The Manticore

The Deptford Trilogy, Book 2

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.

The Manticore, the second book in the series after Fifth Business, follows David Staunton, a man pleased with his success but haunted by his relationship with his larger-than-life father. As he seeks help through therapy, he encounters a wonderful cast of characters who help connect him to his past and the death of his father.

Listen to the rest of The Deptford Trilogy.©1972 Robertson Davies (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

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

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

"Robertson Davies is a novelist whose books are thick and rich with humor, character and incident. They are plotted with skill and much flamboyance." ( The Observer)

Unusual Plot Continues Series

This was the second in Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy. I loved the first book, and probably finished this only because the first was so enjoyable.

This book was almost entirely about a psychoanalyst's work with one patient over the course of a year. This made for an unusual plot; and it makes me wonder what the third book could possibly be about.

Truly profound engaging modern novel

This is the second book of the Deptford trilogy. Although not absolutely necessary it would help to think of the trilogy as one long, fabulous novel. With compelling characters and an engaging plot these books plumb the depth of the human psyche in a way that makes reading and perhaps rereading a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Fabulous.. pun intended

If you loved "Fifth Business," you will not be disappointed. It took about 2 hours for "The Manticore" to grab me in manner of the first. This volume is deeper with less "action." It also lacks the jaw-dropping revelations of "Fifth. Business." This absence is not a detraction, this is simply a different boon, one that stands independent of the first. Some of the myth and metaphor here feels heavy-handed, but not in a shabby way. A few loose ends from the first volume are addressed here, and I don't feel its purpose was to complete the first. I may not soon reread "Fifth Business," but this one I will have to revisit soon. There is so much here.

The second Deptford book

This one has always bogged me down, but has grown on me in recent years. It’s very “talk-y” like all of Davies things, but the emotional high points are splendidly conveyed here by a first-rate reading. Obviously, read or listen to Fifth Business first!

No Nobel Prize?

Davies was often on the short list. He certainly has my vote (if I had one).