Rating: 
Summary: One of Fowle's Best
Review: Although I count The Magus as an intriguing, favorite book from the past, I considered Daniel Martin to be equally well written. Though most different in style and content from The Magus, I would rate Daniel paired with Magus, as being the best of Fowles. The plot is compelling, the descriptions of place so fine you may later think you've been there. Not as complex nor finely written as in the Robertson Davies trilogy, but a great read for any time of year! If you like Davies, John Irving, P.Reverte', Palliser, you may well enjoy this novel, though it is less complex than much of the aforementioned authors' works.
Rating: 
Summary: The characters need emotional upheaval
Review: Daniel Martin is in love with his vision of the world but in all honesty he is so self-absorbed that all of these experiences seem trivial and removed.And the female characters are like soulless machines,used for pleasure and then written off.I was waiting for a smartass kid to come along and make fun of Daniel Martin's brazen attitude or at least his shoes.
Rating: 
Summary: long train ride of a book
Review: Fowler's obviously a man in love with words. I had to use a dictionary to decipher the first paragraph, which I slogged through at least four times: "The last of the hanger ran under the eastern ridge of the combe, where it had always been too steep and stony for the plough. It was now little more than a long spinney, mainly of beech." That page read like a big raspberry for the half-literate reader (me). I could almost feel the spittle spray from the page. So dang it, I kept reading! The book takes persistence to get into, but I finally fell in, getting to know the characters, the place, feeling as if I truly knew them.
Rating:
Summary: long train ride of a book
Review: Fowler's obviously a man in love with words. I had to use a dictionary to decipher the first paragraph, which I slogged through at least four times: "The last of the hanger ran under the eastern ridge of the combe, where it had always been too steep and stony for the plough. It was now little more than a long spinney, mainly of beech." That page read like a big raspberry for the half-literate reader (me). I could almost feel the spittle spray from the page. So dang it, I kept reading! The book takes persistence to get into, but I finally fell in, getting to know the characters, the place, feeling as if I truly knew them.
Rating:
Summary: Underated
Review: I have never understod why this book didn't seem to catch on. I think it is possibly his best book. The beginning is beautiful, but my advice is to skim thru the first chapter--then get on to the rest of the book. When you have finished--go back and re-read the beginning...because it IS remarkable and beautiful. I almost think he should have just somehow started in with the story this time--and ended with his poetic begining.It felt autobiographical and it touched me.
Rating: 
Summary: portly bearded middle-aged writer = irresistible sex god
Review: I'd like to expand on the title but unfortunately I can't; as far as I can tell, that's what this is about. This appears to be a self-conscious attempt to write a Victorian novel. I ploughed through 200 pages or so of this and concluded that the author of "The Collector" and "The Magus" had said all he has to say that's interesting already. In other books. Fans of the latter will appreciate that Fowles lifts and recycles whole tranches of dialogue between Nicholas and Julie and puts them into the mouths of Daniel and Nancy. Other than that, nothing interesting actually happens. Skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment.
Review: John Fowles is a great writer. I consider The French Lieutenant's Woman and The Magus to be two of the best novels of the 20th Century. I've read both several times. But I just can't say the same of Daniel Martin. It started off so well, with it's scenes from the war. But then Daniel grew up and became a painfully self-absorbed creature. Daniel may represent Fowles' picture of late 20th Century man, but it's not mine. Because his portrayal rang so false, I found the book to be merely a well written slog through the angst of the 20th century (sorry--I should be ashamed of that last phrase). A noble effort, but false in the end. Worst of all, a lot of it is just plain boring. I continue to hope that Fowles will write another book that will capture my heart and mind like The French Lieutenant's Woman. (Sigh!)
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as "The Collector" and "The Magus" ..
Review: John Fowles is a talented writer, and I think that if you end up buying this book, you will not be disappointed. It has some interesting points in it. Many deep thoughts, some interesting chapters. But, the problem is that I don't think that the story of "Daniel Martin" is a good one. It is not fascinating, atleast it didn't raise my interest. At some point I started to dislike this Daniel Martin.. He seemed boring and dull, just like any stupid, chauvinistic, self-centered, egoistic middle-aged man you can see. Maybe there is a point in describing a person like that, but frankly: I am not very thrilled to read about a man like that, I think I've met too many "daniel martins" in real life!
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as "The Collector" and "The Magus" ..
Review: Loved The Magus. Kept waiting for this one to take off. Save for the one chapter on his first love - about three-quarters of the way through - I found little worth hanging onto. Great observations about L.A. and the film biz. Colorful descriptions of English countryside and the Nile Delta. But, sorry, none of it worth the 600+ page plod.
Rating:
Summary: Too slow and too dense
Review: The Magus, the French Lieutenants Woman and The Aristos rate in my top 20 if not top 10 of best books ever (even though I am no longer young enough to be the target audience for them). I tried to get through Daniel Martin twice, but get stuck in the slow plot, the dense, overly complex, writing and the pages of gowing nowhere. This is a big dissappointment and put me of other john Fowles novels for a while.
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