Saturday, 20 August 2022 07:00 pm
Book Review: The Flying Inn
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deckardcanineThis was my first G.K. Chesterton novel in two years and my first hardcopy one in nine. It feels closer to Tales of the Long Bow than to anything else I've read of his, but it's still quite distinct.
In what might have been meant as the near future or an alternate present, England has started prohibition. (I note the copyright date of 1914, years before prohibition in North America.) Fortunately for drinkers, there are enough legal loopholes for pub owner Humphrey Pump (yes, really) and his Irish friend, Captain Patrick Dalroy, to keep at it as long as they move around with a donkey-drawn cart and a sign. But Lord Ivywood, head of Parliament, is determined to bring them down.
There are plenty more characters, including several women, but I'm afraid I don't have much to say about most of the cast. They have little bearing on the plot, and their personalities have escaped me. The only others to strike my interest are Misysra Ammon, a heavily accented Turkish "prophet" with a knack for conspiracy theory; and Quoodle, a dog who tends to be off doing his own thing.
As you might have guessed from Misysra, this story could very well offend Muslims. After all, it was creeping Islamic influence that led to prohibition herein. That said, a clash of religions is not the main focus. Main antagonist Ivywood is no Muslim, just an arrogant, tradition-hating, overreaching stick in the mud. Chesterton meant to pillory lots of politicians, journalists, businessmen, and other busybodies he regarded as either rotten or quick to defer to the rotten. You don't need a very libertarian mindset to agree with him largely.
EDIT: Goodness, I forgot to mention multiple uses of the N-word. I get the impression that England was slower to stigmatize it. At any rate, let's recall that Chesterton used it in reference to anyone with dark skin -- in this context, probably Turks and people close to them.
I don't recall a lot happening in the 246 pages. That may be partly because I was often reading while tired, partly because Chesterton waxes verbose, and partly because it gets abstruse. Too many dated and British references. I learned to keep my phone handy to look things up, which I hadn't needed for the rest of his works.
TFI does get pretty funny now and then. More than that, it may contain the most poetry this side of The Lord of the Rings, thanks primarily to Dalroy's insistence. One of the poems, "The Rolling English Road," even rates its own Wikipedia entry.
Of all his fiction, this was the piece Chesterton most enjoyed writing. I think that comes across within. Alas, I don't feel the same way as a reader. I'll give it credit for less contrivance than usual, but it could do with a bit more coherence.
Next up is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This cyberpunk sounds more up my alley than Neuromancer.
In what might have been meant as the near future or an alternate present, England has started prohibition. (I note the copyright date of 1914, years before prohibition in North America.) Fortunately for drinkers, there are enough legal loopholes for pub owner Humphrey Pump (yes, really) and his Irish friend, Captain Patrick Dalroy, to keep at it as long as they move around with a donkey-drawn cart and a sign. But Lord Ivywood, head of Parliament, is determined to bring them down.
There are plenty more characters, including several women, but I'm afraid I don't have much to say about most of the cast. They have little bearing on the plot, and their personalities have escaped me. The only others to strike my interest are Misysra Ammon, a heavily accented Turkish "prophet" with a knack for conspiracy theory; and Quoodle, a dog who tends to be off doing his own thing.
As you might have guessed from Misysra, this story could very well offend Muslims. After all, it was creeping Islamic influence that led to prohibition herein. That said, a clash of religions is not the main focus. Main antagonist Ivywood is no Muslim, just an arrogant, tradition-hating, overreaching stick in the mud. Chesterton meant to pillory lots of politicians, journalists, businessmen, and other busybodies he regarded as either rotten or quick to defer to the rotten. You don't need a very libertarian mindset to agree with him largely.
EDIT: Goodness, I forgot to mention multiple uses of the N-word. I get the impression that England was slower to stigmatize it. At any rate, let's recall that Chesterton used it in reference to anyone with dark skin -- in this context, probably Turks and people close to them.
I don't recall a lot happening in the 246 pages. That may be partly because I was often reading while tired, partly because Chesterton waxes verbose, and partly because it gets abstruse. Too many dated and British references. I learned to keep my phone handy to look things up, which I hadn't needed for the rest of his works.
TFI does get pretty funny now and then. More than that, it may contain the most poetry this side of The Lord of the Rings, thanks primarily to Dalroy's insistence. One of the poems, "The Rolling English Road," even rates its own Wikipedia entry.
Of all his fiction, this was the piece Chesterton most enjoyed writing. I think that comes across within. Alas, I don't feel the same way as a reader. I'll give it credit for less contrivance than usual, but it could do with a bit more coherence.
Next up is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This cyberpunk sounds more up my alley than Neuromancer.
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