The Magus by John Fowles

This is the third time I've read The Magus, and I do admit I'm losing patience with it as I get older. It's the story of a schoolteacher, a fairly unpleasant selfish young character, who goes to Greece to escape a love affair and to teach on an island school. He meets a local man, Conchis, and becomes involved in a series of mysterious, theatrical events that utterly confuse him about what is truth and what is fiction. Through it all he begins to learn about himself and about his life and finally comes out of it all a changed man. He finally understands that with free will comes responsibility. The book was originally called The Godgame and the premise is really very silly: that a wealthy man on a remote Greek island could play god and invent and carry off these masques is ridiculous. And it is pretentious. But it's still a compelling narrative and I did find myself utterly absorbed by it all over again.