A Maggot

A Maggot is John Fowles' best work. I have a tendency to review my favorite novel of an author and sometimes to comment in passing on his or her other works, simply because to review them all is too much work.The story is about a group of travelers on the road on horseback in the early English seventeen hundreds, from London to Bristol. They travel together for mutual safety against bandits, because the journey was perilous and slow, before roadways as we know them were built.At first the characters appear to be quite unconnected to each other. The first part of the book describes the events of their trip through each other's eyes as they unfold.In fact they are deeply connected in ways they do not understand themselves at the moment of their departure.The second part of the book is written mostly in the first person, by the legal factor of a high English nobleman, anxious to discover what happened to his son along the way. It consists of depositions by the travelers themselves and all possible eyewitnesses.A Maggot is in the end a science fiction novel, the idea of a future appreciated by no one except perhaps the lawyer, who wonders but is not capable of grasping it.Five stars to Fowles.His other novels seem somehow a little querulous, even the French Lieutenant's Woman.(If this review sounds like an old geezer at work then it is because I are one. Example- the novel was first published as "The Magot", a word few still understand, and then as "A Maggot". A word we all understand. Please enjoy this fine book.)

In all his books John Fowles proved himself a masterful writer. And this one, like his others, requires a commitment by the reader. The title of this book is off-putting and gives no hint of the storyline. Furthermore all the dialog in the book is written in the vernacular of 18th century England, making it often difficult for modern readers to follow. But the story is absorbing and unlike anything you have ever read before. It will take you a while to read this book, but it will be time well spent and you will learn a lot in the process. You may even want to read it a second time.

This really isn't a novel as the bulk of it is a very long Q&A!

This is the type of book that jolt your mind to search and probe for further explanations to some of life mysteries by showing you events and things that normally are not covered by the trite and controlled press.I am glad I bought it.

Not as good as his other books, but I may read it again and change my opinion.

This is the first book I have read by John Fowles. I found the opening pages, and short segments scattered here and there through the rest, unpromising: they read much less like a story than a social history by an author unsympathetic with the era and intent on demonstrating how inferior it was to his own. To me, this is rather poor historical fictioneering -- I prefer the novelist to let the period speak for itself, revealing its own quirks and peculiarities. I could see no reason for Fowles's pontificating, unless it was to set up his credentials as someone whose studies had qualified him to set his tale in the middle of England's eighteenth century. But he could have let these qualifications speak for themselves. Once past his long asides and into the much longer places where the various characters got their chance to carry the story forward from their own individual viewpoints (and very authentically in-period their words and sentiments sounded!) it became fascinating -- gripping -- not impossible to put down, but wonderful to pick up again. And what is it? A sort of historical fantasy,I think, open to various interpretations. I would incline to "historical mystical fantasy," but some might prefer to read it as "science fiction from the point of view of the people experiencing it without any idea of what might be going on."Now in my seventies, I have become very selective about what books I'm keeping on my shelves for possible rereading. This is one that has made that grade.

1 of 5 stars[ 2 of 5 stars ]3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 starsWhen I ran out of books to read during a beach vacation in Mazatlan, I found Fowles' 1985 novel A Maggot on a condo share shelf dominated by contemporary genre fiction, and on the strength of my reads of The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Woman, snapped it up. The story begins as an historical novel, with a group of five people -- four men and a woman -- traveling through rural England in 1736, and it's clear early on that none of these people are who they pretend to be. What is not clear is exactly who they are, where they are going, and why they are traveling together. Eventually, the narrative stops and is replaced by a series of letters written by a lawyer to his employer, "the Duke," who is the father of the now-missing leader of the group. The Duke has sent the lawyer to discover the whereabouts of his son and whatabouts of his journey, and as various participants and witnesses are found and interviewed, the lawyer reports his findings in letters, Q & A transcripts of interrogations, and accounts in contemporary newspapers. Ultimately, two very different tales emerge about the last known whereabouts of the missing heir, one heavenly and one hellish, but both decidedly supernatural. I enjoyed both the narrative and investigation portions of the novel until the arrival of some apparent time-travelers, which spun the story in an unbelievable and uninteresting direction. Clearly, Fowles intended this story to make a statement, and clearly, I did not get it because I haven't a clue what he was doing or why.