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The Manticore
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Plot Summary of The Manticore
"In this second book of Davies' trilogy, David Staunton, the son of Percy Boyd Staunton, travels to Switzerland. He is traumatized by his father's strange death and his own unhappy childhood. Although David is a lawyer, he is a rootless and unhappy failure. David decides on Jungian analysis as a possible answer to his troubles. However, while in Switzerland, he encounters the heiress Liesl, the hagiographer Ramsay, and the magician Magnus Eisengrim. All three are closely connected to his own past and to the death of his father. As David continues with his therapy, a recurring image of the manticore - a creature with the head of a man, the tail of a scorpion, and the body of a lion - emerges repeatedly. David must try to cope with his own past and with his father's cruelty and abuse as he tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding his family."
A. Antonow, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Manticore
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - depressed
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - search for family/history
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Main char. serviced by prostitute? Yes
Coping with loss of loved one(s) Yes
Loss of... - father
Battle with a psychiatrist Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 ()
Europe Yes
European country: - Switzerland
The Americas (not US): Yes
The Americas: - Canada
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Robertson Davies Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
A. Antonow  

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