Fifth Business (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics)

Phenomenal book by a wonderful writer. Educated, humane, assured and extremely skillful writing. Cant wait to begin the next book in the trilogy.

eerily canadian to its core, this story of an endearing non-hero illuminates the beauty of that essential catalyst: fifth business. the hagiographical, historical, and philosophical richness of this novel is matched only by the tenderness it wooed out of me. i felt that i loved dunstan, and that i was as likely as any to assume his life was straightforward and dull, when it was anything but.

With all honesty I was very stubborn to begin reading this book as it really did not appeal to me.. I think because of the title (had to read for gr.12 english) But you know, I must say, after I read it I was glad I did. Very interesting and well written. Also written in my hometown, Thamesville, ON population like 900.

Amazingly written

I'd like to give it 6 stars out of 5. Just love it, extremely! There's no ebook, no large print or audio book. Too bad Robertson Davies is (was) a Canadian!

One of the finest books I have ever read. The subtle weaving of mundane existence and metaphysics is nothing short of exquisite. A quintessential example of the "plain" writing style embraced by Davies throughout his long and prolific career, the author allows his enthralling characters and elegant plotting do the work of carrying the reader. The second & thiurd books of the Deptford trilogy are...more

One of the finest books I have ever read. The subtle weaving of mundane existence and metaphysics is nothing short of exquisite. A quintessential example of the "plain" writing style embraced by Davies throughout his long and prolific career, the author allows his enthralling characters and elegant plotting do the work of carrying the reader. The second & thiurd books of the Deptford trilogy are also quite good, and to be honest I've never read anything by Davies that I didn't enjoy, but this is in my top books of all time.   hide

I have about 1/3 left to read. And so far, I really like it.

Amazing! The kind of 20th C novel I always wanted to read in college, but could never find the class for. Can't wait to read the 2nd and 3rd.

There was nothing I liked about this book. The narration, story, the characters, I found every last bit of it detestable. I felt that the author was constantly trying to humor me, he got under my skin on every page (if that was his goal then he did his job well). The fact that it was a forced read in school didn't help either.