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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780316296199
ISBN number: 0316296198
Label: Back Bay Books
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 656
Printing Date: January 04, 2001
Publishing house: Back Bay Books
Sale Popularity Level: 59183
Studio: Back Bay Books
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Product Description:
At the novels center is Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman who accepts a teaching position on a remote Greek island. There he befriends a local millionaire, but the friendship soon evolves into a deadly game and Nicholas finds that he must fight not only for his sanity but for his very survival.
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Rated by buyers 
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This book was a bit slow at first, but after about the very first 100 pages it was impossible to put down. The ending was completely maddening, and I still think about it often.
Rated by buyers -
I read this book because it was on the Modern Library's Top 100 list. It was quick to pull me in, and keep me interested. It was a mystery all the way up until the end, when you still don't entirely find out what happens. It was well written, had a good plot, and was full of mythological references, which makes it all the more fascinating. The whole book is one big mind-game, for the main character, Nicholas, as well as for the reader. You never know what's going to happen next, but something keeps on happening to the end. I was worried this was going to be one of those books, where after you read it, you figure everything out, so it ruins it for you to ever read again, but that isn't true with this novel. I could read it over and over again, and still not know what it's all about. It's just that good!
Rated by buyers 
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I picked up "The Magus" two summers ago, in a lazy few weeks between ending work and going to grad school. The only thing I really enjoyed about this book was that it was like taking a trip to Greece, and it certainly made those weeks seem a lot longer.
basic, basic plot: Young British rake moves to Greek island to teach at a boys' school, having nothing else to do. Meets mysterious man who lures him with his wealth and various inexplicable happenings at his house. Psychological games and various unusual events ensue.
Out of fairness for this book, although I despised the main character for his subpar treatment of women and for not being a remotely sympathetic character, you WILL NOT see what is coming in this book. Fowles should be lauded for writing a book that is really not like anything I've ever read, and I found it utterly unpredictable.
Perhaps my main problem is that so many people over the years have told me how reading "The Magus" in younger years, often in the summer as it is quite long and demands time, proved to be a life-changing moment. It was not for me, but I think it must come from the theme of taking responsibility for your actions, and to realize that other people may be in on something that you cannot have acess to because of your attitude. This is what I got out of it, but I would not be surprised if all of us came together with different takes on the ambiguous message of the story. It sometimes seems to me that men like this book in greater numbers than women. I have no explanation for this, aside from the obvious one about the ability to empathize with the main character, but that seems a bit too pat for a book that is built upon women acting as the tormentors of men, even when they appear to be the victim.
Rated by buyers -
I read this book when I was 17 and was THE very first book I found consciousness expanding. Other books had a big impression or influence on me growing up, but The Magus was in a category by itself.
Rated by buyers -
actually, I need to re-read the revised version while the original is still fresh in my mind. I very first read this when I was 15 or so, & long before JF "tampered" with it. a few days later, it was my great misfortune to see the filmed version of the story. despite JF having written the screenplay himself, I would urge you to avoid it... it's likely that a better director would have made a better job of the (presumably) abridged version of this convoluted tale, but I doubt anyone could've directed their way out of the woeful miscasting of the lead... I tried to keep this out of my mind as I re-read this original version, but sadly I couldn't help thinking that the skillfully engaging prose only served to heighten my lack of sympathy/empathy with any of these self-absorbed misfits & sociopaths.
nothing excuses the behaviour of any of them, it wouldn't then (1953) nor would it now. the actions are utterly at odds with the assumed wrongdoings. our narrator is in his early twenties & really doesn't know any better. he has a brief fling- perhaps too brief, or too young, to realise it's proper place in his life-story, but he's then "punished" by an enormously elaborate & quite literally fantastic conspiracy. neither nicholas nor alison have kept anything back from each other vis a vis their future plans- they have their job interviews on the same day, & speculate about how the relationship might continue when each is employed away from london. I can't figure out why it is that nicholas "deserves" all the subsequent charadery or how it is in any way justified in teaching him some sort of lesson. instead I view the whole tale as an overbaked allegory for the harsh treatment that young people often mete out on each other when very first exploring life partnerships, & on this occasion I'm giving JF the points purely for the quality of the writing. I didn't enjoy being in nicholas' head while all this was happening to him, no.
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