Fifth Business (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

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megcampbell3, November 11, 2007 (view all comments by megcampbell3)
No other novel has quite the same punch as it draws its reader to the realization that we are all, really, the fifth business (see "Fifth Business" for an explanation), at least, at some point in life. Either that or I was at that exact point myself as I was reading "Fifth Business", feeling sorry for myself that Davies has actually led me to this understanding. This stand-alone novel (the first in Davies' Deptford Trilogy) spans almost the entire lifetime of its narrator, protagonist, and extremely interesting fifth business: Dunstan Ramsay. His story is dense, his narration intelligent and satisfying. I felt as if I was, in part and at turns, transported into select scenes of the film "Citizen Kane", lovely little bits of Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love", the canon of Steven Millhauser's works, and the deepest part of my own clouded and innocent memory of childhood; and then, there was Canada, the surface world, the below surface world, and two great wars. And such a sense of winter! Only Wharton's novel "Ethan Frome" could make a reader feel the chill more deeply. Davies' canvas is so vast, and then at turns just as minute as the fears we carry around inside ourselves regarding what our lives will actually amount to when all is said and done. Bravo! I am happy that there are more Robertson Davies books to read; I won't think about the fact that he's been gone for twelve years until, like my sister who recommended this book to me, I have only one of his books left to read, which will have to be saved for the primary joy on the rainiest possible day.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780141186153

Introduction:

Godwin, Gail

Author:

Godwin, Gail

Author:

Davies, Robertson

Publisher:

Penguin Books

Location:

New York

Subject:

General

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Canada

Subject:

School principals

Subject:

Bachelors

Subject:

World War, 1914-1918

Subject:

Christian hagiography.

Subject:

Didactic fiction

Subject:

History teachers

Subject:

Psychological fiction

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2001

Edition Description:

Trade Paper

Series:

Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics

Series Volume:

bk. 2

Publication Date:

20010131

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

from 12

Language:

English

Illustrations:

YES

Pages:

272

Dimensions:

7.76x5.20x1.05 in. .43 lbs.

Age Level:

from 18