The Lyre of Orpheus (Cornish Trilogy)
by Robertson Davies
published
1989
by Viking Adult
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binding
Hardcover, 480 pages
isbn
067082416X
(isbn13: 9780670824168)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 259)
Read in August, 2007
I paused for a couple of months, about 2/3 of the way through this book, because I simply wasn't enjoying it. I had never liked the character of Maria, in the first book of the trilogy (The Rebel Angels), nor found her romance with Arthur very plausible. So I couldn't empathize or really care about the implausible and bizarre predicament they got into in this book.
And Shnack -- a thoroughly unlikeable character, as well as her mentor who was equally unlikeable. It seemed that this book was c...more
And Shnack -- a thoroughly unlikeable character, as well as her mentor who was equally unlikeable. It seemed that this book was c...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
patrons of the arts
This book haunted me before I picked it up. There it was on everyone's shelf. There it was, cheap, on the used book shelf at the bookstore. It seemed to be everywhere. I'd always pick it up and then promptly put it back down again. It seemed like a book I should read. I mean, it's called "The Lyre of Orpheus" for crying out loud and Robertson Davies is no slouch. A book about putting on a mythic opera? Should be the book for me. But I always pushed it aside.
Then it showed up on the...more
Then it showed up on the...more
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I first read Davies' Cornish series (What's Bred in the Bone, The Rebel Angels, and Lyre of Orpheus) a few years ago and loved it. They are all excellent, but this is my favorite of the trio. These books are complex and meaty enough to stand up to repeated readings. Each time I read them I feel that I am becoming reacquainted with old friends that I haven't seen for a while and have forgotten some of their quirks and foibles.
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Read in January, 2008
Alas, my least favorite Davies book so far. It drags on far too much, centers around an incredibly boring bit about producing an opera, and doesn't do much to close up the otherwise brilliant Cornish Trilogy. I was all set to say this last of his trilogies was his best, but instead it's sort of washed out and tired.
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This is the last book in my favorite trilogy by one of my very favorite authors. Rebel Angels introduces us to the characters, and I don't know that this book answers all the questions raised during the reading of the first two books, but darn, it's fun!
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Very possibly Davies' most delicious book. His best? Who cares? I think this is his most delightful. I recommend reading the Cornish Trilogy backwards: read Lyre first, then What's Bred in the Bone, and then Rebel Angels.
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Read in June, 2008
Robertson Davies has a droll sense of humor which I love. I had to read something light after NADA.
It was a delight, as expected. Kind of like a funny A.S. Byatt, intellectual but readable.
It was a delight, as expected. Kind of like a funny A.S. Byatt, intellectual but readable.
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Otimistic, intelligent, and one of the best uses of Tarot symbolgy I've found. I really wat to read the other two parts of the trilogy.
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Read in July, 2007
Fascinating assortment of characters who interact while producing an opera.
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