Reader discussion: The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare

Public reader discussion about The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare in the WeRead Catalog by G. K. Chesterton.

[WP] An undercover police officer has managed to infiltrate a particularly ruthless street gang. It begins to become apparent that every other member of this gang is an undercover operative of another agency.

By smallSparrow6827

Getting into the Academy wasn’t some walk in the park, okay? I had to grind way harder than I should’ve, back then. I spent forever studying, learned all the little street terms and the gang code stuff they used, even got tattoos for the assignment. And I memorized the cops’ faces in the area too—just in case. I’m not gonna act like it was equal for everyone, because yeah, my memory is photographic, but still… it was a ton of work. So of course I finally make it in, and I’m a Grey Street Union member. The FBI had been watching them forever—months of digging—and they were tied up in drug deals all over the city, plus a bunch of other violent charges. And then somehow it all ends up on me, and them, in some dead bar. Like, two months after I joined, I finally tracked them down and got the “green light.” It should’ve been the perfect undercover job. The kind that boosts your resume and kicks your career into high gear. But I couldn’t shake this bad feeling. Something was off. I’m sitting there with the rest of them, everyone joking and swearing and carrying on. Bartender’s doing the whole “blind and deaf” routine like usual, but somehow the next drink is always in my hand at exactly the right time. Jim—big tattooed guy next to me—keeps laughing so hard he basically smashes into my arm and spills my drink all over the bar. Cool. Love that. So I’m like, can we cut it for a second? Everyone actually stops and stares at me, like I just grew a second head. Because I didn’t swear, didn’t talk with the accent I was supposed to use, none of that. I don’t even know why I bothered being calm, because it’s not like anyone else is subtle. Then Jim throws out my name like, “Steve?” and tries to play it off. I just don’t let it go. “Alright. Honest answer time. What agencies are you from?” Nobody talks for a minute, then Chris blurts it—full on, calling me a narc. And I’m just staring him down, like dude really just said that. Turns out Chris is actually City Police drug unit. And Tom is too. And apparently their whole department communication problem is so bad they managed to end up in here together and still pretend. Christian and Tom both go red as hell and shut up. I keep going, basically asking how long they’re gonna keep pretending and threatening to start naming more people. And yeah—after a few minutes, they all admit it. A bunch of officers and agents from different law enforcement outfits, all crammed into the same stupid situation. Really “motley crew” vibes. Then we’re just sitting there, awkward as hell, and I’m thinking I can’t believe they made it this far without realizing something. So I point out what tipped me off: half of them never actually do anything. They just talk, hang around, and occasionally trade around some crappy evidence bag. Jim’s stealing stuff, and yeah, I noticed. And they never fight for real either. They rough people up, sure, but it’s like they’re more focused on being seen doing it than actually getting anything done. After a while Jim finally goes quiet and says, “So I guess that’s it then. We fucked it up. Hard. So… what’s the point?” And Christian basically says he doesn’t want to go back to some desk job. Same, honestly. This was my first real shot at being someone. Then I’m like… we don’t have to. None of them think anyone else knows what happened except us, right? And if the higher-ups screwed it up, why are we the ones paying for it? So I pitch it: delete the recordings, wipe whatever’s on those mics I know you’re wearing, and we go back like tonight never happened. Make it fun. Put on a show for them. It’s a little slow at first, but then they’re all grinning like, ohhh, wait—yeah, that could work. Twenty minutes later we’re out of the bar and into the night, and I’m not even gonna lie—I’m smiling too. Meanwhile the bartender locks up and steps out, and he’s got that look like he just got some info he’s gonna cash in on. Like his boss at the DEA is gonna love this conversation and maybe he’ll finally get a better assignment. And honestly? I don’t know if I should be relieved or pissed that the whole thing turned into a setup from the start.

The best short novels you’ve ever read?

By orbit-eagle48

I’m trying to find some short novels—like, probably under 150 pages. But they need to be actually great, not just “good because they’re short.” I’m open to any genre and from anywhere in the world. If you can, please include the author so I know who to look up, and a quick synopsis would be awesome too. Can’t wait to hear what you recommend!

The Man Who was Thursday: A Meta-Thriller on Acid

By fuzzy_cougar

I actually heard about this one through another book too — it gets mentioned in This Side of Paradise as something Amory liked, even if he didn’t really get it, and that was enough for me to look it up. The little blurb sounded interesting, so I gave it a shot. Ended up reading it in two sittings since it’s pretty short but also moves really fast, with some kind of big reveal or twist popping up all the time. It was easy to get pulled in even with all the heavy poetic stuff and philosophy running through it, starting out kind of calmly with two poets arguing about anarchism. Then it kind of ramps up from there, slowly at first. The writing gets more and more dreamlike until suddenly you’re in this ridiculous dream situation where a guy has to go undercover in an anarchist secret group. It gets wilder and then eases off again, jumping from moments that feel almost clear to more strange revelations and vivid hallucinations, in a world where two ideas keep fighting over the whole story and people keep switching between friend and enemy. That keeps going until it hits full absurd weirdness before the ending finally lands and everything sort of clicks. And after that, the weird haze is gone and it’s back in the real world, with the main character a little wiser somehow, even if he can’t quite explain why. That sort of unclear, philosophical, breaking-apart thing is what made it work for me. Everything feels like it’s pointing to something bigger, some reason behind all the craziness, and even though it never just spells it out, by the time it comes back around you’ve got enough to make your own sense of it. Pretty exciting read, and there’s a lot to think about.

ONLINE BOOK "The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton" touch without signing cheap how to ebook text wiki

By roundAsh93

I’m not totally sure how I feel about Kelvin Haralson—might need to think on it more.

The Man Who was Thursday - Discussion

By FALLENBADGER

I’d honestly be interested to hear what other people made of this one, because I just finished it and there feels like there’s so much going on. I’d probably need the whole weekend to get over a Thursday like that. For real though: I don’t think I had any chance of guessing where this was headed. I thought I had a handle on it, but I was way off. Half the time I couldn’t even tell if I was reading some kind of philosophy debate, a mystery, or a weird metaphysical thing, but I do know I was into it the whole way. I can’t think of many books that hit me with that many questions about morality, ethics, the afterlife, and honor since Siddhartha, but this one did it in a totally different way. Instead of feeling like a normal, realistic journey, it all comes at you through this absurd chain of events. What impressed me most, even more than the ideas the author throws at you, was the pacing. The way everything moves, and how the scenes and writing line up with what the reader is feeling, works really well. It can make you stressed and confused or calm you down right after, and I don’t think I’ve seen that much. Overall I really liked it, and I’m glad I read it with friends too, because that pulled out a lot more depth and discussion that I might’ve missed otherwise.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

By jartiny2002

I just got done with G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday and wow, I really just need to talk about it. I picked it up because I saw Chesterton was one of Neil Gaiman’s favorite writers, so I had pretty much no idea what I was getting into. Since it’s so old, I figured it would be kind of a hard read, but I was actually surprised by how easy it was to get through. The story moves fast and keeps you hooked. That said, I’m not claiming I fully got all the philosophy, symbolism, or themes in it. In that sense, it already feels like something I should read again and maybe make more sense of the second time. If you’ve never read it or even heard of it, I really think you should give it a try. It kind of blew my mind. I honestly don’t even know what to say about it yet. Has anyone else read this? What did you think? Any interpretations? I really want to hear what other people got out of it. P.S. Sorry this isn’t a post about how I read and liked Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I hope this is fine here

Any recommendations for classic Sci-fi that still holds up

By glimmerGarden

I want to get into some classic sci-fi, but the older writing style sometimes throws me off. I tried Asimov and it felt pretty dry, though I’ve read other books from around that time and liked them (not sci-fi—like LOTR). Any suggestions for where to start?

Just finished reading "The Man who was Thursday" by G.K. Chesterton. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Any fellow redditors who have read it?

By tinyjar91

Yeah, a couple months back. It really wasn’t what I was expecting, but I ended up liking it. Some of the more ridiculous parts kind of made me think of Douglas Adams or something.

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday, is a psychological thriller that centres on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. This brilliant and unconventional novella is a tour-de-force of suspense-writing.

By paperbackmarket2003

He’s the person who gave me my favorite line ever. It says, basically, that kids already know there are dragons around, but the point of those stories is showing that dragons can actually be beaten.

What's up with all the horrible 'independently published' printings of The Man Who Was Thursday on Amazon?

By PageKettle

I ordered G. K. Chesterton’s *The Man Who Was Thursday* on Amazon, and honestly I should’ve looked closer, because the copy that showed up is a really awful printing. The typesetting is bad, and the back cover is ridiculous. I was kind of shocked that a fairly well-known cult classic would be put out like this, and when I checked Amazon I saw that searching the title turns up tons of these versions, all with different covers and all “independently published.” There’s apparently also a Penguin Classics edition that I’m guessing is decent, but you can’t really find it just by typing the title. It doesn’t even show up for several pages. You have to add “penguin” to the search, and even then it’s only the fourth result. So what’s going on here? Who’s making all these covers, and why? Is it just to bury the legit editions in the search results? And does this happen with a lot of other books too?

Questions for anyone who has read G.K. Chesterton's 'The Man who was Thursday'

By PhotonIsland48

I just finished **The Man Who Was Thursday** and I’m still kind of spinning on what I’m supposed to make of it. It’s got that allegory/conspiracy setup where anarchism and nihilism are getting pushed around like they’re tools for bigger questions about evil, free will, and manipulation—almost like a metaphysical thriller. I know people call it that, but I’m not sure how far that label really goes. One thing that confused me (and then sort of helped?) was Chesterton’s own postscript. He pretty much says a lot of the “this is secretly serious theology about God” reads happened because people missed the title page / subtitle and took the story way too literally. So now I’m wondering if Sunday is meant to be more like the personification of some kind of “wild doubt” or pessimism, and not just an actual divine stand-in. That said, I keep getting pulled toward the idea of Sunday as some sort of demiurge-ish presence—maybe even in a heterodox Christian way. I also read an essay arguing Sunday lines up with “nature” / Spinoza’s God, but I don’t really buy the whole worldview they’re coming from. Anyway, the big mystery is Sunday’s identity, and I don’t think I’ve got the answer nailed down. But I do have a couple of smaller questions that are bugging me: **A)** Why does Sunday end up being both the guy recruiting the infiltrators *and* the head of the supreme anarchist council? Is there a way to answer that without locking in a “this is exactly what Sunday is” conclusion? **B)** In the last chapter, the council confronts Sunday and each one’s dressed in the day-of-week outfit code names. Chesterton specifically notes the order lines up with Monday as the first day, Tuesday as the second, etc. Why point that out, instead of just making Sunday the first day like the Christian tradition does? Also there’s that Genesis bit Chesterton includes—where Syme sees the “fourth day” being tied to the sun and moon creation, except they’re counting days starting from Christian Sunday. It feels like more than a random detail, but I can’t tell what the payoff is. **C)** Do the notes Sunday drops while he’s fleeing mean anything? Dismissing them as “random” felt like a pretty weak explanation to me, at least compared to how carefully the rest of it seems put together. Curious what other people think, especially about A–C.