Rebecca's review
Father Brown Stories (Penguin Popular Classics)
by G.K. Chesterton
You win! you win! You win the 'cause the morning's first laugh' contest...thingy.
Undubious red drops: harh.
Oh those be fighting words Rebecca. Chesterton is a great favorite of mine, even if the prose is a bit florid at times. He's a theologian and poet writing in the guise of a detective story.
A detective story that glitters! Its not even a detective story really. Whats the first one, where they keep running and running through London and out into the country and wherever they go Father Brown is inching behind them, peaceful and serene? Creepy!
The whole affair is always on the verge of seeming imagined, much like his masterpiece "The Man Who Was Thursday," which I will defend with rapier and epee at dawn.
Choose your seconds!
I think, actually, that Father Brown is ahead of them--he's the one with Flambeau, throwing all of the clues out, so that the detectives can follow them.
Yes, the first three in the book--including the one you mention--and the last one are worth reading--I like how Chesterson sort of undoes the whole "famous detective" expectation. But the others, eh. I just found them so explainy and dull.
Rebecca's review
Father Brown Stories (Penguin Popular Classics) by G.K. Chesterton
Rebecca's review
rating:
The prose is god-awful; there is way too much explaining, way too many adjectives; the mysteries are--well--sort of mysterious.
And yet--I have a weakness for period detective stories, especially those containing WORLD FAMOUS DETECTIVES, and I kind of enjoy the absurdity of it all. For example:
"Over the black pinewood came flying and flashing in the moon a naked sword--such a slender and sparkling rapier as may have fought many an unjust duel in that ancient park. It fell on the pathway far in front of him and lay there glistening like a large needle...Seen at close quarters it had a rather showy look: the big red jewels in the hilt and guard were a little dubious. But there were other red drops upon the blade which were not dubious."
Many an unjust duel! A large needle! Undubious red drops!
And yet--I have a weakness for period detective stories, especially those containing WORLD FAMOUS DETECTIVES, and I kind of enjoy the absurdity of it all. For example:
"Over the black pinewood came flying and flashing in the moon a naked sword--such a slender and sparkling rapier as may have fought many an unjust duel in that ancient park. It fell on the pathway far in front of him and lay there glistening like a large needle...Seen at close quarters it had a rather showy look: the big red jewels in the hilt and guard were a little dubious. But there were other red drops upon the blade which were not dubious."
Many an unjust duel! A large needle! Undubious red drops!
You win! you win! You win the 'cause the morning's first laugh' contest...thingy. Undubious red drops: harh.
Oh those be fighting words Rebecca. Chesterton is a great favorite of mine, even if the prose is a bit florid at times. He's a theologian and poet writing in the guise of a detective story. A detective story that glitters! Its not even a detective story really. Whats the first one, where they keep running and running through London and out into the country and wherever they go Father Brown is inching behind them, peaceful and serene? Creepy!
The whole affair is always on the verge of seeming imagined, much like his masterpiece "The Man Who Was Thursday," which I will defend with rapier and epee at dawn.
Choose your seconds!
I think, actually, that Father Brown is ahead of them--he's the one with Flambeau, throwing all of the clues out, so that the detectives can follow them.Yes, the first three in the book--including the one you mention--and the last one are worth reading--I like how Chesterson sort of undoes the whole "famous detective" expectation. But the others, eh. I just found them so explainy and dull.