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. ( )

My edition of this book by Myles Connolly is a really cute, small paperback, and delightful to carry around, but the contents disappointed me. I think it was the loneliness of the main character that left me empty.

He is a young man in New England who takes the commands of Jesus seriously, to sell everything you have and give to the poor, to forsake the normal path of security and comfort for a greater purpose. You sense that he is well-liked by everyone, but you hardly ever meet any of the people that he helps. Most of the author’s encounters with him involve long speeches from Blue about his wild and unrealistic dreams, the kind of talk you may have heard from people in your own life who are mentally unstable.

The introduction to this book compares Mr. Blue to Jay Gatsby. The narrator can’t agree with Blue’s lifestyle, and he doesn’t always understand him, but he still always admires him. To me, Blue just seems incomplete. ( )

294. Mr. Blue, by Myles Connolly (read 14 Nov 1946) When I read this I said to myself: "An essay in novel form. Rather odd, though I can't say I was particularly impressed by it." ( )

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. ( )