Reviews for Thackeray

The average rating for Thackeray based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-08-24 00:00:00 Kelly Cole Chesterton, let's face it, is thematically ataxic. He can't keep to one idea; in the words of an acquaintance of mine, he sidesteps issues by making sense. Reading Orthodoxy was an experience analogous to hearing an inebriated genius swerve through celestial ideas. The book's only lack is that its subject demands a structure it doesn't provide. Heretics is a different story. Here Chesterton is truest to his form. He's free to roam the world of his improvised ideas as he surveys what he considers both the heretics and heretical ideas of his time, and he does so marvelously, unsurpassed in wit and well-crafted expression. Nearly every page has at least one quotable line, and nearly every page, because his writing is so joyfully digressive, can be read by itself. He was known to send first drafts to publishers and have them accepted without complaint, which should be a point that breaks the pride of any literary dilettante. There's something about this freewheeling, one-shot style that permeates his writing with a sense of spontaneity that would otherwise get muffled out through revision, and this results in a conversational feeling that I can't really find anywhere else. It's as if I can feel his spirit firmly in his words, and what strikes me most is how incomparably jovial and egalitarian he is through them. I can imagine him sharing a conversation with a king and a commoner without missing a relational beat. Chesterton is a joy to read not simply because he is a wordsmith and thinker par excellence, but because he's so impartially down to earth. Human. Imagine that.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-05-28 00:00:00 Carolyn Brown Heresy means a belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine and so a heretic would be a person holding such a belief or opinion. It's a word we don't use or hear much anymore, probably because we are afraid of certainty in religion. We prefer 'tolerance'. This trend was gaining ground in Chesteron's day. (Wouldn't you love to hear what he would have to say about our world today?!) Heretics, I was surprised to read in this excellent lecture article by Dale Ahlquist, Chestertonian expert, is one of his most neglected books even though one of his more important. That is indeed a shame because it is superb! Each chapter is a mini-essay about one person, group, or trend which he is critiquing. Although I was only familiar with two individuals mentioned'George Bernard Shaw and Rudyard Kipling'most of Chesterton's main points were obvious enough and the quotes, as always, were magnificent! Want to come back and read this slowly and carefully, making note of my favorite quotes. Going on to something else now but planning to read Orthodoxy which is sort of like the sequel to Heretics as the former was written in response to the outcry which resulted from the publication of the latter. EXCEPTIONAL! <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Jan 23, 2018: The thing I like best about G.K. Chesterton is the way he makes me stop short'and I do mean completely stop in my tracks'and say, "Wait, what did he just say?! Did he say what I think he said?" Yes, he did! Once again, he made or helped me (not sure which) do a complete paradigm shift in my thinking. Lately I have struggled with how to advise my St. Vincent dePaul conference as to problem clients who deceive, scam, refuse to help themselves, etc. Given our limited resources this is cause for frustration to our members. The following quote may be some consolation for them. I know it gave me a new perspective on the situation: "It is true that there is a thing crudely called charity, which means charity to the deserving poor; but charity to the deserving is not charity at all, but justice. It is the undeserving who require it, and the ideal either does not exist at all, or exists wholly for them." I also LOVED his chapter on the newspapers. There is NOTHING new under the sun. He saw the American media for what it was back then. (sigh) Still reading…