Perhaps best known to the general public as creator of the "Father Brown" detective stories, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was especially renowned for his wit, rhetorical brilliance and talent for ingenious and revealing paradox. Those qualities are richly brilliant in the present volume, a hilarious, fast-paced tale about a club of anarchists in turn-of-the-century London. The story begins when Gabriel Syme, a poet and member of a special group of philosophical policemen, attends a secret meeting of anarchists, whose leaders ...
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Perhaps best known to the general public as creator of the "Father Brown" detective stories, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was especially renowned for his wit, rhetorical brilliance and talent for ingenious and revealing paradox. Those qualities are richly brilliant in the present volume, a hilarious, fast-paced tale about a club of anarchists in turn-of-the-century London. The story begins when Gabriel Syme, a poet and member of a special group of philosophical policemen, attends a secret meeting of anarchists, whose leaders are named for the days of the week, and all of whom are sworn to destroy the world. Their chief is the mysterious Sunday - huge, boisterous, full of vitality, a wild personage who may be a Chestertonian vision of God or nature or both. When Syme, actually an undercover detective, is unexpectedly elected to fill a vacancy on the anarchists' Central Council, the plot takes the first of many surprising twists and turns.
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I finally bought this book after years of hearing about it. I found it slightly dated, but still a good,comical read. Basically, an undercover detective unwittingly befriends a real anarchist, who introduces him into his "underground" anarchy group/ club. The detective, having further outwitted the "real" anarchist, takes over a position the anarchist was meant for. What follows is a right-side up turn of the world the detective thought he knew. The book has a little bit of a Wonderland feel to it, but for adults. It's short, only about 150, 160 pages, so it's a quick read as well. Chersterton artfully unfolds the story and I reccommend this book to anyone wanting a quick, clever detective tale.