Mr. Blue

In which we begin our occasional posts on the "Loyola Classics" series:

First off, Mr. Blue.

Mr. Blue is actually the book that inspired this series. John Breslin, S.J. had written about the novel in a chapter of a book he'd written for Loyola. That got a couple of editors there thinking: What had happened to this amazingly popular novel, originally published in 1928, that had gone through dozens of printings by the 1960's?

It was, of course, out of print, and at that time, the used copies they could find online (paperback Doubleday Image editions) were going for around $40, if not more.

An idea was born - was there a market for these once-popular novels, repackaged and re-presented to contemporary audiences?

You can read an article Breslin wrote about the novel here (we adapted this article for the intro to the novel)

Here's my perspective on the book:

I was totally charmed and taken by this novel. It's a parable of sorts: of a young man (J. Blue) who, for whatever reason, takes the Gospel dead seriously. He's a modern-day St. Francis, of a sorts. He sees the poor as his finest companions, he does odd things like set up house on a New York rooftop, spend an inheritance as soon as he gets it, and prays.  He adores kites and marching bands and the movies. He lives in the moment.

What raises this novel above others of the genre (Christ-like stranger walks among us) is the stance of the narrator, an acquaintance of Blue. Most of these types of books are narrated from the perspective of a narrator who's unquestioningly in awe of the protagonist. This isn't. Our unnamed narrator is skeptical. He's challenged. He's, frankly, worried. He doubts Blue's sanity.

It's a brief, intriguing little book that despite its brevity, still raises all kinds of questions. What am I so attached to in this world and why? I say I value my freedom..but how free am I, really? What does this Blue have that I haven't got...and do I really want it?

During its earlier publication life, particularly its second life in the 1940's and 50's, Blue was very popular, as Breslin's article indicates, among young people. I'm hoping to see a revival of the book among modern young adults, myself. We'll see - it's been adopted as summer reading for one large Catholic high school so far, and we're working on more.