Talk:A Breaker of Laws

Reviews
The Outlook, 13 Oct. 1900: Like, Mr. Ridge knows the lower strata of London thoroughly. If his literary cut is less delicate than Mr. Morrison's, his sense of humor is stronger and his constructive ability greater. In the present story (which is clearly an advance on Mr. Ridge's earlier work) the people dwell in the borderland between crime and pauperism. The chief character is at times a burglar, at times an honest workman. His professional pride in his burglar's skill, the spirit of adventure which makes crime fascinating in his eyes, and a love of easily gained spending-money, contend in him with a genuine love for the wife who believes him honest. The struggle is brought out vividly and with psychological acuteness. As a story the book has at times a Dickens-like quality. It has spirit and incident and humor in abundance; and the ending has also pathos, effective because restrained in expression and sincere in sentiment.

The Nation, 27 Dec. 1900: The author of 'A Breaker of Laws' revives the romance of that sort of crime which Dickens exploited in 'Oliver Twist.' Mr. Ridge's burglars are not quite so depraved and dirty as Bill Sykes and the Artful Dodger, but, on the other hand, they are never thrilling, and their best efforts to be comic fall flat. Alfred Bateson's struggle to assume respectability with matrimony is not picturesque, nor are his relapses very touching. The self-sacrifices of his friend, the excellent but uninteresting Mr. Finnis, must have been their own reward; otherwise, they point no moral. The tale is not entertaining, and can hardly have been written with the immoral intention of exciting sympathy with burglars, as the author does not appear to be an enemy of society.

Scan backed
There is a scanned version at Index:A Breaker of Laws.djvu but that seems to have a problem that needs to be resolved. -- Beardo (talk) 05:39, 24 February 2024 (UTC)