Priestdaddy (2017)

published 2025-12-02 | tags: #backlog #books

I read Priestdaddy (Patricia Lockwood, 2017) because Jacob Geller, a really good games critic and essayist I follow, has suggested it at least four times in different mediums (Videos, Podcasts, Bluesky). It got to the point where I had to admit "Yeah this dude that I respect really likes this book, I guess I should read it." So I did. Like Geller I think you should read this book. It is beautiful, interesting, informational, and heartwarming.

Priestdaddy is so good. It's an autobiography written by a poet so even throw-away lines describing a van are the most vivid descriptions I've ever encountered. Every word is plucked from the aether and perfectly fit with the ones before and after creating a beautiful mosaic beautiful in the small and in the large, like a fractal. As you can probably tell it also inspired me to like... try writing more interesting pros.

It also taught me a lot about Catholicism. Not in the way a documentary teaches you about something, but in the way your childhood friend does; in bouts of lore dump and then long periods of subtle hints and vibes. For example Lockwood will explicitly tell you the structure of the church hierarchy, who reports to who and how they get there, but then spend the latter half of a chapter alluding but never going out and saying that a priest is a predator. It feels like I am conversational in a language but only have ~100 words in my vocabulary; I have the accent and the vibe and the important details but am immediately out of my depth five sentences in.

I should point out this book is not pro-catholic. I wouldn't say it's quite anti-catholic either, but it certainly wants to paint a complete picture of the church and like... a complete picture of the modern catholic churn doesn't exactly look good.