The Magus by John Fowles Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Magus
Book Review: Fowles second book shows that 'No man is an Island'
Summary: 5 Stars
Fans of Fowles' first novel, 'The Collector', will find much to admire in this, his second. 'The Magus' continues the exploration of Fowles' twin obsessions: The everchanging balance of power in relationships, and Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. It is a novel in which the reader is as confused as the protaganist, Nicholas Urfe, a teacher on Phraxos, a remote Greek Island, whos life is turned upside down upon meeting a mysterious and reclusive resident. The more he comes to know the man, the deeper he becomes embroiled in a world of twist and counter-twist, never quite knowing who or what to trust and forced to constantly question his own sanity. The wonderful thing about this novel is that the reader is never entirely sure where they, like Nicholas, are being led: They are always wondering whether a casual remark is really throw-away, or whether it actually has hidden meaning. This reader certainly entertained one or two dozen possible 'explanations' of events before the books' denouement, most of which were sadly wide of the mark! Highly recommended.Book Review: Famous but over-rated, just like his other books.
Summary: 1 Stars
All John Fowles' books are exactly the same: working through the unimportant psychological "problems" and obsessions of the British middle class. He can write, but unfortunately he has nothing to write about apart from the inside of an Oxbridge graduate's head.Book Review: Simply the greatest book ever written
Summary: 5 Stars
It is very easy to get carried away in reviewing a book. It is even easier to fall into the habit of awarding books extremely high or extremely low marks. The Magus gets five crowns because it is simply the best book ever written, full stop, end of sentence, start a new paragraph. John Fowles has engineered a novel built like an onion. The reader begins on the outside skin and gradually peels away layers and layers of literary deceptions as he works his way through to the centre. Written in the first person, the Magus tells the tale of an all too modern anti-hero, Nicholas Urfe, who decides to relocate to an island in Greece to teach English. Before he goes, he is warned by the previous English teacher to stay well clear of an eccentric old man, Conchis, on the neighbouring island. Of course Nicholas doesn't, and what transpires next is the most fascinating and involving story I have ever read. Conchis proceeds to play games with the main character and, through him, the reader. What is real? What is actually happening? If 'A Catcher in the Rye' is the book that everyone should read when they are 16, the Magus is the book everyone should read in their early twenties. Like all the best books, you will either love it or think it hideously overrated. Its influence can be felt in many other works of fiction, from the film 'The Game' to Bret Easton Ellis' 'Glamorama'. John Fowles never scaled such great heights again. The Magus, his first full novel, was and is the pinnacle of his writing. File under Cult books, Post Modernist Fiction, and the Best Books Ever Written. Full stop, end of review.
Book Review: A superb, engrossing, wonderful novel
Summary: 4 Stars
This book ruined my holiday ! Once I started to read it the temptation to carry on was far bigger than the desire to visit any of the delights Sri Lanka had to offer ! (Well, no, not really but its quite a good line...)
Fowles has created a wonderful story as we are transported from a dreary England to a brilliant Greek island and from there round and round in circles as Fowles weaves his magic. By the mid point in the book I was convinced I'd figured it out - I then realised I was completely wrong.
There are some truly thought-provoking moments, some very funny bits and some parts are simply great writing.
The ending is a bit of an anti-climax as nothing is really resolved. Or on the other hand is a continuation of the uncertainy from earlier. Or maybe the whole point is not to understand ? Buy this if you like mind games, if you liked the film The Game or if you like making up your own endings !
I haven't been this engrossed in a book since Lord of the Rings
Book Review: High-Brow Brain-Teaser mucks with head and heart
Summary: 4 Stars
For some weeks I was bogged down in the mud of the first few hundred pages, a sort of "can't pick up" scenario. I found the opening sequence entrancing and beautifully pithy, skillfully written. It then collapsed for me into long, convoluted self-indulgent intellectual rambles from the tongue of the Magus, typified by archaic and foreign words only found in obscure unthumbed pages of the OED and highly intellectual references and uninteractive, unbroken-up passages about rather uninteresting historical scenarios / recollections. Reminded me at such moments of The Name of The Rose. However, that said, I then sat down and determinedly ploughed through the last 300 pages or so and became thoroughly absorbed by the subtle and beautiful manuoeuvres of the plot. The book plays with your head, questioning reality and the value and validity of human relations. I must confess I'm still 50 or so pages from the end so I may be missing a last unravelling twist (or three). There are several emotional peaks in the plot, notably the relations between Nicholas and his females, esp. Julie. It features few separately quotable lines which stand out as being beautiful, unlike Martin Amis, for example, but once I'd committed myself to the book I was swept away. It played with the emotions as well, much heartstring plucking. This is high-brow, sometimes at its most obscure. When Fowles steps off his lofty intellectual dais and meddles in quick conversational exchanges between lovers the book gains more meaning than a thousand references to forgotten renaissance wags.