Customer Reviews

Father Brown: The Essential Tales (Modern Library Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This relatively new compilation, taken from the first two collections of Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries, is a perfect introduction to these tales. The lead story, "The Blue Cross," is rightly regarded as a classic. Contrary to the assertions of other reviewers, these stories have withstood the test of time and are more popular than ever. What others call "moralizing" are merely Chesterton's insights into human nature, which reflect the once taken-for-granted belief that we are fallen creatures capable of great evil -- and great good. Each of these tales should take no more than an hour to read and indeed make excellent read-aloud stories for older children. Buy this book and discover what you've been missing.

Father Brown: The Essential Tales is a wonderful collection of stories; each one is original, beautifully written, and rich with insight into human nature.

Father Brown is an unassuming country priest, generally underestimated because of his odd appearance and quiet, pleasant manners. At the scene of a crime he often wanders in the background, out of people's notice; he watches for reactions, slips, little details that hardly seem important but are actually crucial. He observes people's characters and gently penetrates through lies, half-truths, dissembling and disguises. His years of listening to people's confessions have given him a lot of experience with varying human desires, impulses and motives.

The crimes themselves are absorbing and often multi-layered; the characters are also sharply drawn and often given unexpected depths or surprising facets and traits. The insights into human nature are also not conventional or obvious - Chesterton doesn't stop at basic greed or rage, leaving those as the relatively simple explanations. He explores different elements of human behavior, the psychology and circumstances that underlie certain thoughts, complexes, and feelings.

I also have to add that the writing is beautiful. There are so many instances of wonderful imagery, of metaphors that make the most ordinary objects vibrant and laden with meaning. It's the kind of writing that can be savored; it's delicious. The substance of the stories and the beauty of the writing engage the mind, the heart, the moral imagination and the senses.

Be aware that G. K. Chesterton penned these stories a century ago and the prose reflects it. Father Brown's powers of deduction put him in a class with Sherlock Holmes, and like the Holmes mysteries, the tales are dated and at times difficult to follow. I sometimes have to refer to the dictionary for the definition of word no longer in common use. Nevertheless, the stories are entertaining and Father Brown's powers of deduction put him up there with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

I've heard of the Father Brown stories for years and decided to get a copy of selections when I saw a new edition. The stories seem very dated and contrived to me. Interesting for historical reasons only.

In the twenties, British author Gilbert Keith Chesterton. created the Father Brown stories. A Man of the Church of Rome (Catholic), he became Chesterton's immortal detective. Listening to confessions came in handy in his sleuthing. The many and varied stories were about every conceivable subject under the sun; with religious overtones. In THE INCREDULITY OF FATHER BROWN, "The Resurrection of Father Brown (like Jesus?) leads off and contains "The Arrow of Heaven" all the way to "The Ghost of Gideon Wise." In this volume, you can find "The Blue Cross" and many others of that genre.

In thirty-five years, he wrote one hundred books about politics, philosophy, history, etc. as a form of social criticism. That was quite popular during this time. He declares that the most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen at all. In his MISCELLANY OF MAN, he informs us that appearances are deceiving; all men have their individual frailties. Men -- who needs them? You find one you think you can trust and he turns out to be an old miser with his affections; and yet he shares your messages with all his "friends" -- nothing was private with him.

Father Brown was such a man; in all these fateful mysteries and supernatural tales, he was truly incredible as he came up with solutions. As a man of God, he was considered eccentric. Some of the other volumes included 'The Innocence of Father Brown,' 'The Wisdom of Father Brown,' 'The Secrets of Father Brown,' and "The Scandal of Father Brown.' P. D. James praises him and his creator most highly. James Agee, at another age, an American, wrote "Now Let Us Praise All Men."

If Chesterton had been a member of the Church of England, his brilliant amateur detective, Father Brown, might have been an Anglican priest, a vicar or rector, perhaps, and possibly married with children. But Chesterton was Roman Catholic, so his protagonist turned out to be an eccentric Roman Catholic priest, resident in England. I myself am an Anglican (a U.S. Episcopalian), but I have no issues with Father Brown as a character. There's nothing he says or does that offends me in any way.

The problem I have at age 55, nearly 56, is that I have a more critical eye than I did in the 1960's when I first read Father Brown, having discovered it in the library of my junior high school. I had just discovered Sherlock Holmes, which I loved. The thing is, I can re-read a Holmes story and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's writing is still readable and enjoyable. Somehow, it seems fresh and viable. For that matter, even Agatha Christie's oldest mystery novels still have liveliness. _The Mysterious Affair at Styles_, say, or _The Secret Adversary_ still entertain, even though I've read them before.

Somehow, for me, Father Brown nowadays lacks something. The style is a bit stilted, I think, and many references Chesterton makes are obscure and puzzling. His writing is nonetheless okay, but not exactly exciting. I find it interesting that Father Brown hasn't shown up in movies or on TV, as far as I know. Perhaps I missed something that was done in Great Britain at some point, but perhaps not. I find that Chesterton's murders aren't that interesting and his solutions aren't either.

We get to know little of Father Brown other than the fact that he's a bit of an eccentric fuddy duddy, or at least he strikes people that way. He's a pudgy, nondescript little man who would go unnoticed if it weren't for his clerical garb and distinctive hat. Beyond that, little is communicated about him that I recall, and in the end he seems a sort of stock character, an amateur detective of great ability and little personality who offers the novelty of being a Roman Catholic parish priest. We don't even know much of his life as a priest. He doesn't seem to be associated with a particular parish.

He's not nearly as interesting or entertaining as Horace Rumpole or Jane Marple, both of whom show up in short stories as does Father Brown. The dialog isn't even particularly entertaining with Chesterton's sleuth -- and with Rumpole or Marple, the dialogue is a great part of the fun.

I've read worse things, but I've also read better, even in the genre of what the Brits call detective fiction. In the end, I have to interpret this as Chesterton's way of moralizing with not all that much charm.

If you have a layover at an airport or a train station with time to kill, reading these stories will help pass the time. But there are other mystery stories I'd rather read for a good many reasons. Father Brown is just too ho-hum for me to lavish praise here.