book data
615 ratings, 4.38 average rating, 70 reviews
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published
June 1987
by Macmillan of Canada
binding
Hardcover, 863 pages
isbn
0771593848
(isbn13: 9780771593840)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 796)
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
some humans, but not all
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 the entire story of on...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 the entire story of on...more
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Read in February, 1995
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 piqued my ...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 piqued my ...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Sam
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 well put that I,...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 well put that I,...more
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recommends it for:
Aspiring carnies, german castle owners
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.
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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.
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to LaDonna by:
Lara
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 character...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 character...more
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
humanists and eccentrics
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
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
not sure about that one...
An interesting book...basically 3 in one...hence trilogy in the title. Deptford is the name of the town where the various characters lived at some point in their lives or where they grew-up and never went back to . It's a generational saga and each of the three volumes is told from the perspective of a different characters but there is loads of overlap between the characters and the stories. At the heart of it all is the death of a main character in volume one. He is a main character despite his...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
most
The Deptford Trilogy is 3 books. The first book, Fifth Business, sets the stage for a cast of characters that reveal themselves over the entire series. I think Dunstan Ramsey is Robertson Davies himself, and I think the female character, Liesl, is one of the most memorable characters I have ever read - who inspired her??
The second book, The Manicore, was tiresome to me in places. Heavy into Jungian psychology which was interesting at times, impossibly boring in others. Good ending, thoug...more
The second book, The Manicore, was tiresome to me in places. Heavy into Jungian psychology which was interesting at times, impossibly boring in others. Good ending, thoug...more
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Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone who likes something a little different
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
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Read in March, 2008
For some reason I had a hard time warming up to Dunstan Ramsay, the main character. The first book sets up for the big question that doesn't get answered until the last book. It's an in depth autobiography of Dunstan growing up in rural Canada. The second book is told through the eyes of Boy Staunton's son as he's getting pscyho analyzed in Switzerland. This was my least favorite book. However, I must say that I was really interested in the last book, World of Wonders because it was a fasci...more
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i started reading "world of wonders" many years ago when it was left in a guest house we were staying in. i found it fascinating b/c of the references to magic when intertwined with the "magic" of storytelling and fiction. i lost the book before finishing it, wound up buying "the deptford trilogy" and started at the beginning of the trilogy, "fifth business." finished that and i was in the middle of the second book "the manitcore" when i lost ...more
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Picking this up again after 16 years; enjoying it again so far.
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Read in January, 2008
Our book group read the first of the trilogy, The Fifth Business. I enjoyed it - liked the writing style, the characters. I found myself likening some of the characters and plot to Gatsby. Since I enjoyed it, I read the second in the trilogy, too. It was a psychological study of one of the sub-characters from his own perspective as he examines his own live and, subsequently, his father's. I didn't finish the third of the trilogy. I didn't find it nearly as "inviting" as the first...more
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I love Robertson Davies. I am immersed in the story and the story-teller before completing the first page of his novels. These three - Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders - are typical of Davies in that they are in-depth stories of quirky Canadian characters - in this case all from the small town of Deptford - filled with wisdom and humor and a deep understand of human nature. The stories are sweet, gritty, ironic, depressing, funny, very creative. You will wish you knew thes...more
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Read in May, 2008
Five stars might be generous, but I enjoyed these books very much. I read these three books straight through in the trilogy format and really enjoyed it. He's a strong, lesser known author who really spins a good yarn. The three books take you through the entwined lives of a few main characters all from the same small town in Canada around WWII. But this is not a war novel, it's a very well crafted story of people finding themselves and how their circumstances affected their ultimate outcome...more
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Read in March, 2008
I read this book while on a long trip around Europe, mainly a 7 day bike tour without company. I wonder if I would have finished it, had I not had so much free time. The writing style and desire to reach the end was enough to keep me reading, but I struggled through the final book and was a little disappointed in the end. Maybe I was just ready to finish... and maybe I was just too bored being with only this book for 7 days. I would probably not sell the book very well while recommending it.
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Robertson Davies is a wonderful writer. He treats the reader as an intelligent person. Sometimes you feel like you are discussing the plot of the story with the author while the story is unfolding. He's very clever. You will meet characters from one book to another in fun ways. This trilogy is a great place to start his books. After that, there are many other books and a couple other trilogies to explore. Once you've read one of his books, you will want to read more.
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Read in November, 2008
Trying to sum up this book in a paragraph blurb would be absolutely impossible. Davies is a master of juxtaposing hilariously grotesque images with amazing and moving philosophy. Davies believes that the world is what we perceive it to be, and that the modern scientific explanation is but one legitimate view. If you want to read a book that will make you laugh, think, and learn a little about theatre and Jungian psychology, this is the book for you.
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