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A review by marc129
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton
2.0
I don't like allegorical literature, and I'm not particularly crazy about murder and detective stories, nor absurdist stories. This book is all these in one, so this clearly wasn't my thing. I can hear you think: "My God, what a dull person this reviewer is!", and perhaps I am. Now, I must concede there’s much to laugh about in this 'nightmare' tale, because Chesterton has turned it into a really hilarious satire. And certain action scenes are darn well written and keep you captivated, like a breathtaking roller coaster. But that is about it: the story has too many unbelievable twists, it contains too many slapstick elements, and regularly turns into an absurd grotesque. What irritated me the most is how ostentatious Chesterton inserted spiritual references into the text. Now, I'm not against deeper layers and even spiritual ones in novels. On the contrary, when it's done properly and subtle enough, it surely can be a plus. In the few Father Brown stories I read of Chesterton, this worked really nice. But in this novel all subtlety has disappeared and the references are way too obvious. Therefore, it is absolutely unjustied to compare this book with 'Alice in Wonderland', as is often done.
What is interesting about this book is of course that Chesterton has taken a group of (alleged) anarchists as main characters. In his days, early 20th century, they were 'hot', as the feared terrorists of that period (who successfully carried out numerous of bloody attacks on heads of state and government). I wonder to what extent this book by Chesterton was an elaborate parody of Joseph Conrad's book, [b:The Secret Agent|86658|The Secret Agent|Joseph Conrad|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171075859l/86658._SY75_.jpg|3876535], which was published a year earlier, and which also poked fun at the anarchists, but in a much more serious way. I'm definitely going to give Chesterton another chance, but then it really has to be better than this book.
What is interesting about this book is of course that Chesterton has taken a group of (alleged) anarchists as main characters. In his days, early 20th century, they were 'hot', as the feared terrorists of that period (who successfully carried out numerous of bloody attacks on heads of state and government). I wonder to what extent this book by Chesterton was an elaborate parody of Joseph Conrad's book, [b:The Secret Agent|86658|The Secret Agent|Joseph Conrad|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171075859l/86658._SY75_.jpg|3876535], which was published a year earlier, and which also poked fun at the anarchists, but in a much more serious way. I'm definitely going to give Chesterton another chance, but then it really has to be better than this book.