G. K. Chesterton: The man who was Thursday (2008, Atlantic Books)
187 pages
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2008 by Atlantic Books.
Can you trust yourself when you don't know who you are?Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in Europe's Central Anarchist Council and infiltrate their deadly mission, even managing to have himself voted to the position of 'Thursday'. In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty,When Syme discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, however, he starts to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies.But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has - its leader: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined ...
“The whole gave him a sensation, the vividness of which he could not explain, that Nature was always making quite mysterious jokes.”
A very strange tale that turns from a crime story to a farce to an expressionist play to a Christian-philosophical treatise. It somehow manages to stay perfectly coherent throughout, with the unbelievable end scene a quite logical last step in a sequence of ever more outrageous scenes. Still, it leaves a somewhat sad feeling to see the fun and whimsy of the first half be pushed aside by the more serious and self-important realisations of the second, and the final impression is of a lecture received after setting out for a light distraction.
Denne boka dukka opp på ei liste over klassikere, men var den eneste på lista jeg ikke en gang hadde hørt om. Så jeg kasta meg inn i den uten å lese meg noe opp først. Boka er en slags thriller, men den er tidvis absurd, satirisk og leker en del med språket. Derfor ble jeg umiddelbart minna om Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett og den typen britisk litteratur. Plottet kunne vært en episode av The Prisoner: En poet blir verva inn i en (anti-)intellektuell politistyrke som skal avdekke en anarkistkonspirasjon. Men så baller det på seg i alle retninger. Slik sett var det ei overraskende bok å finne på en klassikerliste, men fornøyelig å lese fra ende til annen (selv om den noe allegoriske slutten ikke var så spennende).
book 22 of my reading challenge
https://blog.arkadi.one/the-man-who-was-thursday-by-g-k
3.5 stars
3.5 i guess?
A bit melodramatic but an excellent allegory of today's political dilemmas, in the US. It is almost prescient...
Combine three parts [b:Steppenwolf|16631|Steppenwolf|Hermann Hesse|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389332672s/16631.jpg|57612], one part [b:Chronicles of Narnia|11127|The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449868701s/11127.jpg|781271], add a dash of [b:Atlas Shrugged|662|Atlas Shrugged|Ayn Rand|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405868167s/662.jpg|817219], blend furiously.
After having read the reviews on The Man Who Was Thursday on this thread, I feel I have little more I could also possibly add to benefit any future potential reader of the book. However, I will put in my two-penn'orth. Chesterton's writing I find delightful, it provides plentiful wit and well-placed paradox that keeps the story alive and flush with surprises. Although this story in one aspect provides all the merriment of a madcap detective adventure, it also, and in Chesterton's own words, describes how pessimism can be shrouded in so much negativity that it fails to discern the real hope of the matter. I do enjoy Chesterton even though I don't share his religious points of view, I certainly can digest with interest his views from a theological standpoint. The Man Who Was Thursday is deftly played out with humorous pace and the fine touches of observation well …
After having read the reviews on The Man Who Was Thursday on this thread, I feel I have little more I could also possibly add to benefit any future potential reader of the book. However, I will put in my two-penn'orth. Chesterton's writing I find delightful, it provides plentiful wit and well-placed paradox that keeps the story alive and flush with surprises. Although this story in one aspect provides all the merriment of a madcap detective adventure, it also, and in Chesterton's own words, describes how pessimism can be shrouded in so much negativity that it fails to discern the real hope of the matter. I do enjoy Chesterton even though I don't share his religious points of view, I certainly can digest with interest his views from a theological standpoint. The Man Who Was Thursday is deftly played out with humorous pace and the fine touches of observation well served by a writer whose own delicate attention to prose makes for an inviting read.
The best parts of this are definitely Chesterton's humor. The plot is better taken as an elaborate slapstick, which according to his own essays on the subject it was really meant to be. A satire on pessimistic philosophy taken perhaps a few chapters too far.
