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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've never heard of Robertson Davies (at least not that I remember), but decided to give this one a try after re-reading A Prayer For Owen Meany, where it is referred to by the protagonist, Johnny Wheelwright. It is a delightfully provincial story, and the Shakespeare connection is very appealing.
I read Davies' 'The Rebel Angels' a good while ago (principally, I will admit, because Laura Marling's song 'Sophia' is based on it), and liked it just fine, the same way I liked 'Pride and Prejudice' just fine when I read it at roughly the same age. I think I was too young for both, however, because just as I enjoyed 'Sense and Sensibility' enormously when I read it earlier this year, I have absolutely loved 'Tempest-Tost'. Davies' phrases are as well-turned as an Elizabethan joint, his skewering of the peculiar and deranged minds which are drawn to amateur theatre is hilarious and cuts entirely too close to the bone, and his characters are wonderful. Freddy, the precocious fourteen-year-old winemaker and crypto-Catholic, was a disappointment purely in that I wanted the entire book to be about her, and was disappointed when she only appeared occasionally to offer cutting insights on the general foolishnesses of the adults surrounding her. All in all, a joy to read.
Excellent characters - a bit like a Canadian Garrison Keillor with more Shakespeare.
It’s funny how sometimes you read a book and it just leaves your head the moment you put it down, and other times books just stay with you. This is somewhere in between, though it’s hard to say since it’s probably been 25 years between readings. I had a hankering to read Davies, maybe because I am away from Canada and Davies writes so quintessentially Canadian. Salterton is an academic town somewhere in Ontario, and its denizens are drab, quirky, and everything in between, just as you’d expect to find in any Canadian town. The book was written in the ‘50s, though Davies omits any references to politics or technology so it really is timeless, and could take place anytime in the 20th or 21st centuries. A disparate group of players comes together to mount a production of The Tempest, and what ensues is a complicated web of love and self-aggrandizement, people managing their lives with varying degrees of success. I’d forgotten what a narrative master Davies was, changing perspectives seamlessly between the characters and developing each one so that the reader gets a better picture of the various subtexts and mini-dramas. Every character is utterly human, which is actually very hard to pull off.
Loved the character development - all characters were vividly drawn. The description of the champagne-producing Freddie made me want to see a book all about her.
It was lovely to begin this trilogy again. It's probably been decades since I read it the first time. Davies is intelligent and gently humorous, a titan of CanLit, and I look forward to listening to Leaven of Malice next.
The back cover if this book says "Hilarious, satirical, witty, and clever" and they were not wrong! It plays out like a Shakespearean comedy with great cast of characters. I cackled my way through this one!
I had difficulty deciding on how to rate this book, on the one hand it is superlatively written on the other hand the material shows a mind set of small town Ontario in the fifties and we need to remember that mindset includes both racism and sexism. Earlier this year I had decided that I would reread books I had read in my twenties and thirties and I had really loved all three of Davies' trilogies; Salterton, Deptford and Cornish. It had been effortful to obtain copies because, I believe, that they are out of print, and even though, I was initially dismayed at that, especially since he was a much lauded Canadian writer, I do not disagree that his work should die a natural death. When I had originally read the book, I did not see the racism or sexism, I had just absorbed, thinking it was just the author being sarcastic and in hindsight I now comprehend how insidious discrimination is and would not want other young people exposed without that caveat provided (his books had been included in some Ontario school's curriculum and there was never mention of anything unacceptable). Will I continue to read Davies? Absolutely, his work is entertaining and has helped me understand an important component of a serious cultural issue and my role. Do I recommend? As a reread yes, and if you are in need to read something that demonstrates small town narrow mindedness, not just of the characters but of the author as well. Just an FYI, the Goodreads synopsis captures the last five pages of the book, and is not the general story line therefore don't allow that to be the guiding factor in your decision to read. And no, I won't provide a synopsis, this is a review of the book not a regurgitation of the plot.