Reviews

The Magus by John Fowles

michinio's review

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4.0

Really nice trip, but could be nicer imho, if some storylines were developed more...

rosagigantea's review

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

angus_mckeogh's review

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3.0

While this one wasn’t awful by any means and had portions of gripping narrative, it was by no means as incredible as The Collector. Once again I feel like I might’ve read the best of the author’s work first, so by comparison this one wasn’t nearly as good. Moreover, parts of this novel seemed needlessly long, and the “shocking nature of the libertine lifestyle” at the time when this book was written seemed a little dated.

dillpickle123's review

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Mehh, boring

nassu's review

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book is freakin BORING

elin_am's review against another edition

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1.0

I am finally giving up on this book halfway through, because I can not stand the main character. The way he thinks and judge and acts around women (teens) is just painful to read about.

There are a few short moments that are good and interesting, but they drown in the 800 pages of whatever they are trying to accomplish, and i simply do not care about any of it.

foolishmortal23's review

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reflective
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

usnebojemesa's review

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4.0

Finally finished this wretched book and I wish it didn't take me twelve days to do it but it was one of the bigger ones in a long time.
Anyways, let's brace ourselves for this one.
I genuinely stopped reading big books some time ago. It's no surprise most of the books I've read are 200-300 pages or, preferably, less. The second to last big one, '[b:Farewell, Monsieur Gaston|23550601|Farewell, Monsieur Gaston|Nikolai Grozni|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415815394l/23550601._SX50_.jpg|43150439]' took two months to finish (from the end of July till beginning of October last year) and it 'only' had around 400 pages (if I am remembering correctly), but it was a beast, plot-wise, language-wise, complexity-wise.
Now I remember I've read '[b:The Goldfinch|17333223|The Goldfinch|Donna Tartt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1378710146l/17333223._SY75_.jpg|24065147]' after putting it off for a long time but that one also cost me some twenty days. Now, I don't spend most of my days reading, I have two jobs and mandatory uni classes so imagine all the ways I fit reading into this.

This one was just... extremely tedious to finish somehow but it was not un-enjoyable (or I could just say it was enjoyable, I'm tired).
No, the length of did not make me 'happy' to hang out with the characters or love them in any way. The plot and the way it blossomed and unraveled made it clear to me how much this book relied on it being a 'mystery' which had attracted me to it but it was so convoluted at times because we followed it as it unraveled with Nicholas. Don't get me even started on him.
In the first part of the book I couldn't stand him, the middle left me really close till I propelled this book from my window just because of the whole Greece mystery (but honestly it was starting to get hard to follow) and honestly, the last 100 pages were really my favorite bit. That's it.
The prose is really nice at times, leaving us with some nice passages and memorable words structures (green as lettuce, hello??).

slimewitch's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

rosapeachdrift's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25