The Magician in W. Somerset Maugham Reader's Group

Aug 21, 2011 Benjamin Duffy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books

What a surprising, interesting book. After reading all of W. Somerset Maugham's most celebrated works several times over, and delving eagerly into his lesser-known (though not necessarily lesser in quality) material afterwards, this is the first one to completely surprise me.

The book is preceded, happily, by a foreword, "The Fragment of Autobiography," in which Maugham admits that the character of Oliver Haddo is indeed based on Aleister Crowley. He pulls no punches in his assessment of the real What a surprising, interesting book. After reading all of W. Somerset Maugham's most celebrated works several times over, and delving eagerly into his lesser-known (though not necessarily lesser in quality) material afterwards, this is the first one to completely surprise me.

The book is preceded, happily, by a foreword, "The Fragment of Autobiography," in which Maugham admits that the character of Oliver Haddo is indeed based on Aleister Crowley. He pulls no punches in his assessment of the real Crowley, whom he knew peripherally, and the more you know about Crowley going into this book, the more scathing a portrayal it is. At any rate, the foreword is hilarious, humble, and charming in its English understatement, like all of Maugham's essays. Among other things, he admits that he hates to reread, or even talk about his novels once they're finished.

The book itself, as I stated up there, is surprising and utterly unique among Maugham's work (at least that I've read so far) in that it has the whiff of the supernatural. The reader is left to guess, for most of the length of the book, whether Haddo is truly a magician, or simply a cunning, manipulative charlatan. I won't spoil anything for you by saying which is the case, but by the time the reader is sure, it's Act III and the rest of the book is a breathless chase to the end. In this, The Magician is also rather unique among Maugham's novels, because nonstop action is not his normal style. Here, he pulls it off with aplomb, showing himself to be one of the most versatile writers in the history of English literature.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's read at least Maugham's big three - Of Human Bondage, The Razor's Edge, and The Moon And Sixpence, and maybe Cakes and Ale or Up at the Villa to boot. To read it before those might give you a mistaken impression of W. Somerset Maugham as a writer. In my opinion, the best time to read The Magician is when I did: as a longtime fan who thought he knew the old master's style forwards and backwards, and was ripe for having his assumptions blasted. This book did that for me and I was delighted for it. ...more

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Aug 19, 2013 Dawnmarie rated it it was amazing

This book was amazing, I just love his writing, so vivid and so twisted. I just loved it. He is truly an amazing writer.

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Sep 13, 2014 Safdar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

'yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love, and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician'

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Mar 23, 2012 Bhuwan Chand rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, mystry

Re-reading Somerset Maugham is taking me back to my school days, going back to the times when I used to take the bus (or walk, at times) to Delhi Public Library in Old Delhi. A psychological mystery of top order. I am sure there are many movies/ series inspired by it...

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