"Mr. Chesterton has undertaken in this quaint narrative to make
burlesque the vehicle of a sermon and a philosophy. It is all a part of
the author's war upon artificial attitudes which enclose the living men
like a shell and make for human purposes a dead man of him. He speaks
here in a parable--a parable of his own kind, having about it a broad
waggishness like that of Mr. Punch and a distinct flavor of that sort of
low comedy which one finds in Dickens and Shakespeare. You are likely to
find, before you are done with the parable, that there has been forced
upon your attention a possible view of the life worth living. 'Manalive'
is a 'Peterpantheistic' novel full of Chestertonisms."--_New York Times_
"One of the oddest books Mr. Chesterton has yet given us."--_New York
Evening Globe_
"The fun of the book (and there is plenty of it) comes quite as much
from the extraordinary and improbable characters as from the situations.
Epigrams, witticisms, odd fancies, queer conceits, singular whimsies,
follow after one another in quick succession."--_Brooklyn Eagle_
"One of the most humorous tales of modern fiction, combined with a very
tender and appealing love story."--_Cleveland Plain Dealer_
"The book is certain to have a wide circulation, not only because of the
name of the author attached to it, but because of its own intrinsic
worth."--_Buffalo Commercial_
"There can be no doubt as to the iridescent brilliance of the book. Page
after page--full of caustic satire, humorous sally and profound
epigram--fairly bristles with merriment. The book is a compact mass of
scintillating wit."--_Philadelphia Public Ledger_