Reviews

The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies

kingbob's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sjdunlop's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 Very much the same themes as in previous novels including power of myth and archetypes, opera, the stage, academic jousting, unconventional relationships, heavy focus on male characters and female charters that tend to be more stereotypical or two dimensional in many ways. Also European influence and firmly rooted in white English Canada. 

cpq's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny informative mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

jay__book's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective

4.0

eososray's review against another edition

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2.0

I love Robertson Davies and this book was a massive disappointment for me. I have been trying to read this off and on since 2018 and never really felt interested. I decided to just power through this time and it did not pay off. For once the characters did not engage me and the story did not interest me, it was just an annoying bunch of people working on an annoying project.
I will revisit the whole trilogy someday and see if reading them together will change my mind.

ekmsmith's review against another edition

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funny reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

thebacklistborrower's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

I made a serious mistake in not reviewing this right away, so here’s the vibes:

In this last book of the Cornish Trilogy, we are back in the setting of the first book, The Rebel Angels, about a year later after it ended. The main characters: Maria Theotoky, Arthur Cornish, and Simon Darcourt are the board of the Cornish Foundation, started with substantial funds from Francis Cornish’s death. They decide to sponsor a grumpy, misanthropic, yet genius graduate student, Hulda Shnakenburg, to finish an unfinished opera. Hijinks ensue with a campy cast of characters that seem as theatrical and larger-than-life as written characters could be.

The story of the development of the opera titled “Arthur of Britan, AKA the Magnanimous Cuckold” is nested within the comings and goings of Arthur, Maria, and Simon, creating a house of mirrors. Everything reflects off everything else and makes it larger or more bizarre, or funnels into recursive themes and bizarre refractions within this book, but also with the others of the trilogy. 

I did think there was some pieces that didn’t age super well, like a rather intense relationship between a supervisor and the doctorate student, and some parts I couldn’t tell-- like one pregnant woman derisively mocking another for not drinking during pregnancy-- if they were “of the time”, satire, misogyny on the part of the author, or a mix of all three. Overall, the book continues the mastery of the first two books and made me laugh repeatedly, but I just didn’t like it as much as the first two. 

lzad's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

snowmaiden's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I hardly ever give half-star ratings, but if I gave the first book in the trilogy 4 stars, and the second book 5 stars, then this one deserves 4.5 stars, because I would rate it right between them. After our detour in What's Bred in the Bone to get the life story of Francis Cornish, we're right back in the world of The Rebel Angels, not too terribly long after that book ended. Simon Darcourt, who was something of a minor character in that book, is the point of view character here. We do see Maria, but only through Simon's eyes this time. (And I suppose it had to be that way, since we would get spoilers much too soon if we knew what was going on from Maria's point of view.) 

The plot centers around the Cornish Foundation's attempt to commission and stage the completion of an opera begun by Hoffmann before he died in 1822, and some memorable new characters are introduced because of their involvement with the opera. I think it's remarkable that in order to write this book, Davies basically had to come up with an entire opera. Sometimes I wished I could hear the music, but the descriptions of the staging are so clear that I could see it all taking place in my head. Davies is truly a marvel.

rosekk's review against another edition

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4.0

This book forms a nice conclusion to the trilogy, though I think it's not as interesting as the previous two. It is much more on the nose with its philosophy, and much less concerned with the actual characters of the story.