Mr. Blue

by Myles Connolly

Paper Book, 1954

Status

Available

Call number

PS355.O51M7 2005

Publication

Chicago : Loyola Catholic Classics, 2005, c1954.

Physical description

xv, 126 p.; 18 cm

Barcode

3000003338

User reviews

LibraryThing member shawnd

This is sort of a C.S. Lewis meets Amelie Nothomb little book. It does have clear and solid traits of the 'Great American Novel'--as another reviewer mentioned it might remind one of The Great Gatsby. Written in 1928, it is a little dated in places. Likewise, it is a bit religious and preachy.

Aside from that, well written, moving, and the messaging about compassion and values - once strained of its religiosity - is excellent and unique.

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LibraryThing member Schmerguls

I read this on Nov 14, 1946 and said to myself: "An essay in novel form. Rather odd, though I can't say I was particularly impressed by it."

LibraryThing member juliecracchiolo

This year, 2018, my New Year’s resolution was to pick twelve of the books that have been loitering on my bookshelves and actually read them. For February, I picked a short novel that has been print continuously since it was originally published in 1928.

While it’s considered Catholic fiction, I

remember distinctly why I initially purchased it: the following sentence was on the back cover from John B. Breslin’s introduction: “Blue…was a uniquely American personality. As Myles Connolly wrote him, J. Blue was the man whom the ambitious Jay Gatsby might have become had he steered by a higher truth than the sound of money in Daisy Buchanan’s voice.” A novel that compares its protagonist to Fitzgerald’s Gatsby? I had to have it.

Breslin’s introduction makes may comparisons between Gatsby and Blue. He also called Blue a modern St. Francis of Assissi, which I didn’t seem at all.

Basically Blue is a free spirit, one who is more interested in God and the Earth than in following a strict set of guidelines that the human race places upon itself. He takes a vow of poverty and chases that vow with abandon.

I’m not sure that I truly understand Connolly’s message, but it’s good little read. Mr. Blue receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

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