Reviews & Recommendations: The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton

Oh where do I start?  Well, I suppose a quick paraphrase of info from The American Chesterton Society’s website might be a good place.

G. K. Chesterton was a British, Catholic writer who lived during the late 19th to early 20th century.  Though he identified as a journalist, he wrote a plethora of material from novels to plays to poetry, and more.¹

Of Chesterton’s massive library of work, the one being mentioned today is his small novel The Man Who Was Thursday.  I say “mentioned” because there… really isn’t a lot I think I can say about this story.  No.  Scratch that.  There isn’t a lot I think I should say about this story.  Thursday is the kind of story that I know I’ll have to read again.  There is no doubt in my mind that I missed so much, not because it was poorly written, but because there is so much to unpack within this short book.  After finishing Thursday, I knew I wanted to write a blog post about it, but I also feel completely inadequate to accurately and satisfactorily discuss this novel.  As such, this post shall be short and only surface-level, and you’ll just have to read the story yourself to know anything more.  Now then, onward!

The best descriptive phrase I can give to The Man Who WasThrusday is “a philosophical and theological novel with espionage overtones.”  Within the story, the main character, a poet named Gabriel Syme, becomes a secret police officer and then infiltrates an underground anarchist organization.  Within the council of his enemies, he receives the title of Thursday and soon begins his efforts to dethrone the head of the organization, the impressive and intimidating Sunday, and save his beloved England from anarchy.  I’m afraid I can say no more than that on the premise, as, due to this book’s short length, there is little to be said without spoilers.

Some positives noted upon first reading can be recorded in a few phrases, and negatives in even fewer.  First off, I would say that the tone and happenings of the novel, the twists, mystery, suspense, and the pacing of the plot, quite engaged me, as those elements should in an espionage tale.  What’s more, there are so many tightly packed, philosophical statements and quotes within the book, which I love, but not so many as I think would bog down the casual reader. Although, I could probably just take a few of them and write a whole blog post about them, and I am convinced there are numerous I overlooked, as well, prompting me to desire rereading.  Furthermore, the characters, both good and bad, are interesting, though I shall not say how.  Again, it’s difficult to step into that topic without going in too deep, especially for a surface-level review such as this.

Concerning negatives, there is only I think to mention.  While each character is distinct, there are quite a few of them for so short a book, and I found myself mixing persons up.  There was also not much time to be given in developing each person and getting to know them, adding to the prevalence of mistaking one character for the other.

There is one more element with which I took issue, one related to the plot, which I shall not discuss here, for it would contain spoilers I would not desire to impart; however, to include it with my “negatives” would not be entirely honest.  In truth and upon reflection, what I find a problem is not actually the events to which I refer, but rather my prior expectations.  Unfortunately, I think there may be some readers who, reaching that to which I refer, would throw the book away or consider it ruined, but that is, I hold, to be more related to the preconceptions and philosophies of the modern reader rather than a flaw of the book itself.

To conclude, G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, proved to me a mentally stimulating, philosophic, and theologic story with enough adventure and espionage suspense to keep, I think, even the more casual reader interested.  What’s more, the deceptively small sized book holds much material to be reconsidered and examined, which prompts me to read it again, and if a book really must do anything, I suppose it would be just that. 


¹"Discover Chesterton."  The American Chesterton Society.  American Chesterton Society, n. d.  Web.  30 Nov.  2014.

The Man Who Was Thursday (c) G. K. Chesterton