in fact, the third act is much better in the movie, the medium to provide the narrative its strongest symbols: light and turtles. especially in terms of form, the film's crew and cast do more for the story than its author. the setting, always the first element to benefit from a translation to the big screen, here actually requires the visual format for readers like me who aren't familiar with the vatican and its artworks. i also wasn't exactly convinced by any of the ending's versions: despite loving the new pope,

i find it hard to believe those old men could've been persuaded in the course of only three days to vote for a third-world outsider

. on the other hand, there are two cardinals and one nun to ship book Lawrence with, and i, too, would have cast my vote for him in every ballot. i should make my way to ao3 now.