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A review by chriscotton
The Magus by John Fowles
3.0
3.5 stars. The story presents a fantasy, which a lot of readers might share. Someone comes along and completely shakes up your life by hosting the ultimate personalized interactive theatre experience, which makes you unsure of what’s real or what’s fake and causes you to re-examine whom you are.
This sounds like something I should really enjoy. Ambiguity between reality and fiction. A first person narration of someone with faults (who is potentially unreliable). Parallels to Greek mythology and allusions to works of literature. Plot twists and slow reveal.
I love Murakami’s work, which leaves the reader trying to distinguish reality from fiction. The Magus isn’t in the same league as the Murakami I have read, and is more like reading a book about a main character who is himself reading a Murakami book.
My impression is that Fowles doesn’t really care about the whys and hows driving his story and his characters. There are probably not many hidden depths to the story that I will slowly piece together over several re-reads; and we are likely just supposed to accept the inexplicable and go along for the ride. The story seems to work best as a thriller, where we shouldn’t get too hung up on why things are happening or why people behave the way they do.
Or, perhaps we need to think of the magus in the story (MC) as a Greek god or demi god, who likes to pull people to his island and then just mess with them. So, the whys and hows aren’t important. If he is a god, then he needs no motivation and faces no constraints in resources or powers. (And while I sort of like this later interpretation, there is plenty in the book to suggest this is not what Fowles had in mind).
It is possible that I will develop greater appreciation for the story the more I think about it. Maybe the lack of answers or reasons is really part of the theme of god and fate and control of our lives. There may be stronger parallels with Greek mythology than I currently appreciate.
Or, perhaps he is an unreliable narrator and rereading it with this in mind would improve the story. Recognizing that everything is being distorted by an entitled and self absorbed young man who may or may not be growing as a human being could help explain some of the things I didn’t really like about the book. But, I’m not too hopeful about this.
This sounds like something I should really enjoy. Ambiguity between reality and fiction. A first person narration of someone with faults (who is potentially unreliable). Parallels to Greek mythology and allusions to works of literature. Plot twists and slow reveal.
I love Murakami’s work, which leaves the reader trying to distinguish reality from fiction. The Magus isn’t in the same league as the Murakami I have read, and is more like reading a book about a main character who is himself reading a Murakami book.
My impression is that Fowles doesn’t really care about the whys and hows driving his story and his characters. There are probably not many hidden depths to the story that I will slowly piece together over several re-reads; and we are likely just supposed to accept the inexplicable and go along for the ride. The story seems to work best as a thriller, where we shouldn’t get too hung up on why things are happening or why people behave the way they do.
Or, perhaps we need to think of the magus in the story (MC) as a Greek god or demi god, who likes to pull people to his island and then just mess with them. So, the whys and hows aren’t important. If he is a god, then he needs no motivation and faces no constraints in resources or powers. (And while I sort of like this later interpretation, there is plenty in the book to suggest this is not what Fowles had in mind).
It is possible that I will develop greater appreciation for the story the more I think about it. Maybe the lack of answers or reasons is really part of the theme of god and fate and control of our lives. There may be stronger parallels with Greek mythology than I currently appreciate.
Or, perhaps he is an unreliable narrator and rereading it with this in mind would improve the story. Recognizing that everything is being distorted by an entitled and self absorbed young man who may or may not be growing as a human being could help explain some of the things I didn’t really like about the book. But, I’m not too hopeful about this.