Rating: 
Summary: Genius!
Review: A group of anarchists dedicated to the destruction of the world? Get prepared for a scary and amusing adventure! This book reveals in an amazing way the genius of G.K.C. It's a difficult story to describe but there is, at least, to ways to interpret it: first of all, as the progress of a surreal riddle that ends in a bizarre culmination created by Chesterton; and second, as a type of religious allegory full of "hidden" meanings. In any case, this book will satisfy the wise readers looking for a good time, and also those who will dare to discover, as the subtitle encourages, the full significance of this "nightmare"...(*You should also find the book interesting if you're familiar with the work of C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald, or have a particular interest in Christian apologetics. Chesterton had, as it is well known, a deep influence on Lewis and a generation of Christian thinkers.)
Rating:
Summary: A Weird Masterpiece
Review: If only all Christian apologists were as eloquent and brilliant as Chesterton. He never hides the fact, he never uses silly rhetorical tricks to try to convince you, "See, you really believe in Christianity!" as so many do. I don't agree with Chesterton on much of anything, but he at least understands his opponent's attitude better than many more simple-minded religious conservatives. (He was, in fact, good friends with George Bernard Shaw.) The book *is* a "nightmare"; this is what its subtitle states; despite what an earlier reviewer remarked, Chesterton himself, in the book's afterword, insists that it ought to be taken that way; more importantly that's the way the narrative itself appears. All the objects, people, and backgrounds are loaded with wierd supernatural significance. The narrator's fears and desires constantly distort the world he sees around him. Of particular interest is Chesterton's peculiar skill at making everything pregnant with meaning like this. Borges picked up on this skill, and put The Man Who Was Thursday in company with Moby Dick, Vathek, and Robert Louis Stevenson's horror writings. (An example: "It was as though, at the eastern edge of the world, there is a tree that is both more and les than a tree; or, at the western edge of the world, something, perhaps a tower, whose very shape is evil.")
This is only in the loosest sense a detective story; it starts out that way, but if you insist on looking for a "whodunnit" you will be disappointed. By the end it transforms into full-fledged Christian allegory. But it never seems like a easy cop-out, the way, say, the end of C. S. Lewis' Narnia books do. Chesterton's thesis, if one can call it that, is that even a nightmare about atheism, modernity, and anarchists still has some potential to transform itself into something profound and sacred. Whether you like that or not, he gives you an intellectual run for your money. Besides which the book is worth rereading for the prose alone. Chesterton, anti-modernist that he was, was also one of the best stylists of modernist literature.
Rating:
Summary: Commentary on the Extraordinary
Review: In his work, The Man Who Was Thursday, Chesterton grabs the reader by the vital organs and does not let go without leaving the reader breathless, intrigued, and starstruck. His complete mastery of the English language has one laughing at the romanticism, awed at the intellect, and mystified at the imagery. Word choice is exact, and the plot develops smoothly. However, these aspects merely complete the masterpiece as Chesterton muses on philosophical issues. He termed it a "nightmare," but if this be a nightmare, may I never have a pleasant dream again.
Rating:
Summary: A nightmare?
Review: "The Man Who was Thursday" is a fantastic, bizarre puzzle that defies attempts at explanation or description. On the surface, it is a spy story about anarchistic terrorists with elements of suspense and paranoia; as you dig a little deeper, a black comedy emerges; peeling back a few more layers reveals a philosophical underbelly; and it all ends in an uproariously enigmatic denouement worthy of Lewis Carroll. If the book is, as its subtitle indicates, a nightmare, we all should hope to have dreams as sweet as this. The hero, Gabriel Syme, is a poet-detective (yes, seriously) who works for a special branch of Scotland Yard dedicated to apprehending "intellectual" criminals, particularly anarchists, because they tend to be the most subversive and therefore the most dangerous. By operating undercover as a poet-anarchist, Syme manages to infiltrate the seven-member Central Anarchist Council, who alias themselves using the names of the days of the week, and fills the vacant slot of "Thursday." The Council's main directive is to cast the world into chaos by assassinating heads of state, and their current plan, as masterminded by their president, "Sunday," is to bomb the upcoming meeting of the Russian Czar and the French president in Paris. It is, of course, up to Syme/Thursday, who is always at risk of being exposed as a policeman, to put a stop to this nefarious scheme, to which there is naturally more than meets the eye. As the plot unfolds, it breaks down (or builds up) into an indescribably wild farce; Syme's mission turns into a picaresque adventure of disguises, a swordfight, and several chases -- involving horses, cars, an elephant, and a hot-air balloon. At the end of the book, a surprise is waiting; a strange detachment from everything that has preceded it, which slyly lets the reader in on its symbolic joke. If not for its relentlessly silly tone and idiosyncratic resolution, "The Man Who was Thursday" could be a perfect sister novel to Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent." Like fellow British wits Dickens, Wodehouse, and Waugh, Chesterton is that rare sort of writer who is skilled in combining breathtaking narrative with irreverent and intelligent comedy and whose prose is as poetical as it is humorous. The fact that Kingsley Amis called this novel the "most thrilling" book he'd ever read speaks volumes.
Rating:
Summary: Kind of weird but worth it
Review: I have just finished this book and have to say, I concur with Kingsley Amis (writer of the introduction) who said that it was the "most thrilling book he has ever read." Chesterton weaves together a combination detective story, wierd dream ("Nightmare" as he says on his cover page), and social commentary. It's certainly not an apologetic book (as C.S. Lewis said, one can't always be defending the faith, sometimes one has to encourage those already converted), but elements of Christianity do come through (especially Chesterton's sensible view that your faith should affect every area of your life and outlook to the world). The hero, Symes (who is called Thursday) is a detective and a Christian who provokes an anarchist and infiltrates a world-wide underground anarchist society. From there, I won't spoil the story but there are many adventures, twists, and turns. This part I thought very well written. Every new discovery Symes makes literally had me on the edge of my seat. Things become more and more bizarre (right in line with Chesterton's own description of his book as a "Nightmare") until a very bizarre ending that I confess I have still not fully absorbed. There is a great deal of symbolism and allegory in the book, which is not clear until at least a third of the way through the book. In this way, the book is similar to C.S. Lewis's book "That Hideous Strength" (the third book in his space trilogy that includes "Perelandra"). Like Lewis's book, "Thursday" starts off very realistic (although with some hints of the bizarre twists to come) and gets more and more strange as the book goes on. Two things that will be helpful to understanding much of the symbolism: (1) Read the afterword at the end of the book by Chesterton. Unlike Amis's introduction, I wouldn't read it before you start reading the book. I'd recommend reading it after about a third of the book, perhaps right around the time the Pole is "unmasked" (that is, around chapter 6). (2) Also helpful is Martin Gardner's commentary on the book. There is another edition of the book that has Gardner's comments, but the most important parts of his commentary are available on the Internet (just search ye shall find them). This lays out the symbolism in more detail than the former, so if you want to figure it out for yourself don't read this until the end of the book. Finally, after you read through the book once, think about it and read comments such as Gardner's, then go back and read it again. As Amis says in his introduction, you can read this book many times and get new things out of it every time.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-Provoking Novel
Review: Chesterton writes a fascinating novel that seems to be about faith in the end, although one would not have suspected that at the beginning. It is very important to remember that the subtitle of the book is "A Nightmare" (missing from most covers) when you read it as this helps to interpret the book. Chesterton added a note to some editions to emphasize this.
Rating:
Summary: A NIGTMARE IN THE KEY OF JOB
Review: The thing that strikes me most abut this book is how relevant it is to today even though it was written almost a century ago. The boogyman of that time--the anarchist, has a lot in common with our own chosen boogyman--the terrorist. The response of the "heros" of the book are very similar to the response of the Western World of today: they are all over the map. One could get so caught up in counting similarities and dissecting philosophies, that the biggest, almost garishly glaring fact about The Man Who Was Thursday could be missed: it is a masterpiece. The Man Who Was Thursday is a tense, masterfully structured thriller that has powerful echoes of the Biblical book of Job. Chesterton subtitled this novel "a nightimare." The characters of The Man Who Was Thursday move through a world twisted by forces outside of their comprehension. They ultimately encounter the nightmare of a deity-figure who is more of a force of random and capricious nature than a personal being. God's non-answer in the book of Job is amplified to a worldview in The Man Who Was Thursday. The genius of Chesterton is that his book produces a question in the soul of the attentive reader that demands and points the way to an answer. This is indeed a book worthy of reading, reflection, and even interaction. It blows through you like a wind that cannot leave what it touches unchanged. I give The Man Who Was Thursday my highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Bemusing. Spellbinding.
Review: This novel is an odd sort of a marvel. It's a little bit of a mystery, a touch of a fantasy, and a tad of a biography. Nobody knows quite what to make of it, and everyone has a different interpretation. It charms and intrigues, mystifies and bemuses. Some say it's a Christian allegory; others say autobiography - some say it's a political statement; others say it's just a story. Make what you will of it or say what you want, the general consensus is in: the book is a beauty. A nightmare. A must-read.
Rating:
Summary: What on earth can you label this book as?
Review: This book seems to defy description. Some say metaphysical thriller, others say philosophy lightly diguised as a spy novel. Chesterton himself said it was best called a nightmare; as in the ones we wake up from. I can only call it a parable.
The first ten chapters certainly feel like a spy novel; you spend them wondering how the hero, Gabriel Syme, will prevent himself from being unmasked amongst an anarchist conspiracy while in turn unmasking the conspirators themselves. But after Syme finds himself chasing one of the conspirators,(don't worry, I'm not giving anything away)the book quickly becomes very philosophical and you begin to feel that every single character in it represents something or someone in real life. One also sees paralels to the book of Job in the last chapter.
So what is it? I really can't say. One thing is apparent, however; Chesterton is telling us something very important in the form of a story like every other parable or fable. Most certainly one of Chesterton's greatest books.
Rating:
Summary: A True Masterpiece
Review: This book, whos primary theme appears to be dealing with the freedom of men to committ evil is profound, thought provoking, insightful, funny, other worldly. It is also philosophically and theologically challenging. This is the kind of book you can read again and again. I have now read it three times and will surely read it again.
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