The Innocence of Father Brown (Father Brown, #1) in Never too Late to Read Classics

Jun 25, 2023 Josh Caporale rated it liked it

The Innocence of Father Brown is a collection of short stories featuring the title character, who is a priest that solves mysteries. In most cases, the mystery involves a murder. In addition to Father Brown, you also have Flambeau, who starts out a criminal before becoming Father Brown's right-hand man, though you can argue that Flambeau ends up doing most of the detective work. The Innocence of Father Brown has been viewed as inspiration for future detectives, such as Agatha Christie's Hercule The Innocence of Father Brown is a collection of short stories featuring the title character, who is a priest that solves mysteries. In most cases, the mystery involves a murder. In addition to Father Brown, you also have Flambeau, who starts out a criminal before becoming Father Brown's right-hand man, though you can argue that Flambeau ends up doing most of the detective work. The Innocence of Father Brown has been viewed as inspiration for future detectives, such as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, as well as Ellery Queen. These books are driven by the mystery, though, where as Father Brown's stories are driven by its messages, namely the use of allegory and theology that Chesterton is trying to share through his use of the mystery genre. Chesterton is known most for his philosophies and essays pertaining to Christian Orthodoxy, which later was simply a conversion into Catholicism.

My copy of The Innocence of Father Brown was 102 pages of 12 short stories, each less than 10 pages, but this is by no means light reading. The content is very dense and will take time to properly get through. Where these stories succeed are with its use of allegory and incorporation of theology. I was especially amazed with the literal and figurative incorporations in "The Eye of Apollo." Where these stories lacked were in the characters and story. The characters were very one-dimensional and I felt that Father Brown could have been more prominent throughout the stories. Flambeau was also very inconsistent, particular in this storyline and lacking a bridge between being a criminal to being on the good side. These are not stories where you can play along as detective, for they are very heavy and you have characters being thrown at you, but not enough time to sort out their situations.

The Innocence of Father Brown is interesting enough to look into and rich enough to think about. Perhaps it is even worth rereading. If you are looking for a mystery where you are primarily thinking about the story, playing the detective, or simply something cozy, this is not for you. This would be like looking for comfort food and settling for Cottage cheese with nothing in it. ...more

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Apr 12, 2021 Christine PNW rated it liked it · review of another edition

I have read a lot of classic mystery, but hadn't read any of Chesterton's Father Brown compilations. To be honest, I just wasn't all that interested in them - I read one story in a BLCC anthology and found it underwhelming. So, when this popped up as a monthly group read for a group that I help moderate, I knew that I would have to read it and I was prepared to struggle. Maybe that was helpful because it kept my expectations low. So, surprisingly, I quite enjoyed this collection of stories.

But I ...more

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Aug 16, 2020 Ana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Contos pequenos em que vemos pelo ponto de vista de terceiro como um padre de ar completamente inocente e algo ingénuo resolve os casos inesperadamente e surpreende as outras personagens, uma recorrente. Pequenos e que entretêm, não tem muito a ver com a série, até porque nunca é passado na aldeia dele.

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