Rating: 
Summary: Hmmm...
Review: 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 same adverse treatment despite having surely already received enough information to make him wake up to the fact he should no longer be doing so - until, finally, damaged, he gets the message and learns that the worst side of human nature is untrustworthy and that only fools trust naively - then he refuses to be the victim of others any longer and forced to play their games, and walks away, no longer naive. Such is life. We are all, often, the victims of other people. The writer, determined to teach the message to those willing to understand it and take it on, makes the book deliberately long, meandering, unclear, obscure, and so takes advantage of the reader's naïve and trusting nature in much the same way as the main character, Conchis, and his accomplices, take advantage of Nick. The book is a lesson in life. The book symbolises aspects of how badly life/God/others/our environment treat us (and how authors do, sometimes!) and how we treat each other too. The closing Latin words quoted in the book ('cras amet qui numquam amavit quique amavit cras amet') apparently mean "Tomorrow let him love, who has never loved; he who has loved, let him love tomorrow." Presumably the writer is trying to say, we should love each other better than we do. The writer says in his 1976 Foreword that the book 'means' "...whatever reaction it provokes in the reader, and so far as I am concerned there is no given 'right' reaction...". So, take from it what you will. This is not a book I would recommend anyone to read (at least, unless they have a lot of spare time on their hands to which they attach little value, with nothing much better to do with that time) as it is too obscurely written, but at the same time it is an interesting book.
Rating: 
Summary: An absolutely amazing novel
Review: 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 heard of it. Exotic setting. Fascinating story. I hadn't read anything by Fowles before but I definitely will again. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Read it young.
Review: 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. It is an exciting thriller, it is thought provoking, it does have a great beginning, it does take risks; but God, how naiive! Some of it is just plain silly. And it is way too long. I notice that a lot of the reveivers read it in college, and that is probaly the best place for this novel. A juvenile book in every sense. My advice is that if you haven't read it by age 30 then don't!
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Classic
Review: The Magus is one of my favorite books of all time. It has everything one could wish for in a work of fiction. Beautifully written, atmospheric, sophisticated, mysterious, it is destined to be a classic for the ages. I first read this book 20 years ago and just recently read it again. It was even more captivating the second time around. It's hard to believe this novel was written in the 1950s; it holds a timeless fascination. I envy anyone who is reading it for the first time. Prepare yourself for a thrill.
Rating:
Summary: The magical Magus
Review: I've had this book for over 15 years, and it is clearly one of my most favourite and memorable books, streaming from fantasy to spirituality and surreal events. It is an absolute must for every modern thinker. What an author. Walter van Woudenberg
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: This book is just full of literary pretentiousness. The book starts off well, but there are too many plots, too many twists, too much storytelling that goes on for pages, and the ending is definitely anticlimatic. Overall, its a disappointing read.
Rating:
Summary: Abuse of the reader
Review: Fowles apparently had a great idea for a fascinating novel, but once he was in the middle of it, was unable to pull it off. He should have had the integrity to put it aside instead of going ahead and publishing it. This novel is a failure. Fowles is dishonest with the reader: he keeps promising a big payoff, keeps you expectant that it's around the corner, but it never happens. I couldn't reveal the ending even if I wanted to, because this book has no ending! It just stops and leaves you hanging. Fowles failed to craft an ending for this story, so he just dropped it abruptly. He failed as a storyteller. The Magus is a crafty, devious older gentleman who slyly seduces, teases, and torments a young Englishman, always tantalizing him with the promise of something great, but always tricking him and never delivering anything but torment. That is the key to understanding what's happening here with the meta-novel: Fowles came to fancy himself as the Magus, and casts the unwitting reader in the role of his dupe and his victim. This novel amounts to nothing more than abuse of the reader by the author. Do not waste your time with it.
Rating:
Summary: Insolvable enigma
Review: I've read this novel three or four times and it never ceases to fascinate me. Recent films like The Matrix have explored the idea that what we assume to be real may not be. If you really want to delve into this kind of reality questioning in depth, read The Magus. The narrator, Nicholas Urfe, is a young Englishman who has recently graduated from Oxford. He has a rather arrogant and cynical view of the world, seeing himself as a sophisticated intellectual. He is drifting along with no definite plans, having casual affairs with women while doing his utmost to avoid any kind of commitments. This aimlessness leads him to accept a teaching job on Phraxos, a remote Greek island. While he quickly finds this job as tedious as his previous existence in London, he meets a mysterious older man named Maurice Conchis, and his life is forever altered. Conchis invites Nicholas to his estate for weekends, telling him long tales about his life that may or may not be true. Soon people and events begin to occur that mirror those in Conchis' stories. Nicholas falls in love with a beautiful young woman who is involved in these machinations. Her name may be Julie or Lily; she may be only pretending to return Nicholas' affections. Nicholas finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex web of lies and deception where it becomes impossible to tell truth from lies, reality from fiction. Conchis may be a psychiatrist conducting an elaborate experiment; he may be the director of a new kind of theater; or he may be a sadistic madman out to destroy Nicholas' sanity. The Magus can be understood in several ways. It is a very suspenseful tale with powerful literary, romantic and erotic elements. We can see Nicholas a victim who haphazardly falls into the lair of a lunatic. Or we can see Conchis as a true magus --the term is derived from the Magician of the tarot--who initiates a younger apprentice. However you interpret it, the book will keep you wondering until -and beyond-the very end. John Fowles revised the novel in 1978; I've read both versions and can't say I noticed any great difference. In the forward to the revised edition, Fowles makes some rather uncharitable remarks about his own book and those who admire it. He calls the novel one of "adolescence." While it may be true that this book tends to appeal to younger readers, this is probably because in this materialistic and rather mundane culture people tend to "outgrow" intellectual, moral and aesthetic inquisitiveness once they leave college. It's unfortunate that someone as talented as Fowles would succumb to the notion that this is a good thing. However, I like the book enough that I can forgive this bit of churlishness on the author's part. This is one of my all time favorite books and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: reality and fantasy... which is real?
Review: Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman in the early 1950s, has nothing to do with his life. He got a degree in English essentially because he had nothing better to do. What he did like to do, however, was - to put it bluntly - have sex. Date. He was a professional heart breaker; a professional playboy. He met Alison, an Australian in England, at a party... and that is where their relationship began - based on sex. Thanks to a job agency, he managed to get a hold of a job on the remote Greek island of Phraxos, where he would be the English teacher for the boys at a boarding school. While he is there, he comes across Conchis, an older, mysterious man... and one heck of a mystery. Why does Conchis keep Julia and June trapped, telling Nicholas that Julia is schizophrenic when she quite obviously is not? Why does Conchis weave truth among lies, lies among truth - are Julia and June actually starring in a movie? Is he in the starring role? What is reality - and what is fantasy? This novel keeps you guessing, all the way through. Nothing is as it seems, as seemingly minor incidents affect future events tenfold. As Nicholas attempts to figure out what is going on, and why he is involved, the reader cheers for Nicholas as he uncovers the past, the present - and himself. To put it simply, this novel is confusing. But that's okay.
Rating:
Summary: On its way to becoming my favorite novel of all time
Review: The Magus may be my favorite book of all time. I think because I picked it up at just the right time. I started reading The Magus the summer before my third year of University, looking for a good, fast read. And the Magus is certainly that, however, nearing the end of the summer, getting tired of the length, and the vexing, sometimes monotonous sense of mystery and intrigue, I began to loose hope in discovering a deeper, more thoughtful message in the midst of all the fantasy and confusion, worthy of a book on Modern Library's top 100. At the end of the summer I put it down with 100 pages left to read to start school, leaving what felt like the mother of all cliffhangers. After a long winter I picked the book up again for no other reason than the desire to finish what I had started. I was no longer in the mood for mystery and intrigue, and just wanted a sensible answer for what was going on. And was I ever surprised. I found myself gasping out loud as I followed the story through its twists and turns, and read with delight as the story unfowleded and I discovered where the long narrative was taking me. To read the Magus is to venture on a journey; sometimes maddening, sometimes shocking, often deceptive, but ultimately a profoundly satisfying novel to read. I highly recommend The Magus for anyone who has lost faith in discovering the lost art of self discovery.
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