Who killed Boy Staunton?
Around this central mystery is woven a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived trilogy of novels. Luring the reade... read full description
reviews
Aug 28, 2007
Ben
rated it: 
FIFTH BUSINESS
==============
This is a good book. It doesn't belong to my favorite class of artistic works, which I think of as the "Fire and Forked Lightning" variety. But it's quite good.
Roberston Davies tells his tale in a slightly detached, leisurely pace that I'm tempted to attribute to his being from Canada. The story certainly doesn't hit you like a hollywood movie plot ride. It's thoughtful and takes it's time, but it's a good story -- basically th More...
==============
This is a good book. It doesn't belong to my favorite class of artistic works, which I think of as the "Fire and Forked Lightning" variety. But it's quite good.
Roberston Davies tells his tale in a slightly detached, leisurely pace that I'm tempted to attribute to his being from Canada. The story certainly doesn't hit you like a hollywood movie plot ride. It's thoughtful and takes it's time, but it's a good story -- basically th More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jul 30, 2011
dan
rated it: 
This is probably the greatest trilogy I have ever read. I've reviewed each entry in the Deptford Trilogy individually, but the series is just so much better as a whole.
I think Robertson Davies is my favourite writer. Not author, but writer. You know how people wax poetic about how "vivid" the prose is in their favourite book? That's how I feel about Davies as a writer. I think my favourite author might be Pynchon or DFW or Faulkner, but my favourite writer is undoubtedly Da More...
I think Robertson Davies is my favourite writer. Not author, but writer. You know how people wax poetic about how "vivid" the prose is in their favourite book? That's how I feel about Davies as a writer. I think my favourite author might be Pynchon or DFW or Faulkner, but my favourite writer is undoubtedly Da More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Apr 29, 2008
Tricia
rated it:
After reading ''A Moralist Possessed by Humor': A Conversation With Robertson Davies" in the February 5, 1995 edition of the New York Times Book Review, I was intrigued by this man of mirth--a literary unknown to me--to give his books a try.
If I recall correctly, the only book available at the library that day was "Fifth Business" the first in this Deptford Trilogy. As is my habit, I cracked the spine open and took in the first page, to see if the style and content pi More...
If I recall correctly, the only book available at the library that day was "Fifth Business" the first in this Deptford Trilogy. As is my habit, I cracked the spine open and took in the first page, to see if the style and content pi More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
May 15, 2007
Kristen
rated it:
Whenever I mention this book the very few who recognize it ask me if I am Canadian.
No, I am not Canadian.
This book skirts a very fine line between the entirely possible and the gothically surreal. Told in trilogy form the story sprawls in the best possible way. The book is worth reading simply to gain the aquaintance of the narrating character. (I'm not sure I have crushed so hard on a literary figure since Schmendrick the Magician.)
His views and musings are so fresh and More...
No, I am not Canadian.
This book skirts a very fine line between the entirely possible and the gothically surreal. Told in trilogy form the story sprawls in the best possible way. The book is worth reading simply to gain the aquaintance of the narrating character. (I'm not sure I have crushed so hard on a literary figure since Schmendrick the Magician.)
His views and musings are so fresh and More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Mar 25, 2011
Bookspread
rated it:
Robertson Davies was a big fan of Jungian psychology, so if you enjoy archetypes in literature this will be a true character identification feast. How each narrator perceives the world around them plays also a big part in solving the Mysterious Death that drives the plot, so you get to play the shrink-detective.
The Best:
* The dialogue. Except when Magnus rambles, where it gets a bit stiff.
* The female characters (except for Leola Cruikshanks and Doctor Jo) a More...
The Best:
* The dialogue. Except when Magnus rambles, where it gets a bit stiff.
* The female characters (except for Leola Cruikshanks and Doctor Jo) a More...
3 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 16, 2010
Parksy
rated it:
Wonderful trilogy - my favorite of Davies trilogies...
------
From Amazon.com
"Who killed Boy Staunton?"
This is the question that lies at the heart of Robertson Davies's elegant trilogy comprising Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. Indeed, Staunton's death is the central event of each of the three novels, and Rashomon-style, each circles round to view it from a different perspective. In the first book, Fifth Business, Davies intr More...
------
From Amazon.com
"Who killed Boy Staunton?"
This is the question that lies at the heart of Robertson Davies's elegant trilogy comprising Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. Indeed, Staunton's death is the central event of each of the three novels, and Rashomon-style, each circles round to view it from a different perspective. In the first book, Fifth Business, Davies intr More...
Jun 11, 2010
Petra
rated it: 
A wonderful trilogy.
"Fifth Business" is another delightful Davies story. This one follows the life of Dunstan Ramsay as he tells his story. Small events of no apparant importance come back in large, important ways.
I enjoyed "The Manticore", which is told from David Staunton’s point of view. It has some overlap with Fifth Business but David’s point of view and makes them complete. David tries to come to terms with his relationship with his father through therapy. More...
"Fifth Business" is another delightful Davies story. This one follows the life of Dunstan Ramsay as he tells his story. Small events of no apparant importance come back in large, important ways.
I enjoyed "The Manticore", which is told from David Staunton’s point of view. It has some overlap with Fifth Business but David’s point of view and makes them complete. David tries to come to terms with his relationship with his father through therapy. More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 21, 2008
ES
rated it:
Read most of this book under the shadow of Cortez's Cathedral in Mexico sitting by a pool and smoking really bad pot.
Anyways, somebody I barely know suggested it. I'm glad he did...it got me through a tough time. Took my mind to another place when it was in another place to begin with.
Something quaint and imaginative about the way he writes, like a master storyteller with no other agenda than the story at hand.
Anyways, somebody I barely know suggested it. I'm glad he did...it got me through a tough time. Took my mind to another place when it was in another place to begin with.
Something quaint and imaginative about the way he writes, like a master storyteller with no other agenda than the story at hand.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 03, 2009
Margaret
rated it:
The Deptford trilogy revolves around the mysterious death (was it murder or suicide?) of businessman Boy Staunton; along the way it tells the life stories of Staunton's boyhood friend, Dunstan Ramsay; of Staunton's son, David; and of enigmatic magician Magnus Eisengrim. Though the books are full of Davies' trademark wit and erudition, I found that they didn't work for me as well as the Cornish trilogy or the Salterton trilogy, and the second and third books didn't live up to Fifth Business. I th
More...
Jun 26, 2010
Donna
rated it:
Just recalled this author and the best of his trilogies. Read the review...the books are elegant, cleverly funny, inventive, never predicable...great reads! I would love to read and discuss with you!!
THIS IS ANOTHER TRILOGY WE HAD DISCUSSED READING TOGETHER...I AM CURIOUS AS TO HOW I WILL LIKE THE READ, THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
THIS IS ANOTHER TRILOGY WE HAD DISCUSSED READING TOGETHER...I AM CURIOUS AS TO HOW I WILL LIKE THE READ, THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 17, 2010
Tyrran
rated it: 
The first thing that came to my mind when I finished this books was "thank God that's over with"
I really enjoyed this book when I started it, but around 1/2 to 3/4 of the way I just wanted it to end, for me that's normally a bad sign because when I love a book I'm almost depressed to finish it.
The book definitely has some clever aspects to it which is easily played upon by Roberston Davies the narration is almost a triptych view of the main characters, But it's heav More...
I really enjoyed this book when I started it, but around 1/2 to 3/4 of the way I just wanted it to end, for me that's normally a bad sign because when I love a book I'm almost depressed to finish it.
The book definitely has some clever aspects to it which is easily played upon by Roberston Davies the narration is almost a triptych view of the main characters, But it's heav More...
Aug 16, 2011
August
rated it:
I guess I was at something of a low point when this book called to me from my shelves. My copy looked awful, bent and blackened, and it was only on a whim that I, a month or so earlier, decided to relieve my parents shelves of it where it had stood for 10years with little hope of being read again.
That my current state should make me call for the Deptford Trilogy made perfect sense. I had read all of Robertson-Davies novels during a 2 year period about a decade or so ago. Murther and walking s More...
That my current state should make me call for the Deptford Trilogy made perfect sense. I had read all of Robertson-Davies novels during a 2 year period about a decade or so ago. Murther and walking s More...
May 08, 2011
Judith
rated it:
This was a second read, part of checking to see how old favorites stand up after the rigors of RWW and "close reading". I am happy to announce that Robertson Davies stands up very well indeed. His ability to write an entire book within the POV of a single narrator and carry it off--is astonishing. Fifth Business, the first of the trilogy, is mesmerizing, which, given the character is in character. The second, The Manticore, isn't quite as engaging, because the narrator isn't a lova
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 24, 2011
Janice
rated it:
I've read and thoroughly enjoyed other of Robertson Davies' detailed, leisurely, somewhat donnish books, and decided to make quick work of this trilogy during a slow couple of weeks over the summer. I wasn't as enchanted with this threesome, which felt slightly attenuated to me. Fifth Business was a rich and mostly fascinating start to the intertwined fates of the fusty but sympathetic Dunstan Ramsey, his boyhood nemesis Boy Staunton, and the odd child who will become Magnus Eisengrim, a world-c
More...
Feb 10, 2012
Warnie B.
rated it:
I reviewed each of the three books in this trilogy as I finished them, but I figured I'd review the series as a whole as well.
I was not looking forward to reading Fifth Business much at all. And, sad to say, it was in large part due to the fact that I hated the first cover I saw of it so much. It's a stupid reason, I know.
Anyway, almost as soon as I opened the thing up, I was competely hooked. Davies has such a way with words. It's not an action-packed book by any stretc More...
I was not looking forward to reading Fifth Business much at all. And, sad to say, it was in large part due to the fact that I hated the first cover I saw of it so much. It's a stupid reason, I know.
Anyway, almost as soon as I opened the thing up, I was competely hooked. Davies has such a way with words. It's not an action-packed book by any stretc More...
Sep 13, 2007
Jeff
rated it:
This was recommended to me by a colleague years ago. Frankly, I didn't think it would be my cup of tea. I figured it would be a little dusty, a little bloated. But my god, I was wrong. Just fantastic writing, three great books I couldn't put down.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 08, 2012
Isabel
rated it:
I had distinct feelings of déjà-vu at times while reading the first two books of this trilogy, so maybe I have read my parents' copy. If so it must have been a very long time ago, as I didn't remember any specifics of the story.
From rural Canada in the early twentieth century, through both world wars, life in travelling fairs and magic shows in North America and Europe, to a castle in Switzerland in the early 1970s, this story is told from several different points of view. I loved it More...
From rural Canada in the early twentieth century, through both world wars, life in travelling fairs and magic shows in North America and Europe, to a castle in Switzerland in the early 1970s, this story is told from several different points of view. I loved it More...
Jan 07, 2012
Kenzie
rated it:
I wanted to give the trilogy five stars because I love Robertson Davies' thesis (that myth, magic, and dreams are an often cast aside in modern society for lighter, sanitized, and more rational versions of reality, or something like that). I really loved Fifth Business and The Manticore. I would have loved World of Wonders, but there was a point where the story lost its momentum. Thankfully, Davies had set up enough of a mystery that I was determined to see how it would be resolved.
I More...
I More...
Jan 01, 2010
Don
rated it:
This got off to a great start, with the story of the snowball and the premature birth of Paul Dempster, and his mother's descent into sainthood, but the latter novels in the trilogy never worked quite so well as 'Fifth Business'. Maybe because the central narrative characters in the subsequent novels weren't as sympathetic or interesting as Dunstable Ramsey. 'The Manticore' was readable as a case example of Jungian analysis, and that sort of thing is always intringing, but it didn't add a huge
More...
Mar 29, 2011
Sue
rated it:
I wasn't enthralled with this trilogy that has to do with big themes of saintliness, illusion, friendship, and betrayal, played out on the little stage of a few people's lives, people who all started out in the tiny Canadian town of Deptford: Dunstan, the bachelor academic; Boy Staunton, the powerful businessman; David, drunken but brilliant lawyer and Boy's son; and Magnus, the world-famous magician. Each book in the trilogy re-examines the same lives from a different point of view. I came away
More...
Feb 23, 2011
Pam
rated it:
I read this for a Literature class in college. It was certainly not the sort of book I would have chosen to read if I were browsing the library shelves. Yet I liked it enough that I went back and re-read it a few years later. I don't remember a lot about it anymore, but the basic premise that sticks with me (and I've always liked books and movies based on this) is how the rest of our lives may be changed/shaped by one seemingly minor incident. I may even re-read it again someday! (at least
More...
Dec 12, 2010
Coren
rated it:
I am going to confess up front that Robertson Davies generally sits at the top of my list of favourite authors and he has some talented writers breathing on his neck.
The Deptford Trilogy, which comprises ‘Fifth Business’, ‘The Manticore’, and ‘World of Wonders’, is outstanding. It's a fantastic (in all senses of the word) mix of magic, mystery, and myth that grabs the reader on page one and simply never lets go. Almost impossible to describe, this book is truly amazing in its breadth More...
The Deptford Trilogy, which comprises ‘Fifth Business’, ‘The Manticore’, and ‘World of Wonders’, is outstanding. It's a fantastic (in all senses of the word) mix of magic, mystery, and myth that grabs the reader on page one and simply never lets go. Almost impossible to describe, this book is truly amazing in its breadth More...
May 02, 2010
Lexiatiya
rated it:
Strange and stagey. Obvious manipulation of characters to delineate psychoanalytic theory or theories about myth and collective unconscious. A modern "Canadian" context to certain mythical themes.
The principals are three Canadian boys from Deptford. One runs away with the circus and transforms himself into a European traveling magician. One becomes a hagiographer and teacher. The third takes his Protestant ethic and warps it, becoming a successful businessman who seems never More...
The principals are three Canadian boys from Deptford. One runs away with the circus and transforms himself into a European traveling magician. One becomes a hagiographer and teacher. The third takes his Protestant ethic and warps it, becoming a successful businessman who seems never More...
Dec 08, 2009
Laura
rated it:
This book, well really three books in one, is good but it accomplishes the difficult feat of making the task of reading an 805 page trilogy both interestingly necessary and yet surprisingly tedious and unfulfilling. The plot to each is good, original, and well-developed but there's no resolution to almost anything. You accept this for the ends of the first two books (as all you are required to do is turn the page to start the next book in the trilogy), but once you reach page 750 and realize thi
More...
Dec 22, 2008
Greyeyedminerva
rated it:
Technically I didn't finish this... I gave up somewhere in the third novel of the trilogy.
Despite this, I still think "Fifth Business," the first volume, is absolutely brilliant and one of the best things I've ever read. Dunstan Ramsay struck a chord with me, and I found his narration of the story perceptive and riverting.
The second volume, "The Manticore," is what did this in. The story is told as a series of (essentially) therapy sessions as the narrator (not More...
Despite this, I still think "Fifth Business," the first volume, is absolutely brilliant and one of the best things I've ever read. Dunstan Ramsay struck a chord with me, and I found his narration of the story perceptive and riverting.
The second volume, "The Manticore," is what did this in. The story is told as a series of (essentially) therapy sessions as the narrator (not More...
May 26, 2008
LaDonna
rated it:
I do love a big fat book, and putting a trilogy together in one volume makes for some big fat reading. The Deptford Trilogy is especially thick because of the author's unique style and old fashioned monologues.
It's true that nobody talks like that anymore, if they ever did, but it's a fascinating read, and I enjoyed the Canadian flavor as well.
Fifth Business, part one of the trilogy, goes a long way toward setting the small-town Canadian scene, and giving you a good look at characte More...
It's true that nobody talks like that anymore, if they ever did, but it's a fascinating read, and I enjoyed the Canadian flavor as well.
Fifth Business, part one of the trilogy, goes a long way toward setting the small-town Canadian scene, and giving you a good look at characte More...
Dec 15, 2007
Joseph
rated it:
Davies is like no other author, and sits atop my list of all time favorites -- though his is such a unique voice that it's difficult for me to pinpoint why I hold him in such high regard. His characters don't sound like anyone I've ever known, and frankly all sound like one another; sound, I suspect, like Davies himself must have. (He died in 1995.) But his voice is so erudite and impish ("donnish" too, for those of us who are unapologetic Anglophiles), his books so stuffed with arcana
More...
Apr 18, 2010
Mark
rated it:
Robertson Davies is a consummate and captivating writer. He could be described as 'old school' - proper, formal, classical even - never flashy, coarse or striving for effect. His plotting is immensely skillful and his characters come right off the page. Davies was clearly a very wise and erudite man and one with a great deal of humanity - there is so much in this trilogy that engages your brain and touches your heart.
Oct 30, 2007
Roger
rated it:
This book is amazing, mostly because it is so subtle and leisurely. As a previous reviewer noted, it walks the line between the plausible and the gothically surreal. It has two Davies hallmarks- a very erudite, intellectual approach to art and the self and moments of almost bizarre humor. The three novles in the trilogy are all very different in tone. It is the first, "Fifth Business", that really got me. The book is sprawling, but in a very comfortable way. Very few people can w
More...
Jan 03, 2011
Julia
rated it:
Do you like philosophical, psycho-analytical, sophisticated character driven prose? If the answer is yes - you will love this trilogy. The second book was almost fully dedicated to one of the character's course with his therapist. I was so into it that I ended up buying a textbook of psychology and learning some about psychoanalysis. This is how much this trilogy engaged me in the subject.
