Fifth Business

The Deptford Trilogy, Book 1

By: Robertson Davies

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic", Robertson Davies’ acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven.

This first novel in the trilogy introduces Ramsay, a man who returns from World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross but who is destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As we hear Ramsey tell his story, we begin to realize that, from childhood, he has influenced those around him in a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious way. Even his seemingly innocent involvement in as innocuous an event as throwing a snowball proves to be neither innocent nor innocuous in the end.

Listen to the rest of The Deptford Trilogy.©1970 Robertson Davies (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A marvelously enigmatic novel, elegantly written and driven by irresistible narrative forces." ( The New York Times)

"Robertson Davies is one of the great modern novelists." (Malcolm Bradbury, The Sunday Times, London)

"One of the splendid literary enterprises of this decade." ( Newsweek)

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.

some of the best writing I have had the pleasure

Great read(listen), i laughed out loud many times. jokes with depth and truth. satisfying ending that leaves some room for conversation. loved it.

Just a delight!

I got this blindly after seeing someone post about it. I had no idea of the story or the author, but I found it a wonderfully fun and insightful story.
The narration is top-notch as well.

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.

Canadian Gem

This is one of the pleasant surprises found by going through lists of "great books". I had not heard of the author or the book. I really enjoyed this book a lot. The writing is subtle and excellent, mixing in themes of religion and spirituality, Jung and Erikson archetypes, and fate versus free will. The story is revealed through an introspective letter from an older adult retelling his life. There is a lot of humor, explicit and subtle and very subtle. I particularly enjoyed the multiple levels that kept influencing the story. The smooth writing along with this gentle shifting makes this a truly great read.

I would recommend this to most readers and will likely read it again.

I appreciated the narration which is completely clear, and expresses the extraordinary subtle humor and the quirky perspective of the narrator.

smart, witty, nuanced and charming

Fifth Business is the first book of Davies’ Deptford trilogy, and if the other two are half as good as this I am in for a treat because this book was highly enjoyable. I am new to Robertson Davies and was glad to see that he has quite a few other books for me to hunt down. This series centers around the people in the small town, Deptford, Ontario. The main character, Dunstan Ramsay, narrates the story. He is intelligent and witty, and because he seems to have lived as an outsider, he has also been a sharp-witted observer. Ramsay is a school teacher at an all boys' private school. Unmarried and childless he is a lonely man with no real friends. It seems the only person in his life is man named "Boy" who is more enemy than friend. Boy is married to the woman that Ramsay once desired. Boy is wealthy and popular. He is everything Ramsay is not; successful in a way that Ramsay has never been. He is also prideful and narcissistic and seems to enjoy reminding Ramsay of his superiority.

When the two were boys they were part of the same tragic moment that caused a woman to give birth to her child very early and led to a loss of cognition in the woman. These events changed Ramsay. He spent the rest of his childhood acting as a helpmate to the family, and his young-adulthood trying to escape the self-imposed guilt. He never really got over it. He lived with the events as a secret in his memory alone, and the guilt wrecked him. This one event shaped the person Ramsay became. Ramsay comes to think of this woman as perfect; saint-like. And he believes that she performs miracles. Never actually religious he is obsessed with saints and their role in history.

I really enjoyed Dunstan Ramsay as the narrator. As I mentioned above he was shrewdly observant of others but lacking in self-awareness. He is a bit unreliable because of that, and that makes his story more intriguing. Because of his quiet and intelligent observations we experience the realities of life in a small town at the beginning of the 20th century, and then the horror of World War 1.
But what about Boy? He was the person actually responsible, but the moment didn't linger in his consciousness. He shows us how our lives our intertwined with those around us and how every action we take impacts someone else. He quietly reminds us to choose wisely. And as we see how Boy has been impacted - or not - by the same events, we are reminded that even minor events can be major ones for someone else.

I found the book enjoyable, wise and charming. I will definitely read more of Davies' works.

4.5 stars

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.

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.

An amazing listen

All in all, it was an amazing novel, well writen and well performed!

It was very interesting and I loved the end the most; so well tied up that I have never listened to a better ending. But I do think that is because I have not read enough books yet.

In the end it was an unforgettable listen and I very much recommend it.

Well written

This is the first book I have read by Robertson Davies. It was very engaging and made me download the two other parts of the trilogy.