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The Magus [Mass Market Paperback]

John Fowles
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (173 customer reviews)
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Book Description

April 1 1985
A man trapped in a millionare's deadly game of political and sexual betrayal.

Filled with shocks and chilling surprises, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. In it, a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching position on a Greek island where his friendship with the owner of the islands most magnificent estate leads him into a nightmare. As reality and fantasy are deliberately confused by staged deaths, erotic encounters, and terrifying violence, Urfe becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his life. A work rich with symbols, conundrums and labrinthine twists of event, The Magus is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining, a work that ranks with the best novels of modern times.

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Review

"A major work of mounting tensions in which the human mind is the guinea-pig... Mr Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits are on the bull's eye" Sunday Telegraph "A deliciously toothsome celebration of wanton story-telling" Sunday Times "A splendidly sustained piece of mystification" Financial Times "One of those that's best read as a teenager, but once read you'll never forget it" -- Katy Guest The Independent --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

"A man trapped in a millionare's deadly game of political and sexual betrayal.

Filled with shocks and chilling surprises, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. In it, a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching position on a Greek island where his friendship with the owner of the islands most magnificent estate leads him into a nightmare. As reality and fantasy are deliberately confused by staged deaths, erotic encounters, and terrifying violence, Urfe becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his life. A work rich with symbols, conundrums and labrinthine twists of event, The Magus is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining, a work that ranks with the best novels of modern times.


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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fowles plays God--Pure genius Jun 17 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A wealthy master manipulator chooses to spend his time and riches playing God games with carefully selected targets. Very unethical, yet very delicious, applied psychological tests are imposed upon the target, which a real psychiatrist would never dare to do, or hope to get away with. As the story progresses, the reader may realize with mounting frustration and probably some real excitement that he or she has become involved as a target of sorts, too. Ripe with symbolism, philosophy and the occult, the master manipulator's motives are every bit as mysterious, sometimes inexplicably cruel and frustrating to understand as many might recognize the unknoweable image of God to be. Secrets open doors to more secrets and the great "Why" only looms larger. In the end, the beleaguered main character of Nicholas (and perhaps the reader) finds some solace in the fact that the master manipulator cared enough to involve him in the game in the first place. Psychologically tantalizing and masterfully written--a must read! (One of my top 10 favorite books of all time.)
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5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply engrossing symbolic tale... Mar 31 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In this book a young man trying to find his way in life takes a teaching position on a Greek island and gets wrapped up in the intrigue and surrealistic mind games of a mysterious and wealthy man there.

Well written, creative, bizarre. Rich in symbolism, literary reference and insight with lots of twists and turns in the plot. It makes the reader think about personal choice, morality, complicity, forgiveness, retribution, suffering and what is "real".

The book is purposely riddled with lacking explanations, implausibilities and plot holes. This bats the reader back and forth between incredulity and fascination - in effect dragging them through the same process that Nicolas is enduring. It also forces the reader to draw their own conclusions and re-enforces the subtle message throughout that "answers" are the poor mans spirituality, but that a true rise in consciousness comes only through rigorous self-examination. In fact, the ambiguity in this book will no doubt leave many readers feeling unsettled and betrayed - which, if not Fowles' intended purpose is an appropriate effect - Fowles doing to the reader what Conchis does to Nicholas throughout the story.

Although each reader must take from the book their own lesson, to me it was the symbolic story of the path towards enlightenment that mystical traditions in all faiths profess. In Jungian terms (although the author via the "trial" seems to be coming at it more from the angle of ceremonial magic), Conchis represents the SELF and Nicholas the EGO. The SELF, unfettered by man's artificial "morality" does what it is destined to do - mercilessly and systematically breaking the EGO of it's illusions. This process was nicely symbolized again in Conchis' tale of the Norwegian zealot, who nearly blind and seemingly insane has isolated himself on a remote spit of land where he continually waits to "see" God - i.e. the SELF desperately striving to encounter God regardless of the consequences to the spiritually "blind" EGO (our conscious personality).

Overall, a fascinating, multi-layered, highly-symbolic portrayal of the souls journey back to God.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Get out of my head!! Feb 10 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I wish I had never read this so I could read it again for the first time.

Be prepared to sink into a bizarre semi-conscious possibly hallucinogenic semi-reality mystery.

I read this about a year ago, but it keeps popping up in my head. I just don't know how to describe this book...expect the unexpected...

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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars enthralling...
Fowles's writing style is impeccable and captivating. He presents the story in a way so that we all can relate to it in one way or another. Read more
Published on Feb 19 2005 by Anna
5.0 out of 5 stars the last lines of the book
I love this book, for it is, as someone else said, a challenging book. The answers aren't clearly written and the characters actually have mystery and depth that makes them... Read more
Published on July 12 2004 by D. Horn
3.0 out of 5 stars Not to be taken too seriously.
This is one of those books that gets an average rating because it has an equal number of positive and negative aspects. Read more
Published on July 5 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars starts strong, ends lame
The best thing I got from this book is some insight into the psyche of a selfish guy...Not much else. Read more
Published on May 11 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars The Magus
F. Scott Fitzgerald once described himself as the best second rate writer in the world. Of John Fowles, Martin Amis wrote in 'The War Against Cliche' that he is a middlebrow... Read more
Published on April 17 2004 by Richard Cunningham
5.0 out of 5 stars Introspection
I was intrigued by his technique of keeping the reader just as confused as the main character. His bending of truth/reality was superb. Read more
Published on Jan 8 2004 by Billy williams
5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery, wrapped it a riddle, wrapped in an anigma.
I can't beieve there are so many recent bad reviews of this book. The Magus is absolutely brilliant. Read more
Published on Dec 29 2003
3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmm...
This is - or seems to be - a book about a human being entering into a new life and being taken advantage of repeatedly by other people, coming back for more and still more of the... Read more
Published on Dec 18 2003 by Colin McLaughlin
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely amazing novel
Given the number of reviews here, it looks like more people know about this than I thought. I have been talking it up to all my friends, and absolutely none of them seem to have... Read more
Published on Dec 9 2003 by "johnmarshall64"
3.0 out of 5 stars Read it young.
If you are not a young person, do not read! I think I am simply too old to totally enjoy this book. I might have really been into it if I had read it 20 years ago. Read more
Published on Dec 8 2003 by KEVIN TAMPLIN
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