Deeply satisfying

The memoir of an unreliable narrator. It could be seen simply as the memoir of a man who was able to leave the shackles of his extremely parochial town, but is grievously injured in the First World War. But this character is unable to see his mystical effect on the others around him and the effects he sees are so slight as to be insubstantial.

A stunning book, narrated excellently.

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heading

it must be nearly 50 years since I last read this book. I recall enjoying it very much at that time, and I enjoyed listening to it this time, too. It's maybe a little slow, definitely not a thriller, but it rolls along quite intriguingly and I thought the narrator was very good.

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Saints everywhere

A strange book as Robertson Davies writes them!
I enjoyed very much the beginning, but found the middle part with all the saints, to be very long. However the end was good enough for me to want to listen to the next book.
I wonder if the fact that English is not my first language might be a reason for my finding parts of the book too long? I think if I read it in paper, I might have abandoned it.
The reader is terrific.

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An Intricate Masterpiece

It's been many years since I've spent time with Robertson Davies, my first exposure being the remarkable Cornish Trilogy which includes "What's Bred In The Bone". I'm old enough to have met him briefly during his time at the University of Toronto and to have heard him speak. I remember him as the sort of person I'd envision as a "man of letters": scholarly and erudite‚ and (I suspected) likely to have much more to him beneath that studied exterior.

The protagonist in this book, Dunstan Ramsay, is very close to Davies himself, both of whom grew up in small towns in Southwestern Ontario: an area I know very well. Both are scholars, both were "Masters" of a school/college and both are complex personalities. This particular book is written as a prolonged letter of confession by its protagonist Ramsay to the new headmaster of his school—although it's never completely clear why it's being written. The confession is a curious echo of Catholic practice from its Presbyterian-raised writer (Ramsay). Catholic magic is an important sub-text to this book in which a scholar with a stern Scots core is pulled by forces which are by turns exotic, tempting, repulsive, romantic, imposing or self-imposed.

I listened to this book on my evening walks and was deeply drawn into the story. It has a long narrative arc that runs over some 70 or so years and ends with a surprising event that I confess I didn't see coming. The book is Dickens-like in the remarkable characters who inhabit the story, and the well-formed minor players who come, and go—and re-emerge unexpectedly. Davies has a long fascination with the theatre and there's key elements of that here, at times didactically spelled-out like the Fifth Business nature of Ramsay In the story. The writing turns a shrewd eye to Canadian identity and history, to town and gown, and to hidden sides of the world (at least from a scholar's limited viewpoint) where Saints and Jesuits, magicians and freaks, priests and preachers, and sugar magnates are all players. It's a great ride in a world where a snowball can begin everything.

Marc Vietor does an excellent job of the narration and inhabits the core of Ramsay in convincing form. I could almost persuade myself that he was Canadian; however, a few minor mispronunciations gave it away. For instance the "Red Ensign" flag— it's "en'-sin", Marc, and the "Lieutenant Governor" is the "Leff"-tenant".

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3 people found this helpful

A work of substantial importance

This novel covers so many important life lessons, oddities and experiences with such wit and wisdom, with such surprising astonishment of story one has to hear it again and again. I’ve read it before years ago and the many years since has given me a deeper appreciation. And yet it’s so rich that I could hear it 1000 times and still be amazed and grateful to discover something new. One of the best novels ever written. Surely a gem in Canadian literature. Characters and plot impeccable in believability and complexity. I listened to the 9.5 hours in mere days. Mesmerizing.

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Interesting narration of a timeless Canadian classic

The story speaks for itself and is as fascinating now as when it was first published . The performance , notably the narrators voice and accent, was jarring to me at first. I eventually accepted it, but it changed and diminished Dunstan Ramsay’s character . Never the less, a very enjoyable rendition.

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2 people found this helpful

Margaret Atwood & Stephan King both recommended this trilogy and so far they are spot on....

Awesome story with wonderful twists at the most opportune moments.....well read capturing the mood quite well!

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2 people found this helpful

It's Great

I was always weary of Canadian literature, thinking it would be boring and tedious. The first novel of the Depford Trilogy, Fifth Business by Roberston Davies presented to me the opposite of my assumptions. A look at the life of Dunstan Ramsey presents an intriguing, eventful and bordering on fantastic world in which karmatic outcomes are certain no matter how long the length of time. Marc Vietor was amazing as always, he presents Ramsay as a distinguished but never arrogant character, although he plays fifth business in the story he tells. The performance, story and production overall were very well done and I definitely will continue to listen to the rest of the trilogy.

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Pretty Good!

I had to listen to it for a class. I was dreading the prospect of reading but this audio book made the process enjoyable!

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1 person found this helpful

Splendid reading of a Canadian classic.

Davies wraps us in the small town history, its mores, cloaks salient character developments with intrigue and magically reveals layers of complexity in flourishes with a sly and satisfying juggle, legerdemain at the novel's end.

Vietor's reading brought all of the book's inhabitants to life. All were heard, understood all the more because of his delivery. Because of his reading, people, not just characters lived and celebrated, suffered and died. Vietor enlivened Fifth Business like nobody's and everybody's business. Magical.

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