The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton is a very strange book. The author Chesterton is also the author of the Father Brown mystery series which has been made into a great television series.
Though Father Brown has been a fun series to watch, I have never tried to read the books. But this book is very different and unusual novel. It is set as a mystery but does not follow the expected formula of a dead body that a detective uses to find a murderer.
This plot 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.
Gabriel Syme is a poet who argues in the park with another poet about whether poetry is about anarchism or the law. The man convinces Syme to join him at a anarchistic group meeting. They make each other take a vow of secrecy. In these group meetings each member takes the name of a day of the week. The leader is Sunday. No one in this book is what they seem.
A short book that is very complicated and has many very poignant messages.
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