Look if you're going to buy a book about making monsters, then make sure it's the right monster. Shelly wrote Frankenstein in 1818 and rewrote in it 1831 and there are significant differences. It's also good to know which course you're on this York guide is aimed at A Level students and Undergraduates. This guide does reference the 1818 edition and has much useful background information, however the book's analysis is based on the 1831 text. So I cry foul! But I'm not sure who to blame for this misrepresentation of what is actually an excellent guidebook. Just make sure it's relevant to your study. Anyway I must go online for a recharge for what is Franklystein a wasted expense!

Malter Witty
Madeupname

Jackson, a private investigator acts as the protagonist in the story, he is always ready to do the right thing; basically one of life's good guy's. He is surrounded by a dysfunctional world that he struggles to understand, but is resigned to. He acts as the glue in the story to hold together the various cases of murders and missing people. Chronologically a little tricky, the story moving back and forth in time and between cases and characters, a story that in its own right is plausible enough though. All the Cases are unrelated but become connected together and in the end are nicely closed. The beauty in the book is Kate Atkinson's style and narrative she seams almost to dismiss as "the trivia of life", murder, rape, and pedophilia in a way that will bring a wry smile. Understatement is her stock and trade; this story is tragic but paradoxically will make you laugh. The portrayal and clarity of character is brilliant, characters we all know, a satire of those around us. The slight whiff of cynicism and political incorrectness here and there, in my view, is to be admired, as it actually adds to the books qualities. Damaged people are accurately depicted, nothing is too appalling that it cannot be trivialised in an amusing way.

A strong theme that shines through everything in the book is parental love; can you have too much, or too little?

Malter Witty

The Magus is not a book it's an experience, a valuable lesson to anyone who thinks they know what is happening around them, to anyone who thinks they are in control, to anyone who thinks they understand. Your own morality and treatment of others is on trial in the mirror held up by the Magus. You are in the hands of a Machiavellian Master who plays a dark psychological game, which actually delights the willing participants but is ultimately harmful to them. Paradoxically the more information you have the less you know. The high quality theatre is played out on a beautiful Greek Island, which is elegantly, and richly described by Fowles, you can smell and touch the scenery. The many themes in this work include Infidelity, Mind Games, Freedom of Choice, Trust, Power, Naivety if you arrive at the end of this story believing you have the answers then you've not learned from the experience.

It would be wrong to critique this wonderful piece of art against our standards of correctness, it is insensitive to gender and race, but should be forgiven as a book of its time some 50 years ago. This is an extremely clever book whose messages are as appropriate today as they were 50 years ago. I am thankful for the experience and caution those who indulge in Machiavellian games for they enjoy relative failure in love and friendships and it are they who become damaged in the end. The closing of the final chapter is particularly poignant, does a rescued relationship or marriage smell of burning leaves? Fowles generously closes with the wish that we should love again. Journey wisely!