Of human bondage W Somerset Maugham 9781172667550 Books
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Of human bondage W Somerset Maugham 9781172667550 Books
W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" is one of the best books I have ever read about the trials and tribulations that a human being goes through just prior to his teenage years, during his teenage years, and just before entering adulthood. The character of Philip, born with a club foot deformity, is a textbook, detailed, and analytic study of the formation and evolution that takes place in the mind and body of person as he passes through these turbulent years. It is also a social commentary about institutions, such as schools and churches, that are so rigid, unbending and unwilling to accept change that they become barriers to the growth and education of the human being and society as a whole.This is the first book that I have read by Mr. Maughan. It will not be the last. I loved this book.
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Of human bondage W Somerset Maugham 9781172667550 Books Reviews
I've never wanted to yell at a fictional character as much as I wanted to while reading this novel. Philip is just a glutton for punishment and his story is so wonderfully told that it's no wonder this is a classic. He is very real - who hasn't felt conflicted sometimes, knowing you're being stupid but doing it anyway? And that ending... simply wonderful!
If you've never read this book, I urge you to give it a try. Maugham's classic has been in print for almost a hundred years with good reason. Its a long book, filled with fasciating minor characters, almost all whom reflect universal human traits that are as valid and important today as they were in 1915. The main story follows Philip Carey on his journey from a school boy to a successful doctor in England in the 1890s. Carey is burdened with a club foot and gets himself trapped in an obsessive relationship with a waitress named Mildred which almost ruins his life.
The book is written in a straight forward, simple style that moves the story along at a fast clip. Maugham consistently violates the current taboo that tells young writers to "show don't tell." Maugham tells a lot and the technique works amazingly well. The book also serves as a historical document, detailing life in London, Paris and Germany in the 1890s. Overall is a great story about people the reader really grows to care about as the plot progresses. The emphasis on story telling and the absence of literary flourishes and tricks makes this a delightful reading experience. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a big, old fashioned novel about people and ideas that matter.
Mr. Maugham's magnum opus unquestionably lived up to the hype. For many years I had started this book, only to be dissuaded by its overwhelming somberness and what seemed to be a bleak outlook on life. But that's just how it starts out!! The rest of the novel is as dynamic and filled with as much depth and soul as "Great Expectations" or Joyce's "Portrait." A bildungsroman like no other.
The story follows the hapless Phillip Carey, as he makes his way through adolescence and young adulthood. He learns from an early age that life is brimming with tragedy orphanned and club-footed, he is taken in by his vicar uncle and later attends a religious boarding school. These formative years, in which he experiences constant disappointment, have an irrevocable impact on his spirituality and worldview; God no longer exists for him and he's forced to search for another meaning to life. He travels through Europe, jumping from one occupation to another, ever indecisive about his calling. The novel carries through all his ups and downs, from the stimulation of Paris to the stagnation of London, from painter to healer.
He experiences one existential crisis after another, as he goes through all his trials and tribulations. An especially bitter one for him is his dalliance with the femme fatale who becomes an object of obsession for him. Mildred is an odious human being, embodying just about every negative quality imaginable, and she manipulates poor Phillip every chance she gets. Never has unrequited love been quite so embraced by anyone other than Phillip. But it is only through her pettiness and selfishness that Phillip can realize who he is.
As we see in the course of the novel, the world is a rich tapestry, and we must discover its meaning for ourselves. Phillip eventually realizes what this is, and it is this realization that allows him to endure the pain and emotional turmoil of it. It is truly an ordeal at times. But he learns to embrace another possibility, one pregnant with hope, a counterpoint to tragedy and misfortune.
Besides Phillip and Mildred, the novel is rife with Dickensian characters, from the lovable Thorpe Athelny to the histrionic Miss Wilkinson to the poetic Cronshaw and the diffuse Hayward. Maugham's heart was always in the nineteenth century, as Gore Vidal notes. The influence of that era's literature and art is unmistakeable in every facet of his writing and the characters, in particular. They are a heart-warming cast that play off of Phillip's idiosyncracies and enrich all of his life experiences.
This novel has my unreserved praise. Here is the bildungsroman at its finest, a novel that rightfully deserves its place in the canon. It exceeded all my expectations and left me craving more. What every book should be.
W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" is one of the best books I have ever read about the trials and tribulations that a human being goes through just prior to his teenage years, during his teenage years, and just before entering adulthood. The character of Philip, born with a club foot deformity, is a textbook, detailed, and analytic study of the formation and evolution that takes place in the mind and body of person as he passes through these turbulent years. It is also a social commentary about institutions, such as schools and churches, that are so rigid, unbending and unwilling to accept change that they become barriers to the growth and education of the human being and society as a whole.
This is the first book that I have read by Mr. Maughan. It will not be the last. I loved this book.
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