Reviews and Comments

Reminds one of Candide, and, to a lesser extent, Gulliver's Travels. But it is much too long and rambling. It keeps repeating the same messages. The book being an Enlightenment novel (or romance?), those messages are interesting enough, though. Is (individual and general) history preordained by natural laws, or preordained by a guiding hand? Same difference, the book seems to say.

I read a lot of Chesterton; this is not one of my favourites. The essays in this collection were to sermon-like for me, too preachy, something Chsterton manages to steer clear of in his novels and short story cycles, which, apparently, I prefer. Still, it is Chesterton, and therefore witty and intriguing and curious.

I was much more interested in the framing story than the backstory, and after a good beginning, I did not get much of that framing stories. Nice enough ideads, but I wasn't particulary interested in the main characters and their way of live, which is probably the focus of the book. I didn't learn anything either, about carny work or the world or people. So, okayish, and intriguing, but not for me.