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Date: Wed, 26-Dec-84 10:34:45 EST
Article-I.D.: ahuta.278
Posted: Wed Dec 26 10:34:45 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Dec-84 03:32:20 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ
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                      HIGH SPIRITS by Robertson Davies
                           Penguin, 1982, $5.95.
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper

     This book won the Award for Best Anthology/Collection at this year's
World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, and I had heard good things about
Robertson Davies from other sources, so I decided to give it a try.  I'm
glad I did.

     The book consists of eighteen stories and an introduction in which
Davies explains how these stories came about.  The stories are short, told
in the first person, and presented (as all first-person stories are) as
being true.  Since they are not internally consistent (Davies meets the
ghost of William Lyon Mackenzie King twice, and the second time he says he
hadn't seen the ghost before), I think we may presume that they are, indeed,
fiction, and not some AMITYVILLE HORROR-like attempt to deceive the reader.

     Davies has an easy writing style, and the stories are quite short.
They would be ideal for reading aloud; in fact, that is how they were first
presented.  They are not, for the most part, "scary" stories (though one or
two have their chilling moments).  They are light-hearted looks at ghosts,
be they the ghosts of the "insulted saints" (those ex-saints who were "un-
sainted" by Pope Paul the Sixth), or the ghost of the "Poor Relation," whose
ancient castle had been transported to Canada and remodeled into a modern
home.  They are *Canadian* stories, with an emphasis on Canadian history,
culture, and ghosts.  The humor is under-stated ("Though I am not a whole-
hearted believer in astrology as such, I was brought up a Presbyterian, and
thus I am inclined to believe bad news from virtually any source.")  And
sandwiched in between the ghostly goings-on and the humor are some
interesting ideas.

     This book doesn't jump up and grab you by the throat, yelling "Read
me!", but it gently coaxes you along until you're hooked.  Good reading!

					Evelyn C. Leeper
					...{ihnp4, houxm, hocsj}!ahuta!ecl