The Cornish Trilogy
by Robertson Davies
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Read in November, 2005
recommends it for:
Adults who are still amazed by magic shows.
The Cornish Trilogy consists of three books. Each could stand on its own, but since they feature the same characters, and have similar themes and structures (in each book, for instance, the characters discuss a different artist), you should read them in order. The plot is too complex to explain in detail, but suffice it to say that the cast of characters, which includes a defrocked monk, a graduate student, her Roma mother who uses human feces to repair valuable violins, an Anglican priest, an...more
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Read in March, 2008
I'm revisiting books that I read ages ago. I picked up this one because I knew that I had read it, but I couldn't remember a thing about it. Even after opening the book and reading a few pages. It's starting to come back to me and I've got a pretty good idea of when I read it, but the plot still escapes me.
Now, normally I'd say that means the book is pretty bad (I re-read ALL of Bright Lights, Big City trying to find out where I'd left off) but in this case, I distinctly remembered the bo...more
Now, normally I'd say that means the book is pretty bad (I re-read ALL of Bright Lights, Big City trying to find out where I'd left off) but in this case, I distinctly remembered the bo...more
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Read in December, 2006
From the other reviews I've read of Davies, it seems that the consensus is that the Deptford trilogy is his best work. I disagree, though it's possible that I do so only because I read this whole trilogy first and hence it holds a special place for me. (I read Book 2 of Deptford before this series, but since I was in Togo at the time the rest of the trilogy eluded me till I returned to the US.) At any rate, it's a wonderful place to start reading Davies, where his usual dizzying variety of chara...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
The second book in the Cornish trilogy (Cornish is the name of a couple of the characters) was way more involving than the first. It's the life story of Francis Cornish, and what a life.
In the first book -- The Rebel Angels -- Francis has died and that book is about the three people Francis chose as executors of his estate. Francis was an art collector.
In Bone, we learn that he was much more than an art collector. His story is told in detail by his "Daimon" and the Recordi...more
In the first book -- The Rebel Angels -- Francis has died and that book is about the three people Francis chose as executors of his estate. Francis was an art collector.
In Bone, we learn that he was much more than an art collector. His story is told in detail by his "Daimon" and the Recordi...more
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Read in January, 2005
The series that made Davies one of my favorite writers. His language is brilliant, his characters are fantastically human, but it's the way he can delve into any subject--operatic vocal performance, the medieval diet, art forgery, Rabelais, gypsy fortune-telling--that makes his books such a delight.
The last book in this trilogy, The Lyre of Orpheus, is also the source of one of the best lines ever: "A Philistine is someone who is content to live in a wholly unexplored world."
The last book in this trilogy, The Lyre of Orpheus, is also the source of one of the best lines ever: "A Philistine is someone who is content to live in a wholly unexplored world."
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I loved "The Rebel Angels" and, after finishing it, I was thrilled to have two more books left in the "Cornish" trilogy.
The second book, however, totally drained me of my enthusiasm, and I even left it in my hotel room during a recent trip.
All of the great characters I'd come to enjoy in "Angels" were nowhere to be found. All I got was a long and painfully detailed biography of a person who had been a marginal character in the first book.
I'm not yet sur...more
The second book, however, totally drained me of my enthusiasm, and I even left it in my hotel room during a recent trip.
All of the great characters I'd come to enjoy in "Angels" were nowhere to be found. All I got was a long and painfully detailed biography of a person who had been a marginal character in the first book.
I'm not yet sur...more
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Read in January, 2003
Of the Davies trilogies, this is my favorite. Each book is a masterpiece: the"Rebel Angels" is a fascinating novel with a powerful intrigue where alchemy, greed and comedy brush elbows. The characters are truly extraordinary in their eccentricity. What is bred in the bone is a biography of sort, the corner stone of the trilogy, a deep dive into art, truth and illusion. The Lyre of Orpheus closes the trilogy with some resolution for some of the characters but also with an incredibly ent...more
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Read in March, 2008
I've owned this trilogy for a while now, but I had only read the first book in it ("The Rebel Angels"). It didn't strike me as deeply as the Deptford Trilogy. Now, however, I've just finished "What's Bred in the Bone." I've gone ahead and pushed the review up to five stars. I'll probably get to the last one this summer, and then I'll revisit this review and do my best to explain why Robertson Davies does more good for my soul than any other twentieth-century writer I've yet f
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I think this was the first Davies trilogy I read. His books are long and involved and almost without noticing you learn so many interesting things along the way. There are too many books I really want to read for the first time and all of the trilogies take quite a time committment. Too bad; I would love to read them a second time.
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Read in April, 2008
Only a little ways through so far, but I really love the world of academia in which this story is set. I read Fifth Business in high school and thought it was great. I've been meaning for ages to get back to Robertson Davies.
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Read in April, 1988
I read this for the first time in school. I ended up reading everyone as they came out. I love the characters in all his books but especailly Maria in this one.
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Read in October, 2007
Out of the three trilogies, most would say that the Deptford Triolgy is best, however I loved this the most..
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Now that school is two weeks away from being done I want to read something that I'll need time for.
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Read in September, 1998
Read over a quite fall in Algonquin. Whats Bred In the Bone was my favourite of the three.
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Read in June, 2005
Good stuff. A nerdy read, but, hell, I was in the novitiate.
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Read in September, 1991
Gypsies, art forgeries, and opera. What's not to love?
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Read in January, 2006
The middle book is the only one really worth the time.
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Read in January, 1992
recommends it for:
darci
I liked this trilogy. It was the first one I read.
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