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The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)
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Manufacturer: Modern Library
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Publisher: Modern Library
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $8.95
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Modern Library
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Publisher: Modern Library
Average Customer Rating:
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The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780375757914
ISBN: 0375757910
Label: Modern Library
Manufacturer: Modern Library
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2001-10-09
Publisher: Modern Library
Product Release Date: 2001-10-09
Studio: Modern Library
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780375757914
ISBN: 0375757910
Label: Modern Library
Manufacturer: Modern Library
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2001-10-09
Publisher: Modern Library
Product Release Date: 2001-10-09
Studio: Modern Library
Editorial Review of The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)
G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.
Customer Reviews of The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: Early terrorism thriller
Review: Today it's al Qaeda... in Chesterton's time it was anarchists, ("no government is good government," sort of early-period extremist Libertarians).
But here Chesterton spun a fascinating tale of a policeman who goes under-cover to foil a bomb plot. The seven anarchists involved use day-of-the-week code names; thus, our policeman becomes "Thursday".
As you approach the end of this fine work you might ask yourself, "Where the heck is this thing going?" But just hang in there -- it makes total sense when all is revealed.
While I don't consider this work a real genuine page-turner, it did manage to maintain my interest. For me, this is Chesterton's Magnum opus.
I highly recommend this 1908 book to anyone who is interested in thrillers, mysteries, and/or British literature.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Vapid and more than a little pretentious
Review: Most people find themselves unable to clearly express their ideas not because those ideas are brilliant, but because they are jumbled. I think Chesterton belongs to this latter sort. The book contains few original thoughts, although it does retell some basic philosophical problems semi-competently. That's about all there is to it--and, well, the prose is good. The action is vague and hackneyed--like a hollywood blockbuster. The characters are stilted, lifeless and asexual. One has to smoke a lot of good pot or watch a lot of bad movies beforehand if one wishes to find this stuff impressive.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Your blue sock is behind the dryer.
Review: I went into reading this book with such strong misconceptions concerning what it was about. Like the characters whom see things completely different it seems like the readers of this book see its meaning quite differently as well. It is a crazy allegory but of what?
On a stylistic level Chesterton's prose is unique and well crafted. Chesterton has his own voice in his writing powerful, artful, and clear. On an abstract level I can't help but feel I got something out of the book but I am at a loss to say what. I was told, long ago, that the book was about the futility of much of what passes for philosophy and the book was a mockery of this in the promotion of faith and traditional religious devotion. I only vaguely got the notion that the book was about this. I could see how the book was about the futility of judging others or creating "us" verse "them" groups because we are all brothers, the ideas and classifications we use to classify each other are futile and meaningless and make a mockery of humanity in the eyes of God, so go with the established/ traditional way of doing things otherwise one is really in rebellion with oneself; but I don't know for sure if that is correct.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Chesterton hits close to home with this thriller
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when I was given this book by a friend - all I knew is that Chesterton is an amazing writer and I was not disappointed in the least after reading The Man Who was Thursday. The story is intriguing and moves the reader along page by page until one is almost finished with the book before even knowing it. The characters are interesting - and as one person commented about the book - the real characters are the ideas, not the individuals themselves. Chesterton is a master at communicating ideas and then embodies those ideas in characters which connect to the reader. This "psychological thriller" is more than just a quick, easy and entertaining read - it is actually quite provocative and in some sense unnerving in the same way that Huxley's Brave New World seems to strike too close to home in today's culture.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The perfect spy novel
Review: Simply the best spy novel I ever read. Furthermore is a christian allegory of the contradictions of human nature viewed from a sinful perspective, which leads us to the marvelous mistery of the good and the evil, through the eyes of an undercover agent.
Review Summary: Early terrorism thriller
Review: Today it's al Qaeda... in Chesterton's time it was anarchists, ("no government is good government," sort of early-period extremist Libertarians).
But here Chesterton spun a fascinating tale of a policeman who goes under-cover to foil a bomb plot. The seven anarchists involved use day-of-the-week code names; thus, our policeman becomes "Thursday".
As you approach the end of this fine work you might ask yourself, "Where the heck is this thing going?" But just hang in there -- it makes total sense when all is revealed.
While I don't consider this work a real genuine page-turner, it did manage to maintain my interest. For me, this is Chesterton's Magnum opus.
I highly recommend this 1908 book to anyone who is interested in thrillers, mysteries, and/or British literature.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Vapid and more than a little pretentious
Review: Most people find themselves unable to clearly express their ideas not because those ideas are brilliant, but because they are jumbled. I think Chesterton belongs to this latter sort. The book contains few original thoughts, although it does retell some basic philosophical problems semi-competently. That's about all there is to it--and, well, the prose is good. The action is vague and hackneyed--like a hollywood blockbuster. The characters are stilted, lifeless and asexual. One has to smoke a lot of good pot or watch a lot of bad movies beforehand if one wishes to find this stuff impressive.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Your blue sock is behind the dryer.
Review: I went into reading this book with such strong misconceptions concerning what it was about. Like the characters whom see things completely different it seems like the readers of this book see its meaning quite differently as well. It is a crazy allegory but of what?
On a stylistic level Chesterton's prose is unique and well crafted. Chesterton has his own voice in his writing powerful, artful, and clear. On an abstract level I can't help but feel I got something out of the book but I am at a loss to say what. I was told, long ago, that the book was about the futility of much of what passes for philosophy and the book was a mockery of this in the promotion of faith and traditional religious devotion. I only vaguely got the notion that the book was about this. I could see how the book was about the futility of judging others or creating "us" verse "them" groups because we are all brothers, the ideas and classifications we use to classify each other are futile and meaningless and make a mockery of humanity in the eyes of God, so go with the established/ traditional way of doing things otherwise one is really in rebellion with oneself; but I don't know for sure if that is correct.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Chesterton hits close to home with this thriller
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when I was given this book by a friend - all I knew is that Chesterton is an amazing writer and I was not disappointed in the least after reading The Man Who was Thursday. The story is intriguing and moves the reader along page by page until one is almost finished with the book before even knowing it. The characters are interesting - and as one person commented about the book - the real characters are the ideas, not the individuals themselves. Chesterton is a master at communicating ideas and then embodies those ideas in characters which connect to the reader. This "psychological thriller" is more than just a quick, easy and entertaining read - it is actually quite provocative and in some sense unnerving in the same way that Huxley's Brave New World seems to strike too close to home in today's culture.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The perfect spy novel
Review: Simply the best spy novel I ever read. Furthermore is a christian allegory of the contradictions of human nature viewed from a sinful perspective, which leads us to the marvelous mistery of the good and the evil, through the eyes of an undercover agent.