Robertson Davies

Fifth Business (Penguin Modern Classics)

Fifth Business

Mat Connor

I loved this book. 

I've had my copy since I was about 16, but something about the plot summary always turned me off from reading it. A young boy dodges a snowball, which accidentally hits a pregnant woman causing her to give birth prematurely, setting off a chain reaction of events that leads to possible miracles and an obsession with the history of Saints.

I've always taken a book with me everywhere I went, just in case, even the rare place where it's considered a little rude to bring a book. As a child, I used to get dirty looks from people in church for reading Simpsons comic books during service, so I've been pretty much out on anything that sounded too churchy from Day 1. The most I've ever paid attention in church was the time our French priest accidently went to the washroom with his microphone on (true story). 

Now that I've read this book I know it's about a lot more than its basic plot. This novel touches on more themes than just about any other book I can think of. This book is about everything life can throw your way and it's less than 270 pages.

I also had no idea this book was so funny. It's narrated by Dunstan, an old man and a teacher, writing a letter to his boss (The Headmaster) to complain about a rude article in the school newspaper announcing his retirement that portrayed him as a boring, unremarkable man. Dunston is making the case that he lived a rich, eventful, and important life. 

There are several funny set pieces, anecdotes, and characters. My favorite was the small town barber who believes he has a giant hairball in his body from accidently breathing in tiny hairs all his life while talking to his customers.

I think this is a book I'll re-read in the future. I bet it's even funnier when you are a grumpy old man like Dunstan. Looking forward to reading The Manticore next.

Cams Campbell

I picked this up from the Incomparable podcast's winter reading list episode over on 5by5 – recommended by David J. Loehr on Episode 171. I enjoyed it absolutely and am looking forward to the following books in the trilogy. The writing style reminded me a little of one of my favourites, John Irving, and the production of the audiobook version on Audible was top drawer. I shall forever recall the two-hour listening session as I got lost in the woods in the rain on Sunday morning just past whilst walking the dogs.

Helen Bright

Jill Clark

Andrew Louis

Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave at Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross and destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As Ramsay tells his story, it begins to seem that from boyhood, he has exerted a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious, influence on those around him. His apparently innocent involvement in such innocuous events as the throwing of a snowball or the teaching of card tricks to a small boy in the end prove neither innocent nor innocuous. Fifth Business stands alone as a remarkable story told by a rational man who discovers that the marvelous is only another aspect of the real.

Fifth Business (Penguin Modern Classics)

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