As one of the books for the Outmoded Authors Challenge I chose G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. I have never read Chesterton before so I had no idea what to expect. From the back of the book I knew it was a sort of spy novel, but I had no idea how hilariously funny it would be. What makes it even funnier is that all of the characters are completely serious no matter how absurd things get.
The main character is Gabriel Syme. He is an upstanding police officer who goes undercover in order to discover the identity of Sunday, the leader of the Anarchists. Syme gets himself elected to the Anarchist Council when the previous Thursday meets an untimely end. Here is a portion of a eulogy spoken before the Anarchist cell members who are about to elect a new Thursday:
As you know, his services to the cause were considerable. He organised the great dynamite coup of Brighton which, under happier circumstances, ought to have killed everybody on the pier. As you also know, his death was as self-denying as his life, for he died through his faith in a hygienic mixture of chalk and water as a substitute for milk, which beverage he regarded as barbaric, and as involving cruelty to the cow.
So we have an Anarchist who tried to kill everyone on Brighton pier but thought drinking milk was cruel. And so goes the whole book. The Anarchists are sticklers about following rules and get very upset when someone doesn’t play fair.
Syme as Thursday runs off to France to try and stop another member of the Council from going through with an assassination. The book is filled with mistaken identities and no one ever seems to be who they say they are. At the end of the book there is a chase scene that involves horses, cars, boats, an elephant and hansom cabs, and a hot air balloon. A scene that would do James Bond proud.
While the book on its surface is a fun romp of a story, there is another deeper level. Regardless of whether the Anarchists are effective, they are viewed as a group that is trying to destroy the world. The suspects are usually rich people because poor people are either too busy just trying to survive to worry about anarchy, or they are viewed as having too much invested in the stability of a government and system that they imagine themselves someday being able to take part in when they make their fortunes.
The driving question underneath The Man Who Was Thursday is will the human race survive? Chesterton published the book in 1908 and was strongly influenced by the Boer War and his deep religious beliefs. The book’s epigraph pretty much says it all:
“I see everything,” he cried, “everything that there is. Why does each thing on earth war against each other thing? Why does each small thing the world have to fight against the world itself?”
Why indeed. I don’t think we are any closer to an answer now than we were then.
I enjoyed The Man Who Was Thursday so much I raced through it in a day and a half. Those kinds of books don’t come along very often. Because I read so fast, I’m sure I missed a lot and I would like to re-read it again sometime. I’d also like to read more Chesterton. The Father Brown books are supposed to be quite good.
Oh yes! Oh yes! The Father Brown Mysteries are absolutely fun! Penguin published the Complete Father Brown – so it’s all there in one splendid volume.
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Isn’t it great when a book grabs you like that? So glad you enjoyed it!
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Now I really want to read this for the same challenge! I said I’d read some of the short stories, but I’d rather get hold of this if I could.
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Oh, this sounds like so much fun! I’ll keep it in mind when I want something funny and fast.
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I’ve never read any Chesterton reviews before, though I’ve been longing to read anything by him. Glad that you liked this one, it’s good enough recommendation for me!
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This is one of those books where the title fascinates me. It draws me in and makes me want to want to read the book. But sadly I dont. In my opinion there are many great titles worn by books that dont appeal. I want to liberate the titles and write the stories that would suit them. For me, ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ would be far darker, a twisted story of a man and a day spliced together. A bit magic realism meets mild horror perhaps.
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I think you’ll like Father Brown, too. I read a handful last spring and have been looking for more ever since.
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I read The Man Who was Thursday a few years ago and really loved it. I wasn’t sure about progressing to the Father Brown stories so I’d be interested to know what you think if you do. (Hmm, now I’ve written that I have a vision of you as a literary canary being lowered into the book mine to test the air for the rest of us… sorry!!)
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Stefanie, I have enjoyed your review, and have read the same book. After reading your review though, I realize I have not read the same book, as you have. I need to re-read the thing, someday. At the time, I think it was ME, that was “OFF”… I just did not at all “get” the story. It seemed far too obscurantist to me, I thought Chesterton was being unfair to anyone with an IQ under one million.
I wrote a very unfavorabloe review of it, back then.
Your favorable review makes me think I should have another look at “Thursday” which is right there on the shelf, looking at me, yonder.
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“Unfavorable”…. I mean.
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Dark Orphues, conveniently, I have the very Penguin edition on my bookshlef already 🙂
Verbivore, yes, it’s great when a book grabs you. It happens so infrequently it seems.
Litlove, I hope you can read Thursday. I think you’d like it and would find some interesting things to say about it.
Dorothy, yes, keep it in mind if you are looking for something smart and fun.
Lazy Cow, Chesterton is one of those well liked and well known authors no one seems to read. But he deserves to be read for sure.
Jem, your view of what Thursday should be about is very interesting. If it helps, the subtitle of the book is “A Nightmare”
Ella, thanks! Now I just have to find a way to fit Father Brown in!
LOL Sandra, literary canary 😀 I think all book bloggers are literary canaries at one time or another.
Cip, your reading experience of the book is very interesting. I can see how you could feel like Chesterton was making fun of people. He kind of was, but the satire was so absurd I found it hilarious. If you get the chance to read it a second time, I hope you have a better time with it.
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I love books that you really don’t want to put down. I wish I came across them more often. I’ve had Chesterton recommended to me, I really have to give him a try!
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Danielle, I think Chesterton, or at least Thursday, is one you’d really like.
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Pingback: To G. K. Chesterton: Happy 134th Birthday « Ripple Effects
Stefanie: I just linked your post to mine … you might want to say Happy Birthday to this brilliant writer too.
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