THURSDAY

by Catherine Storr ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1972

Thursday is missing. But since his girlfriend Bee is down with mono her search for him is slow getting started. In the interim there are long chats with Mum -- and later with plump, good natured friend Lynne and the sympathetic school secretary -- about growing up, sex, happiness, the Coloured and life in the aggregate which, if not advancing any new observations, at least are ballast for the events that follow. Thursday is found in a withdrawn state -- a nervous breakdown according to the doctors, ""taken"" by the faeries according to old Mrs. Smith at the corner newsstand. For motives not well established Bee chooses to follow Mrs. Smith's advice and, come Midsummer's Eve, holds Thursday in her arms all night to release him from the good people's spell (though if the ""heavy drops of long awaited rain"" which fall during her vigil don't suggest what really happened, both the doctor's and Mum's nervous questions about sex might be a clue). Miraculously, Bee seems to have discovered a new therapy for mental illness -- ""I'm all right. Let's go home"" says Thursday the morning after. The process is hedged with enough symbolic ambiguities and apparently meaningful statements about the nature of reality to make the story seem somehow profound. But on second thought, both as plot and prescription, Bee's solution is nothing more than a crock of fool's gold.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1972

Categories: FICTION