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Title: The Cunning Man: A Novel by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0-14-024830-7 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.9 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Unusual Yarn Well Told
Comment: Robertson Davies remains far and away my favorite novelist. After reading this book, I was sorry that he was no longer around to continue putting out such entertaining work. Some people, even otherwise enthusiastic Davies fans, don't care much for this book. As a physician, perhaps this biased me in the book's favor, but I thought this the most enjoyable book I read in 2000. I've read all of Davies novels and would rank this high among them. The story never sagged, the characters were of the usual fascinating Davies' variety, and his humor had me laughing aloud again and again.
Davies' narrator is Dr. Jonathan Hullah, a physician of unusual diagnostic skills and adroit healing powers. He is known as the cunning man, a term hearkening back to English village life in which a sort of village know-all could do a little of everything, from setting broken bones to doctoring horses. He was the wizard of folk tradition, the cunning man. The Cunning Man is Dr. Hullah's fascinating reminiscence of life, from boyhood apprenticeship with an old Indian healer to his service in the medical corps during World War II, then on to his unusual medical practice (which included such orthodox measures as having his patients strip off their clothes and lay on an exam table while he sniffed them.) Hullah narrates this while at the same time conducting a search into the mysterious death of his parish priest while saying mass. This combination memoir/mystery novel was, as I said earlier, the most pleasurable book I read in 2000. If the chief end of a novel is entertainment, then this book succeeded admirably.
Rating: 4
Summary: Elegantly crafted and narrated
Comment: When I read Fifth Business I knew instantly that Robertson Davies would become one of my favorite authors. The Cunning Man has confirmed that opinion. Davies is the master of creating passive observer narrators, characters who are fascinating in and of themselves, but remain just aloof and removed enough so as not to feel like they are influencing the course of events in the story. Dr. Jonathan Hullah, the cunning man, is just that type. Observant, witty, charming, and opinionated (when an opinion is required), he narrates an engrossing tale that spans his entire lifetime. As he beautifully unfolds the mystery behind the death of Father Hobbes, as well as weaving several other elegant plot lines, he reveals throughout his thoughtful insights on humanity. This is a delightful book.
Rating: 3
Summary: A disappointment
Comment: As a long-time Robertson Davies fan, I was disappointed with his last novel. To be sure, his understanding of human nature remained exceptional to the end. However, the plot meandered and digressed far too often, and Mr. Davies seemed determined to pack in every pithy aphorism and witticism he could, even if it didn't seem necessary for the narrative. This would not be my first choice for an introduction to the warm and wise world of Robertson Davies.
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Title: The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/the Manticore/World of Wonders by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0140147551 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Salterton Trilogy by Robertson Davies ISBN: 014015910X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Murther & Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0140168842 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Cornish Trilogy: The Rebel Angels/What's Bred in the Bone/the Lyre of Orpheus/3 Books in 1 Volume by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0140158502 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: For Your Eye Alone: The Letters of Robertson Davies by Robertson Davies, Judith Skelton Grant ISBN: 0142000299 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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