poachedeggs's review against another edition
4.0
I love Father Brown and the outlandish mysteries in this book.
jimmypat's review against another edition
4.0
This is the 17th book in a series I am calling “quarantine life.” With all of our public libraries closed due to the corona virus, I have turned to my own bookshelves and the unread books that await me there.
While this third collection of Father Brown stories doesn’t quite have the same colorful writing that Chesterton employed in the first book, it was still an absolute delight to read. In fact, “Oracle of the Dog” is my favorite Brown story that I have read yet. Wonderful stuff.
While this third collection of Father Brown stories doesn’t quite have the same colorful writing that Chesterton employed in the first book, it was still an absolute delight to read. In fact, “Oracle of the Dog” is my favorite Brown story that I have read yet. Wonderful stuff.
germancho's review against another edition
4.0
Es un libro detectivesco muy cuco, con soluciones muy intuitivas (en contraposicion al deductivismo de Conan Doyle) y con un sabroso discurso sobre el escepticismo y el materialismo
foreverday's review against another edition
My first encounter with Father Brown that didn't occur via television. It was very different to the TV show - no consistency of locations or characters bar Father Brown himself - but still enjoyable. The writing style took a little bit to get into, and could be a little slow-going, but for the most part the quality of the mysteries he could create in ~30 pages was worth it. Some stories were better than others; I wasn’t overly enamored with The Resurrection of Father Brown, but was v impressed by the conclusion of the The Arrow of Heaven.
It often felt as if Chesterton kept you occupied at the front door with the mystery while the teaching about human nature/theology/morality comes and hits you over the head through the window. An interesting but enjoyable sensation.
For example:
It often felt as if Chesterton kept you occupied at the front door with the mystery while the teaching about human nature/theology/morality comes and hits you over the head through the window. An interesting but enjoyable sensation.
For example:
And I hope it’s not against your principles to visit a modern sort of emperor like Merton.’Oof. Or:
‘Not at all,’ said Father Brown, quietly. ‘It is my duty to visit prisoners and all miserable men in captivity.
‘Really,’ protested Martin Wood, ‘I do think you should be the last man in the world to tinker about with those beautiful Gothic arches, which are about the best work your own religion has ever done in the world. I should have thought you’d have had some feeling for that sort of art.’[...]
‘If you don’t know that I would grind all the Gothic arches in the world to powder to save the sanity of a single human soul, you don’t know so much about my religion as you think you do,’ answered Father Brown.
marinetta's review against another edition
2.0
Οι εκδόσεις Μάγμα έχουν βγάλει ένα ποιοτικό και όμορφο βιβλίο όμως οι ιστορίες συνολικά είναι πολύ ανιαρές!
Δεν πολυ αναλύεται ο πατήρ μπράουν , για να καταλαβαίνουμε πως καταλήγει στη λύση των φόνων.
Στις ιστορίες παρουσιάζονται υπερβολικά πολλά άτομα τα οποία δεν έχουν κάποιο ρόλο στο φόνο ή στην εξέλιξη του μυστηρίου γενικότερα με αποτέλεσμα ο αναγνώστης να μπερδεύεται με αυτά που διαβάζει και στο τέλος να μην τον εξυπηρετεί σε τίποτα.
( Ήταν σχετικά καλές οι 1η , 2η , 3η και 7η ιστορίες )
Δεν πολυ αναλύεται ο πατήρ μπράουν , για να καταλαβαίνουμε πως καταλήγει στη λύση των φόνων.
Στις ιστορίες παρουσιάζονται υπερβολικά πολλά άτομα τα οποία δεν έχουν κάποιο ρόλο στο φόνο ή στην εξέλιξη του μυστηρίου γενικότερα με αποτέλεσμα ο αναγνώστης να μπερδεύεται με αυτά που διαβάζει και στο τέλος να μην τον εξυπηρετεί σε τίποτα.
( Ήταν σχετικά καλές οι 1η , 2η , 3η και 7η ιστορίες )
bzzzzzz's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Not perhaps as good as the first book. An unfortunate amount of racism. But still funny and very clever.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs
kristianalace's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
nimrodel's review against another edition
3.0
It feels awful to rate a Chesterton book this low, but this series of short mysteries was way too repetitive and occasionally condescending. Chesterton's normal brilliant writing and characters are all here, and if these stories had been mixed in with Father Brown mysteries that followed other themes, it would have been much easier to take.
Every story followed the same basic pattern: setup for a murder that has an apparently uncanny aspect, previously hard-core skeptics and materialists run crying in fear of the supernatural, then Father Brown steps in and explains how the murder was carried out by perfectly mundane means.
As a proud (too proud) Catholic, I'm pretty close to the perfect audience for this kind of narrative;it should be fun to see the anti-Catholics, anti-Christians and their straw men demolished time after time. But even I tired of it quickly, especially since Chesterton conveniently leaves out any materialists with real conviction and/or intelligence.
Every story followed the same basic pattern: setup for a murder that has an apparently uncanny aspect, previously hard-core skeptics and materialists run crying in fear of the supernatural, then Father Brown steps in and explains how the murder was carried out by perfectly mundane means.
As a proud (too proud) Catholic, I'm pretty close to the perfect audience for this kind of narrative;it should be fun to see the anti-Catholics, anti-Christians and their straw men demolished time after time. But even I tired of it quickly, especially since Chesterton conveniently leaves out any materialists with real conviction and/or intelligence.
chang's review
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0