Been waiting for this

This is a favorite series of mine from my college days so I was very happy to see it come up on audible. For years, when I was younger, I re-read it nearly every year. This is great storytelling but it's complex and multifaceted so beware if you are just looking for a fun light listen. It is a great tale infused with history, psychology, religion, theories on different styles of education, murder mystery, all wrapped up in a often humorous, sharp writing style. I think this is the most sedate of the 3 books but it's needed to glean insight into into the main characters. As Dunstan Ramsey says, he is Fifth Business and this book reflects it.

The reader, Marc Vietor is adequate. He is the style of reader who mostly just reads. Not a great deal of characterizations of the voices. I would have wished for a more versatile reader. Not sure about his doing Canadian voices but Simon Vance would have been an interesting choice for reader.

28 people found this helpful

An Under-appreciated Masterpiece

"As I have grown older my bias--the oddly recurrent themes of history, which are also the themes of myth--has asserted itself, and why not?"
- Robertson Davies, Fifth Business

Robertson Davies is one of those authors who has constantly been a peripheral artist. I've seen his books, corner of my eye, at bookstores (used and new) but never focused. Never stayed. Never picked one up. Recently I asked a couple friends to recommend some bigger books (or series) that they really liked. A friend of mine, who is an author and shares many similar tastes (Patrick O'Brian and John le Carré, etc) recommend the Deptford Trilogy by Davies. So, I picked it up.

Gobsmacked. Ach mein Gott! This book is good. It reminded me of an intellectualized version of John Irving (later I discovered Irving LOVED/LOVES Davies) mixed with a bit of John Fowles. He is a master of time, place, and character AND he is also one of those authors whose prose is full of little. quotable bon mots or philosophical epigrams. And while I readily admit that these are a bit like sugar sprinkles for me -- they work and their is a reason I adore them.

Anyway, the book carried a great deal of emotional resonance with me. Enough so that I'm jamming a copy I bought for my wife to read (she is a beast on books, so I bought her a mass-market version for her pleasure and sacrifice...she doesn't get the hardcover one I have). I am excited to spend more time with these characters in books two (The Manticore) and book three (World of Wonders). I'll return and report as I finish.

22 people found this helpful

Thanks, Audible, but mildly disappointing

This is another novel I've always wanted to read but wouldn't have gotten to if not brought to audio. Since it finds itself on "best novels of all time" lists, my expectations were very high; however, I enjoyed books in Davies' Cornish and Salterton trilogies more. While Fifth Business is a very worthwhile listen, it's not THE great Canadian novel, but maybe it was the great Canadian novel of the Canadian psyche of its day (1970?).

I love Davies' old fashioned, (and sometimes) poetry-infused prose. The narrator was good, but it takes someone like the late Frederick Davidson to get his tongue around those multiclaused sentences in a natural sounding way. (and to be really picky, the Brit Davidson did a better job of sounding old fashioned Canadian vowels than Vietor (who may not have even attempted that little added touch to the pre WWII Canadian English of the characters - I imagine that Davies would have delighted in that little touch-up to the vowels)

I've no formal literary background, but Davies seems to me to be the great Jungian bridge between colonial and postcolonial CanLit and culture. And for 1970, this tale was probably innovative insight into the evolution Canadian nationhood. For non Canadians, Fifth Business might explain how we got from a nation of "hewers of wood and drawers of water" to "gee, eh!" (or G20) status. And it spins a darn good tale with some wonderful word play and images along the way. I'm looking forward to books 2 and 3. (The spirit of Davies is probably laughing about an American audio company making his novels accessible to Canadians who skipped through him on their university reading lists.)

22 people found this helpful

Enjoyable and complex

Would you consider the audio edition of Fifth Business to be better than the print version?

Yes, just simply from the fact that I can listen to it while doing other things, so I am not as concerned about the time spent on a large book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fifth Business?

It felt very rich and deep, like I was eating second and third helpings of a delicious cake without a concern of gaining anything but mental weight.

Have you listened to any of Marc Vietor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I very much appreciated Marc Vietor's performance and there was another reviewer who indicated she would have preferred Frederick Davidson. I personally do not agree. I very much like Marc Vietor's cleanliness of style, crispness of voice, subtleness of accent. He provided an excellent author's voice that I could only imagine Robertson Davies as a dramatist would have been quite pleased. It is nice that the performer doesn't inject too much of his own interpretation and personality and doesn't over act. That, for me, get's in the way of my own interpretation, so yes Marc Vietor is probably singly responsible for me continuing on with Robertson Davies trilogies.

If you could rename Fifth Business, what would you call it?

A traveling show of curious characters leading to murder

Any additional comments?

Ah, this was a gift of the depth of the human intellect.
Robertson Davies captures aspects of our culture and tantalizes us with the idea that we are all wealthy in some corners of our mind, certainly in imagination and understanding. We can live in books and that is often good enough. I thought everyone had at least 20 hidden talents and isn't it nice to leave the world of the easy reductions and simplistic generalizations. Robertson Davies is a man that has done Canada proud by elevating the whole of humanity.

11 people found this helpful

THE DEPTFORD TRILOGY

In this trilogy, THE FIFTH BUSINESS, THE MANTICORE, WORLD OF WONDERS Davies traces the ripples in the lives of the three protagonists of one snow-wrapped stone thrown by one little boy at another little boy who dodged it. Can one ever foresee the impact of a careless act or word on the futures of oneself and others. A rock centered snow ball thrown by the fair haired son of the small town’s most prominent family thrown at and dodged by the son of a history professor. A rock-centered snow ball that is dodged by the intended target and hits the pregnant wife of a local minister who delivers a premature baby boy.

Davies traces the lives of these three boys as they separate and intertwine over their lives. He is a master story teller and draws upon his wide knowledge of history, literature, music, and even magic. He is a joy to read (listen) and also learn more than you might expect.

Why the trilogy? When I find an excellent writer, I enjoy immersion. I recommend all three books be enjoyed one after another; however, each book stands on its own.

6 people found this helpful

Love John Irving? You'll love this!

Any additional comments?

If you love John Irving's sagas, you'll enjoy Robertson Davies.

This trilogy was recommended to me probably 30 years ago and many times since. But it was a friend's recent comment comparing the two authors that made me finally make time.

I'm glad I did. It was well written, quirky and oddly compelling. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.

5 people found this helpful

I took a chance, and was greatly rewarded.

This isn't my normal genre. I generally don't like books set in this time period, or books that don't have something immediately gripping in the plot. Regardless, I gave this book a chance - mostly because I liked the cover and thought it was about running a business. After the first few chapters, I became so attached to the main character that finishing this book feels a bit like losing a friend. I'm astonished. More importantly, I'm very satisfied. The reading was great, too.

3 people found this helpful

The Holy (?) Trinity

Davies writing style is incredibly engaging while still somehow sounding formal.

This is a great complex story that works on many levels. As a straight-forward memoir, as a fable, as a myth--perhaps as the story of a Saint. Or maybe Saints? Or Devils.

I laughed often while reading it--Davies delivery of humor is so dry that I generally "got" it while listening to the next sentence--so had to pause and rewind. (Therefore the book took me a bit longer than advertised to finish).

The narration was very good. Vietor's slight changes in voice for the various characters generally sufficed. Maybe he went a bit too far with his a Spanish accent.

3 people found this helpful

Unlike Any Book I’ve Ever Read

Or listened to, for that matter.

The narrator is excellent. His dry, matter-of-fact style is perfect and accentuates the droll humor and irony perfectly.

I was in love with the story from the outset because the protagonist would have been an exact contemporary of my grandfather and described his youthful emotions and experiences in a way that was very familiar to me. Davies had the characterization of a Protestant white male in a small town down to a tee. A particular character type of that era — is a more accurate description.

The way the plot slowly unwound was mesmerizing. The pace was slow and deliberate, but each separate event had its own interest and significance and still fits neatly into the total puzzle of the story. The main characters are three young men who grew up in the same small town. Each one has a remarkable life — one a famous writer and historian, another a rich executive and politician and the third a famous magician. Their lives are all tied together by events in the first few pages of the book and the woman the events touch. The story starts in 1908 and ends in 1970. On the surface it didn’t seem like the kind of novel I would like but I’d heard the author praised and I wasn’t disappointed.

Impossible to describe but this book was simultaneously entertaining and profound. It was also a marvelous piece of prose. Beautiful writing. This is a must read.

2 people found this helpful

Now I know why it's a classic of Canadian literature

Suddenly, I have a new entry among my list of favorite books. And I'm thrilled with anticipation to know it is only the first of a trilogy, all narrated by Marc Vietor, who did an absolutely faultless job of Fifth Business. I also recommend my favorite audiobooks to my other audiobook-listening friends, and Fifth Business will join The Grapes of Wrath, Gates of Fire, and Gentlemen of the Road as my most recent favorites.

2 people found this helpful