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    The Man Who Was Thursday: "It is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely."
    The Man Who Was Thursday: "It is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely."
    The Man Who Was Thursday: "It is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely."
    Ebook251 pages3 hours

    The Man Who Was Thursday: "It is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely."

    By G. K. Chesterton

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    The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) is G.K. Chesterton’s attack on anarchist philosophies and defense of law, righteousness and order. It tells the story of a secret group of anarchists who conspire against national security. The Londoner poet Lucian Gregory is a fervent defender of the movement’s ideals while his close friend Gabriel Syme is paradoxically a Scotland Yard secret agent whose task is to undo anarchist conspiracies against the state. Long debates on poetry and politics take place between them before Syme’s introduction to Lucian’s enigmatic sect and its central council. The seven members of the latter are named after the week’s days as a strategy of camouflage. Both Lucian and Syme end up applying for the position of Thursday. Right after he reveals to his friend that he is a secret agent, Syme wins the elections and enters the sect that he secretly wishes to destroy. He gradually discovers that all the other members are also enemies of the sect rather than true anarchists. Hence, Lucian Gregory turns out to be the only true anarchist of the novel. The general message that Chesterton strives to convey is basically a Christian message about the goodness in all human beings despite possible deviations.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA Word To The Wise
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9781780008622
    The Man Who Was Thursday: "It is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely."
    Author

    G. K. Chesterton

    G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English writer, philosopher and critic known for his creative wordplay. Born in London, Chesterton attended St. Paul’s School before enrolling in the Slade School of Fine Art at University College. His professional writing career began as a freelance critic where he focused on art and literature. He then ventured into fiction with his novels The Napoleon of Notting Hill and The Man Who Was Thursday as well as a series of stories featuring Father Brown.

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    Reviews for The Man Who Was Thursday

    4/5

    1,433 ratings36 reviews

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    • 2/5
      A brilliant book?
    • 5/5
      With amazing suspense and continual anticipation, Chesterton positions the reader to the edge of their seats on a wild ride with twists, turns, and delightful encounters. It was a joy to read this work of genius. It was a shorter book. However, with the style and prose of Chesterton, it takes longer than usual. It was well worth the time and investment.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed reading this startling, at times riotously funny, often gorgeously written book. The ending perplexed me, however, and that's why I ultimately dropped my rating to 4 stars. I wouldn't recommend this as anyone's first foray into Chesterton, but if you've enjoyed Orthodoxy, this is likely a good place to start with his fiction. He's a marvelous writer.
    • 4/5
      Levity with a purpose is how I might describe the overall feel of The Man Who Was Thursday. Chesterton creates a tangle of wonderful characters fighting out order vs. anarchy without really knowing who is on which side, and although the prose is light and the dialogue is clever, the allegory certainly has serious things to say to the reader.
    • 3/5
      A detective inflitrates a gang of anarchists in London, cunningly gaining entry to the super-secretive 'Council of Days', led by the godly Sunday. His mission: to prevent a plot to blow up the Czar on his visit to Paris.The first half of the book is an exciting tale of wit and invention, but soon the tale becomes grossly absurd; the climax is surely allegorical but for me it was greatly unsatisfying, especially considering all the drama that had led to it.
    • 3/5
      It would probably be best to get hit by a bus just before you get to the end of this book. Tense chase sequences and a quickly increasing desire to find out exaclty what is going on are let down by the ridiculous half baked ending. A good yarn but the exciting romp through europe and london only lead to disapointment and a little bit of anger.
    • 5/5
      This is one very good book! Well written, short and fun. I need to re-read it though, thoroughly deserves a re-read.
    • 5/5
      This is a heck of a book. Do not shelve it next to The Iron Dragon's Daughter because I think they would annihilate each other or something.
    • 5/5
      I suspect that this dream will linger within me for years to come. The philosophical and political currents pale compared to the intrinsic visions within, the idea that the six all saw their childhood in the penultimate geography is a telling terror.
    • 3/5
      Read this at 20 and now again 35 years later. Chesterton can certainly write. Some of the images are startlingly beautiful, but the philosophy is a bit much to take. I'm sure the Chesterton lovers can make sense of it all, but to me it was a hodge-podge of conservative Christianity and Buddhism.
    • 4/5
      Weird but absolutely brilliant.
    • 5/5
      Few books managed to give us the sensation that the world may be dream. This is one of those books. Chesterton's allegory give us a feeling of unreal world, where we are no more awaken than the protagonist. He created a world that Robert Louis Stevenson and Lewis Caroll before him and Borges and Kafka after managed to create. A nightmare that we follow with hardship.
    • 2/5
      The author's vivid descriptions of scenery and settings, as well as certain philosophy, make for memorable reading.The plot moves along with intriguing mystery and excitement, then becomes redundant and thoroughly improbable, but worse, boring.
    • 4/5
      How does one review this? Let's see, it is the story of a dream, and as with all dreams I suppose, is open to interpretation. I'm not sure what to make of the meaning of it, the meaning floats in and out of my mind and I can't pin it down. However, the story itself was fun, quick to read and full of lovely word images. Now I must go and read more about it, then possibly read it again. Reading it again would be a pleasure.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed this book until I got to the end. I was expecting a straightforward mystery/thriller, and then the ending was really strange. G.K. Chesterton is hard to understand sometimes.
    • 5/5
      A fantastical story with more twists and turns than a labyrinth; this was a great read. I was able to anticipate some of the “surprises” but that in no way diminished my pleasure and the ending was magnificent—although many reviewers disliked it because it did not neatly tie up all the loose ends. However, this book was not about answers but questions.
    • 5/5
      Oakes is right about this one. Of course, Oakes is usually right.
    • 4/5
      At once lapidary, rich with ideas and a farcical romp.
    • 4/5
      Concise, fast moving, profound, and often funny. What's not to like?
    • 4/5
      Strange story, typically Chesterton, magic realism of his own kind, wonderful details. There is some point to this book, I think, but with GK the point is not the thing. The magic is more interesting than the realism, and there is more of it.
    • 4/5
      Expect the unexpected.
    • 4/5
      Both policemen and anarchists go undercover as anarchists. If there were a central message, it escaped me, but the novel contains many entaining parts.
    • 4/5
      This was fun... believe i will need to read this again to get all of the references and allusions... really, since it is over 100 years old, an annotated version would probably be needed!What a crazy blend of spy/fiction/fantasy/absurdism/commentary this book is. A classic, one of the very first espionage books ever, along with Conrad's [book:The Secret Agent].
    • 5/5
      It's a classic spy novel of sorts. It's also absolutely hilarious, beautifully written, and happens to be a Christian allegory. I didn't quite catch all the allegorical elements, but I enjoyed it immensely just the same.
    • 4/5
      Unique. And very, very good. While some things are clearly forseeable, the book leaves you puzzling until the end, and after (if you count what Chesterton wrote about it 30 years later). The little notes that appear during the (paper?) chase are hilarious. ("What about Martin Tupper now?" What indeed.
    • 5/5
      This is a favorite novel of mine and a delightful fantasy. More than a romance set in the streets of London, subtitled A Nightmare, it is in part a meditation on the meaning of anarchism. The chase scene at the close is "worth the price of admission", as they sometimes say, and the book is unique in many other ways. Chesterton knew how to spin a good tale and set your head spinning at the same time.
    • 4/5
      It's a good book, and you should read it this very instant. The plot invloves an anarchist conspiracy and various goings-on, but that's not really the point. Chesterton is so facile with language, and his descriptions of various intellectual positions are so interesting that really they become the point of the book.
    • 4/5
      Loved the symbolism, disorientation, and potent dose of philosophy at the end. A goldmine of ideas in a dream narrative, but not really a thriller by today's standards.
    • 1/5
      I was really prepared to love this, but couldn't. The story it's self is wonderful, but I could not get past the narration. Plodding, monotonous...this narrator leant nothing to this work.
    • 3/5
      The first half of this book is amazing, wonderful and very tightly conceived but I think it loses itself a little in the second half, when they go after Sunday. It is still memorable, though, and scenes have stayed with me. The ending is odd, as I was warned, but not uncharacteristic and I think it leaves a lovely taste in the mouth.

    Book preview

    The Man Who Was Thursday - G. K. Chesterton

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