- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Viking Pr; Reprint edition (June 1980)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0140167927
- ISBN-13: 978-0140167924
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,067,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"An exercise in puckish persiflage."— -- The Toronto Star
"High comedy with a spice of satire to give it savor."— -- The Montreal Gazette --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"High comedy with a spice of satire to give it savor."— -- The Montreal Gazette --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
No other Canadian novelist is lauded and read as widely outside his homeland as Robertson Davies. His characters fascinate, and his gentle, graceful style makes no demands on the reader. He provides an intelligent, expressive, well-paced rendering of the narrative about a Canadian university professor, as well as vivid impersonations of the characters. From the narrator Davidson's mouth, the story has a sarcastic, even cynical, edge, whereas Robertson Davies's words, though not without humor and irony, are far more empathetic...
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Modern classic,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Tempest Tost (Paperback)
Robertson Davies's "Tempest Tost," first volume of the Salterton trilogy, opens in a deceptively quaint Canadian city, with two cathedrals (one Catholic, one Anglican) and one university. Still waters run deep, and quaint towns run weird. While it's not Davies' best work, it's still entertaining and quite amusing.An amateur production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is being put on in Salterton, under the guidance of Ms. Valentine, and a seemingly random assortment of people arrive to audition. The usual problems -- revealing "arty" costumes, warring auditions, simmering rivalries, and some rare old books -- crop up, with a few extras in the bargain. Hector Mackilwraith, a prissy, aging teacher, joins because of his crush on the beautiful heiress Griselda Webster. But Griselda is flirting with womanizing soldier Roger, who's romancing her to gain a sense of class, and is worshiped by the colorless Pearl. The relationships and mistakes they make come to a climax as the "Tempest" begins to storm... Anyone who's watched "Midwinter's Tale" knows that putting on a play is never a picnic, and it's even worse when there's internal tension and weird actors. There's a sense of the fantastical around "Tempest Tost," even though nothing really fantasy-like happens. His tone is less barbed than traditional satire, but no less amusing or insightful. His style is a good combination of the more formal styles of the early twentieth-century and the more streamlined style of more recent times. Where the book excels is character development. The plot really has no beginning or end; it just stops after awhile. The characters just border on parody, with fussy teachers, effusive "bad girls," gypsy philosophers, slick serial womanizers, precocious teens, pompous professors, and more. Humphrey Cobbler, who is a sort of gypsy philosopher, is the most vivid and engaging guy in here. The characters are very multifaceted, like real people. Roger is an expert portrait of a human Ken doll who feels no need to be anything else; Griselda and Freddy are the slightly fickle but kindly daughters of an eccentric; the Torso seems like she'll be a pain at first, but is revealed to be a diamond in the rough. Hector, with his stalkerlike obsession with Griselda and odd brand of sexism (he considers a girl who has been kissed to be no better than a hooker) just gave me the creeps. "Tempest Tost" was Davies' first book, but while it hasn't got the polish his later works have, it's still a solid and smooth read. Highly recommended as a modern classic.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A sheer delight,
By Kevin Komisaruk (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tempest-Tost (Mass Market Paperback)
A brilliant, brutally honest, yet affectionate satire of the excentricities and insecurities present in old small-town Victorian-remnant Canadian Anglo-saxon culture...those of you among this set: you know who you are! Required reading for an Ontarian or a Maritimer born in the early 1940s, or for anyone who has ever known, loved, or worked closely with one. The story revolves around characters putting on an amateur production of Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," and although I found the ending slightly anti-climactic, I really haven't laughed so hard in years!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Deep PG Wodehouse,
This review is from: Tempest-Tost (Mass Market Paperback)
An early novel (actually the first). Light touch with Davies's brand of situational and character-based humor. Comes off like deep PG Wodehouse, which is certainly no insult. I wish a few of the characters had been returned in following books - I like the precocious daughter especially, and her foil and co-hort, the grumpy gardener.
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