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Liked It5 of 5 members found this review helpful “This one, as they used to say, is a corker. A pip. A doozy. You will read this novel, with all of its umpteen pages, in two sittings: one for the set-up, and one sleepless marathon for the rest. The ultimate intellectual thriller.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“I like some of John Fowles novels but not the biggest fan, b ut the plot of this book is incredible. Conchis is a powerful character and Freedom everything.
cid andrenelli wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
What would you have done? Battered the Greek resistance fighter to death to save the men in the village? or refuse and see them shot?”
“An extended tutorial of getting started or continuing hating the psychiatrists.
Palllada wrote this review Saturday, April 14, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A great insight in the way of thinking.”
“So what the heck is a magus? I’ll admit I required enlightening with the title and found it refers to a magician or sorcerer. After reading The Magus, however, I believe the title was a tad deceptive and perhaps could have been more aptly entitled The Maggot. Ironically, Fowles published A Maggot in 1985, a book I was completely in the dark about…really.
V Sudia wrote this review Monday, April 2, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Perhaps the aforementioned reference lets on how I found one of the book’s characters to be. Set primarily in Greece in 1953, Fowles spins a rather lengthy tale of a young disenchanted Oxford graduate who moves to Greece for a teaching position and foolishly befriends the local pariah (sometimes there are reasons for these things people).
Nicholas Urfe is a young Englishman dealing with the uncertainties of his future and is doing it rather poorly. With no family ties nor close friendships, he approaches his social and sexual encounters with aplomb yet seems to get no enjoyment from either. One such casual encounter pairs him up with a young Australian who falls in love with him (why is never clear) so he decides to leave her behind and takes a post teaching in a boys school on a Greek island. This cad gets his comeuppance, I assure you.
The jilted Aussie, Alison, is an unstable young lady who has been involved with a number of men, but inexplicably is attracted to Urfe. Her hot and cold behavior is surely the precursor of things (and not good things) to come. Once Nicholas tells her he is going to Greece, she takes a job as an airline stewardess, eery in its relation to the death of Urfe’s parents in a plane crash.
The magus, or maggot, if I may, Maurice Conchis, is the wealthy recluse rumored to have had a part in assisting Nazis during WWII. Urfe’s loneliness and boredom allow him to become the puppet of Conchis who wallows in his role of enigmatic host and literally sets the stage for his saga. His sense of supremacy was irksome and disturbing. This is a man one would be wise to accept no favors from.
If I were to meet up with Mr. Fowles, I’d surely not do so without some backup. While he is admittedly a very talented writer, something about him came too close to the surface for my comfort. When I viewed some photos, I felt he never took his eyes off me…
Google him and see if you don’t agree. Once I was secure in my very public and open setting, I’d ask about his time in Greece and his ability to be such a prolific writer. Then I’d skedaddle…
My rating for The Magus is a 6 out of 10.”
“ Nicholas Urfe is mediocre and bored with his life in England. After multiple affairs with messy endings, he takes a teaching job on a remote island in Greece, but before he leaves, the previous instructor gives him a cryptic warning: "Beware of the waiting room."
the picky girl wrote this review Friday, March 30, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Once on Phraxos, Nicko's old habits catch up to him, and he's once again bored until he comes across Mr. Conchis (pronounced, oddly enough, like "conscious") and the forewarned waiting room. Mr. Conchis, or the magus, challenges every thought Nicholas has ever had, frightening him and forcing him to play a game without parameters and in which there is no true winner.
You know how in movies people go in fun houses except they're not really fun because someone is totally going to die in the fun house? The Magus. And you silently yell at the character not to go into the fun house, but they do it anyway? Nicholas Urfe.
This is an incredibly difficult book to explain because oh lord, it's exactly like walking in a fun house. You go in and everything seems innocent and slightly fun, and then what you know is turned on its head. The biggest lesson of the fun house and The Magus? You cannot be sure of anything.
As I read The Magus, I had the oddest and most unnerving feeling I've ever experienced, and I must say it was much more terrifying than the scariest book I've ever read. Because as Mr. Conchis plays with Nicholas' ideas of reality, so too does he play with the reader's. Mr. Conchis initially tells the story of Lily, a woman he loved and lost to death, and by the time "Lily" appears, it was so expected and anticipated - yet eerie and unreal - that I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Nicholas reacts in much the same way and the more Conchis unsettles what Nicholas knows to be real, the less Nicholas is sure that anything is real. At the same time I silently begged Nicholas not to return to the lair of Mr. Conchis, I also urged him forward, eager to see what hellish turn or conclusion there might be.
The book jacket describes the novel as "a maze, a dark door," and I agree. Much like a fun house, a maze is something fairly innocuous. It is in the inevitable failure to find our way out that the maze becomes something other than a puzzle, the monster under the bed, or the ghost in the attic. In The Magus, Fowles attempts to undo all civilized, organized belief systems and ways of thinking in order to push the reader into somewhere beyond, into a waiting room of sorts that, if you are willing to constantly question yourself and your surrounding, you may or may not ever leave. Because outside the walls of the maze, are we really any less restricted or sure of our way?
Fascinating and petrifying, this novel is a must read for students of philosophy or those who love intellectual thrillers.”
“My all-time favorite novel. I have read this so many times. Join Nicholas as he learns the hard way that being authentic is the only way to live. A masterpiece!”
Yodapsy wrote this review Monday, February 13, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“muque and shylock tomes said: 5 stars
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Shelf wrote this review Tuesday, January 31, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
"One kind of person is engaged in society without realizing it; another kind engages in society by controlling it. The one is a gear, a cog, and the other an engineer, a driver. But a person who has opted out has only his ability to express his disengagement between his existence and nothingness. Not cogito, but scribo, ergo sum." Take the book one step at a time. Get to know the characters, and then just get ready to be confused by what is happening. It's supposed to be confusing. It's as though Fowles was taking a hallucinogenic drug at times...A great book that I can read again and again.”
“Brilliantly executed inquiry into the human mind!
Rita wrote this review Monday, January 16, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Highly recomended.”
“"Tu vrei sa fi iubit? Eu ma multumesc pur si simplu "sa fiu", sa exist. Poate intr-o zi ai sa intelegi si tu ce inseamna asta. Si ai sa zambesti. Un zambet aprobator, un zambet sarcastic." ”
Raluca wrote this review Sunday, November 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I love this book. Read it in 1978 and again around 2005. This is the cover I remember...”
Paul Clayden wrote this review Thursday, October 27, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“8/12 - 8/19/98”
Universe Son wrote this review Friday, October 14, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
