This is book is a collection of short chapters, each a self contained mystery. This means we move very rapidly from murder to resolution in each chapter with a certain degree of repetition and so despite being just 250 pages long this benefits from being dipped into for a chapter or two rather than taken in a single sitting. I found them excellent for reading on the bus.
In general you come to see Father Brown as a caring and charming figure however there are moments when one is confronted with attitudes, even from the enlightened Fr Brown, which suck you violently from the 21st Century. This mostly occurs when foreigners enter the stories, and is especially true of The Wrong Shape where an Indian has a significant role.
In noting this I am not wanting to condemn either Chesterton or Fr Brown from reflecting the general social melee of their time (this book is now over 100 years old) but nor can I escape the sensation of unease in encountering such attitudes. They did become a flaw in my enjoyment of the book but on balance not a fatal flaw.
Suspicion towards foreigners, even hostility, is a natural human reaction, based in self-preservation. Perhaps if Britain had more of Chesterton's and Fr Brown's reality-based attitude, it would not be dismantling its national identity for the sake of hordes of hostile and contemptuous alien immigrants.
ReplyDelete