Gabriel Syme is dispatched by Scotland Yard on a secret mission to infiltrate the Central Anarchist Council - an organization plotting to bring down the existing social order. The seven members of the group are named after days of the week, with the mysterious Sunday - who calls himself 'the Sabbath and the peace of God' - as their leader and mastermind. Having successfully infiltrated their ranks, Syme himself becomes known as 'Thursday'. But he soon finds himself in a surreal waking nightmare, in which the lines between ...
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Gabriel Syme is dispatched by Scotland Yard on a secret mission to infiltrate the Central Anarchist Council - an organization plotting to bring down the existing social order. The seven members of the group are named after days of the week, with the mysterious Sunday - who calls himself 'the Sabbath and the peace of God' - as their leader and mastermind. Having successfully infiltrated their ranks, Syme himself becomes known as 'Thursday'. But he soon finds himself in a surreal waking nightmare, in which the lines between freedom and order, fact and fiction, become irrevocably blurred. Written in 1908, and drawing heavily on contemporary fears of anarchist conspiracies and bomb plots, The Man Who Was Thursday remains uncannily relevant. It is a fascinating mystery, a spellbinding allegory and an entirely chilling classic of crime fiction.
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Not being a scholar, I need to do more research on Chesterton and this is another reason why I like to read so much. It's a gripping story, thoroughly enjoyable though very dark at times. But again, I need to research/look at commentaries of this book by those who have studied it but it wouldn't keep me from recommending it to others.
Mike D
Jul 7, 2011
Deeper than it first seems.
It is a metaphysical, phantasmagoric, paradoxical novel. Every English major should read it.
Chiroptera
Feb 26, 2009
Meh
This book starts out with the promise of an excellent spy thriller. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for it to descend into farcical tomfoolery. The genre I'd assign this book to is magical realism (if that's a legitimate category), and while there is indeed some obvious Christian symbolism, the bulk of the novel is spent in slightly humorous British dialogue and rather childish bumbling around. Think of "Get Smart" without Agent 99.
