The Magus by John Fowles Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Magus
Book Review: Great book that can't quite deliver what it promises
Summary: 4 Stars
So much has been written about the symbolism and buried meanings of this book I hardly feel qualified to comment on that front. Having finished it recently, what struck me the most was how profoundly scary certain parts of it were. Personally, I found the general conclusion of the story - both the "trial" of the climax and ensuing explanation - to be something of a letdown. The parts of the book I most enjoyed were in the first two thirds when Nicholas initially comes across a number of unexplained, possibly supernatural occurrences on Conchis' property. Perhaps it was inevitable that the pay-off could not match such a superbly sustained build-up. In any case, I enjoyed the novel a great deal and would certainly recommend it to readers with a taste for the unusual.Book Review: Manipulate the reader! Does he think we are all idiots?
Summary: 1 Stars
I hated this book. I had to read it for a college course, goodness knows why. I never felt more deliberately manipulated by an author than when reading this book. It is a negative statement about humanity. When I was done reading it, I threw it across the room. Disgusted.Book Review: Seductive Mythic Seduction
Summary: 5 Stars
When I finished this book I kissed it, and perhaps that's all I need to say. However: I think the great virtue of this text is that it genuinely evokes, via its total imaginative scheme, a sense of life's large inherent possibilities--which seem always to be threatened or smothered altogether by the shrieks and nonsense of pop culture on the one side, and the routine ugliness of "Dear Leaders," Robert Mugabes, rape camps, "black sites," and God knows what else on the other. *The Magus* tells a story that manages to ascend above all of this cloud cover, and in doing so injects us with a feeling of near magical possibilities, and a kind of low grade exhilaration, that endures (accompanied, however, by some very dramatic changes of tone along the way) throughout the entire novel.
The basic scenario of the novel consists of an educated young Englishman at loose ends who decides to take a one year job teaching English at a school on a Greek island. There he encounters a reclusive, rich, somewhat mysterious individual who lives on an isolated estate on the island. From there, various events occur that are, well, interesting....
That is really all you need to know. For God's sake don't read any spoiler reviews that "tell the story of the book" (no review should do this, but many do); just read it innocently, with no foreknowledge and your mind open.
If any other enticement is needed, I might add that we are also told, relatively early on in the book, the meaning of life! This in the form of an image expressed by a statue. After you have digested this, you might want to take a look at the wonderful Blake poem of the same name.
I was somewhat afraid that the ending, as it seems to be controversial or unsatisfying to many, would strike a wrong note but in my view it does exactly the opposite. The long, slow cadence of the final section is beautifully controlled and beautifully carried off, and in a sense (near the very end, the "end of the ending")--in its micro-definition of moments and moods--trumps everything that has gone before. A perfect ending.
*The Magus* is a great adventure in a beautiful place. Like life itself is supposed to be.
Book Review: The Magus
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought 'The Magus' almost accidentally, having a discount code that was valid only if I ordered one more book. I had seen it on too many "books you must read before you die" lists, and I remembered having been intrigued by an article which quoted an excerpt of it (the story of the wizard and the prince).
So I thought I would have taken this fleshy book with me at university, and read just a little bit each day to fill the time between one lesson and another. The plan worked until I reached one third of it; at that point I was so caught by the story that I was compelled to go back to it everytime I had a free minute, and so reached the end in that same day.
After that, for some days, I kept on thinking about the story, the characters and their choices. I often found myself reaching for the book in order to read a little more, and then remembering with affliction that I already knew it all, that nothing more could have happened. This doesn't happen often, and when it does happen I consider it an undeniable sign of great fiction.
From a point of pseudo objective analysis, I was surprised to see how many facets of narration Fowles seems to master. Of course you are moved to take sides with the main character, through whose point of view the others are seen, but you will also find many situations in which you are forced to think outside the narrator's frame (this is of course made easier by the sort of paranoia that such a tale of mistery and betrayal can generate - it takes you in a space where you feel you shouldn't trust anyone or anything).
Every character, even the ones just sketched in few words, is presented in such a way to become alive in your imagination, like those few words were sufficient to give you their dna with which you can build everything else - and still they are not boring cliche.
Book Review: The Magus
Summary: 4 Stars
This was an entertaining and captivating book. For that reason alone I give it high marks.
It is awash with the post-war hopelessness and atheistic views. The eroticism of the book
may be considered tame by today's standards, but the book does exhibit the free-love
of the sexual revolution, and may be considered adult reading.
The book does have several themes in it even though they are clumsily handled by the
extension of the plot to a non-climatic ending. The major themes that I noticed
are:
1) The circumstances of life are randomly decided.
2) The greatest gift of humanity is the ability to choose our actions.
3) The noblest thing a person can do is to use this freedom of choice
to forgive and do good unto others who have treated you badly.
The true genius of the book is the shifting of reality that is experienced
throughout the storyline.