Customer Reviews

The Manticore

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Book 2 of the Deptford Trilogy. In an odd way, this book runs at a tangent to the two massive novels that frame it, Fifth Business and World of Wonders. It is tightly focused on a minor character from the other two novels and does not drive the story forward. At the end of the book the reader is left a bit nonplussed -- where is the scope and epic nature from Fifth Business? But the "trilogy" is not intended to be a serial. This becomes clear upon completion of the three. This book serves to deepen the reader's appreciation for the themes expressed in Fifth Business and which culminate, if a theme can culminate, in World of Wonders. The reader who pays attention (a pleasant requirement for Davies's greatest novels) finds himself engrossed in a sad, exhuberant, and contradictory life, and also gains some clues about the other two novels. This book could really stand alone, outside of the "trilogy". Mr. Davies was not a slave to convention (although he certainly understood convention both theatrical and novelistic) and would have found the task of a serial across three books both frustrating and pointless. None of his three (not four, thanks to Father Time) "trilogies" are serials: they simply explore similar themes and share a few characters and -- important to Davies as playwright and keen fan of poetry -- setting and atmosphere.

This is the second installment in the Deptford Trilogy, and my first bit of advice is that you read it in conjunction with Fifth Business, the first installment. I read Fifth Business years ago, and loved it, and struggled to remember the details of it as I began The Manticore. It isn't absolutely necessary to remember every word of the first in order to enjoy the second, but each one does help to accentuate the other.

The Manticore is great writing from a great writer. Davies prose is so fluid that they seem to absord into your mind with very little effort. He expresses complex thoughts in ways that are so graceful and elegant. And he's not afraid to deal with difficult themes; indeed, that seems to be his main purpose in writing. Yes, he tells a fascinating story, but his real aim is to get at the core of his characters, find out what motivates them and what makes them human. David Staunton is just the character to use for such an experiment. As an eminent lawyer, now undergoing psychoanalysis to determine where his life went astray, he puts himself on trial as if he were in a court of law and demands not just honest self-assessment but also evidence to support his conclusions about his own persona. It makes for a fascinating character sketch, and great reading.

There are no simple answers here to life's great questions, and that can be frustrating for those who want to be able to wrap a nice, neat bow around this book. Equally frustrating is the rather contrived ending, which includes the introduction of a new character whose purpose in the novel seems to be nothing more than to impart a valuable piece of wisdom to our main character. It also includes a journey into a deep cave, reminiscent of Plato's Republic, which is meant to reveal some profound life lesson but may just confuse and bewilder some readers. And, being the middle installment in a trilogy, this book doesn't have a proper beginning or ending. But that doesn't make it not worth reading. It just means that you should read parts one and three as well.

Okay, so the comparison to Mann's work is a bit far fetched, but this book is a Jungian exploration of our main character's consciousness. Thanks to the convention of having Davey recount his story to his shrink, we feel a bit detached and disoriented. There is an element of almost-mysticism and we trace all the paths of Davey's mind and experiences. How did this famous criminal lawyer become such an incorrigible drunk and why does he check himself into Zurich for analysis? Unfortunately I read Fifth Business 4 years ago, so I can't remember any of the story line or comment on the relation of this book to the first. It seems to me though that this book does not depend on the first book in the series. I plan to read World of Wonders next, so I'll have more to say about the relation.

Back to this book -- it's extremely engrossing with penetrating descriptions of all the characters in Davey's life and a curiously detached view of his life. I couldn't put it down, even at the end when the mystical element almost gets out of hand and he literally climbs the mountain and crawls through a primal cave. Even if you don't buy all the Jungian stuff, Davies is such a good and interesting writer that most should enjoy the experience. As a social commentator, he reminds me of Thomas Wolfe. A gripping read.

This is my first Davies novel and I suspect I started with the wrong one in the series; however, MANTICORE was a fascinating read. In this, David Staunton comes to Zurich for psychoanalysis with a Jungian therapist after his father dies in a very strange accident. (Boy Staunton, his father, died in an auto accident with an egg sized stone of pink Canadian granite in his mouth) You think we're going to get a payoff on the mystery, which we eventually do, but we first have to go through Davey's life and get his personality integrated. The descriptions are very rich, which is a good thing because the book is mostly narrative. Despite sounding tiresome, the book for the most part is interesting and an enjoyable and challenging read. If you are a first time reader of Davies like me, I would suggest you start with the first book of this series, FIFTH BUSINESS before you read MANTICORE.

(Those of you who desire a bullet review of this novel ought to skip my academic excrement and read the last paragraph down there... thank you) Though Davies' Deptford trilogy has received its share of publicity in recent years, I still find that many fans of modern literature have ignored this series of Canadian stories. Perhaps readers are hesitant to pick up any of the three books, for fear that they must read the entire trilogy to realise the extent of Davies' themes, yet nothing could be further from the truth. The Manticore (second in the Deptford series) was my first experience with Davies' rich, penetrating prose and certainly steered my interest to his other novels.

The tale of David Stauton and his search for self-realization begins in Zurich, where he has committed himself to Jungian analysis under the guide of a capable, palpably European psychotherapist. Readers who shy from the realm of psychology may be a bit put off by this doctor-patient interplay as it frames the majority of the novel's dialogue. Rest assured, however, that Davies' extensive knowledge and illustration of Jungian archetypes is not merely an embellishment, but serves as the catalyst for the protagonist's evolution. His self-discovery builds to a poignant, surreal climax under Davies' capable hand. By the novel's end the reader feels as if a part of himself is invested in David Stauton's character and his ascension.

Essentially, Davies is a synthesis of intellectual energy and damn good story-telling. The novel's references are revealing, but not essential to its development. Each of The Manticore's many characters is unique and multi-dimentional in his or her own way, and there are plenty of humorous incidents to keep the half-attentive readers engaged. If you find yourself wondering what becomes of David Stauton, however, you're out of luck. The Deptford Trilogy does not pick up where it left off, though this can be viewed as a loss AND a gain, assuming you enjoy this novel as much as I did.

I was compelled to read this book on a bet: we were doing some character-study work after reading Fifth Business in class, and a group member and I disagreed about a point -- I won't state it, as to not spoil Fifth Business for anybody, but when the issue was brought to our teacher, as I predicted, he told us to read the rest of the trilogy (though it would have been easier just to answer the question -- but much less rewarding).

Anyway, I read it. It's great. Only Davies could have taken Jungian psychology and interspersed it throughout this novel so evenly and so effectively. A book like this could easily have become boring or heavy, but it is always entertaining and infinitely informative. David Staunton's life is by some measures mediocre, but his personal journey is deep and lively, as few writers could have portrayed it.

It is also one of the few books that actually change your view on the world. That is an over-used phrased often misplaced, but it is true here; as an introduction to Jungian psychology, this is as good as it gets: all the ideas and facts to be found in a text, but with a superior story woven with it.

Simply put, read the thing!!

Based in Switzerland on terms based on the first book of the Deptford epic, our main character finds himself on leave to discover the answer to his problems in life and unravel the mystery of this trilogy.

Through out the book Davies places emphasis on Psychological ethos and technique as well as expressing the extremes of the human ego and sexual desires. Davies however, is a story teller. Throwing aside callous and unnecessary detail and drawing upon less used characters from Fifth Business, Robertson brings us down a compelling though sometimes debatable path of a man coming to terms with who he is and what his life has been lived for. Occasionally the main Character drags on with seemingly unrealistically long narratives.

Ramsay the Hero of Fifth Business (the first installation of the Deptford Trilogy) seems to receive a bad review from the main character of the Manticore. This enrages the reader who remains faithful to Ramsay but whom is trying to keep up with our new main character. The Manticore requires an open mind, more so then fifth business and is a long and drawn out read. However with the third and best book only pages away it is a must read for those who desire a satisfying epic. Second best. Four stars.

The story is everything with Davies books. He captured me with the tale of David Staunton, who is only a minor character in Fifth Business.

As with Dunstan Ramsay, the narrator of the first book of the Deptford Trilogy, David Staunton is very much a character who needs to be brought back into balance from an extreme psyche. The book explores his eccentric character through Jungian psychology. Since Davies daugther is a Jungian psychologist, he no doubt used her as a resource in compiling the profile of Staunton.

I really find with Davies books, I find out more about myself, and new ways to view myself, through the characters that he writes about. Perhaps that is why I enjoy them so much.

"The Manticore" is the second novel in the Depthford trilogy by Robertson Davies and holds a pretty good candle to "Fifth Business," the novel preceding it. While the first novel was told from the point of view of Dunstan Ramsey, the second is told from that of David Staunton, alcoholic son of Boy Staunton. While David didn't get much airplay in the first novel, he gets his due in the second, which takes place not long after the end of the first. David has gone to Europe to seek the counseling of a psychologist/pyschiatrist after the death of his father. What ensues is a recount of his life and motivations, with some of "Fifth Business" being re-hashed from a different perspective. (Note: I don't intend "re-hash" to be a negative aspect at all, here.) While not exactly a zippy read, I did savor every word of it, sometime reading other books in their entirety before finishing this one. The end is especially great, because the reader (along with David) once again meets up with Dunstan, Liesl and Magnus at a European castle. Almost as splendid an effort as "Fifth Business."

The Manticore is the second book of the Deptford Trilogy and it's my favorite so far! The majority of the book takes place in the office of a psychoanalyst, helping the main character, David, to adapt to life after his father's death.

The analogies used by the doctor throughout treatment, intended to "avoid jargon" are the most interesting aspects of David's treatment. I really enjoyed the dream analysis and David's emotional recovery throughout the story.

While The Manticore picks up where Fifth Business left off, the narrator changes, and with that, the outlook and feel of the story change considerably. I really enjoyed re-reading the significant events from Fifth Business and comparing them to David's memories of the same events, as they became relevant during his treatment. Reading from David's point of view rounded out the story of and I'm really looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy, World of Wonders, in which we go back to the original narrator.