Of Human Bondage

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Summary: How to make art school in Paris boring
Review: Some pick up this book on their own, and some have it thrust upon them. In the tradition of the Victorians, there is cradle to grave detail (gee thanks) in "Bondage", including cold surrogate parents, the trauma and teasing of boarding school, and the heartbreak of a lame kid at team sports. When Phil reaches early adulthood the reader thinks that things will pick up a bit, as the "innocent abroad" goes to study in Germany and Paris and meets literati, artists, and academic folk. It should read like Boswell, but instead it's full of tired philosophical discourse and Phil's musings that maybe there is an acceptable religious tradition outside of the Church of England

On to Mildred, the book's villainess, who is so intimately wound up with discussion of this novel though she occupies a very small part of it. The reflective reader will eventually come to the conclusion that Mildred is an unconvincing addition to the story, and is at the end summarily dismissed from the narrative. She leaves no footprint, what was she doing there in the first place?

From belle epoque Paris we soon move to nuts and bolts London, where we learn exact prices for goods and services (in 1912 currency, nondecimalized of course), in particular what it costs for two adults and an infant to stay by the seaside.

Phil's concluding epiphanies are phenomenally dated. When he ponders that the poor shall forever be "in their place", and the British social order shall endure indefinitely, he leaves himself wide open to the historical ironies of socialist upheaval that took place just few years later.

Which is not to say you can't extract any wisdom or solace from this gigantic work...you can. However, "Bondage" is not on its way to timelessness, rather, it is travelling in the opposite direction, towards "snapshot in time" status.

Rating:
Summary: Not a quick read, nor an easy one, but worth it
Review: I got frustrated with this book in the middle. It was a bit tedious to read at times b/c it required all my focus. But in the end, it was worth it. A good story; excellent characterizations. This author has great acumen when it comes to creating a mood, scenery, and a complex character.

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Summary: Of Learning When to Use an Editor
Review: If W. Somerset Maugham's intent in writing "Of Human Bondage" was to instill the desire in his reader to see Philip Carey (the book's protagonist) bludgeoned with a blunt object, he succeeded beautifully.

"Bondage" tells the long, long, long story of Carey from childhood through early middle age and the many relationships, despairs, epiphanies, longings, setbacks, sicknesses, friends, and beliefs he goes through along the way. And did I mention that this book is long?

Maugham's prinicpal concern seems to be the incongruous desires that can chain us to people or habits that we know are self-destructive but indulge in anyway. The book is epic in its scope, covering a vast number of storylines, but the central focus lies on the relationship between Philip and Mildred, a poor Cockney waitress with whom he strikes up a torrid relationship. Mildred has to be the most unpleasant character ever committed to fiction, and the book's greatest weakness lies in the utter inability of me to understand what in the world Mildred can offer that so obsesses Philip. Other reviewers have said that it's just plain old human lust, something that sometimes defies logic, but that's not good enough for me. Maugham doesn't inhabit Mildred with one positive quality---he doesn't even describe her as being attractive (she's the only principle love interest I've ever read about whose skin is described as being green!). I suppose part of Philip's infatuation could be explained away by his insecurity from being lame and the ever-present difficulty he has in interacting with others, but this still isn't enough justification for me. Mildred is horrid, and I groaned every time she appeared.

I think the book is at its best, ironically, when it's not focusing on the Mildred/Philip relationship. Philip's flirtations with art and medicine truly are fascinating (especially the accounts of working in a doctor's office), and Maugham manages moments of real truth in this novel that seem quite modern for the time in which it was written. There's a very practical side of Philip that I could relate to, and I thought it very genuine and believable when Philip realizes the limitations the artistic life (usually so romanticized as ideal) can place on someone.

I suspect that is the allure of this book and the reason for its popularity: it encompasses so many ideas and stages in psychological and emotional growth that almost everyone can find something to which he or she can relate. "Of Human Bondage" is an exhausting book, and I can't say I was sorry when it was over, but I did appreciate its candid honesty.

Rating:
Summary: Of Human Bondage
Review: Somerset Maugham's sweeping epic unfolds over a term of twenty five or so years corresponding to the end od the Victorian era. Phillip Carey an orphan is raised by his Aunt and Uncle, an Anglican clergeyman. Phillip is ultra sensitive about his deformed foot and his Uncle's indifference. When Phillip turns to adulthood he turns his back on the Church, much to the dismay of his uncle and loving Aunt. He first tries his luck as an accountant and fails miserably. He then takes his inheritance and goes to Paris to study painting. He discovers that he only has marginal talent and returns to England to study medicine.
It is while in medical school that the most compelling part of the novel comes to life. Phillip falls miserbly in love with Milldred, an ill tempered and morally corrupt woman of a much lower class than Phillip. Mildreds descent into the abyss very nearly brings Phillip with her. Phillip finally finds himself when he befreiends a typesetter and his family and Phillip yearns for the simple and happy life that the family enjoys.

The novel is Dickens like in its deaths and depressive environs. The plight of a Paris classmate is the most poingnent of the various sub-plots. Phillip Carey is truly a Dickens like hero who chases forbidden love. The reader agonizes as Phillip is abused over and over again by Mildred. Of Human Bondage is worth the 800 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Of Human Bondage
Review: I must admit that this is my favorite book, hence the five star review. Somerset Maugham may be mostly forgotten by contemporary audiences, but on the strength of this work alone he should receive much more recognition. "Of Human Bondage" is basically a thinly veiled autobiography of the author himself, and reading the book one gets the sense that Maugham really did pour everything he had into it. Although more than six hundred pages long, it's economically written and moves along at a fast pace. It's also one of the few books I've ever read capable of eliciting a genuine emotional response. Its sheer honesty is astounding. Maugham never shies away from portraying life in all its splendor and ugliness. Every character in the book is painfully realistic, so much so that many critics say none of them are particularly likable. The sheer scope of the book is another one of its strengths. From provincial England to bourgeois Paris, it really provides the reader with a wonderful sense of what life was life for a young man in late Victorian Europe. "Of Human Bondage" does suffer from a couple of problems, though, the greatest of which is a semi-cheesy conclusion. It's almost as if Maugham felt that he had to give Philip a happy ending after all that he put him through in the course of the novel. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this book. Forget "The Razor's Edge," "Of Human Bondage" is W. Somerset Maugham's masterpiece.

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Summary: Amazing powers of observation
Review: Maugham is the quintessential writer-observer. His style may seem detached and rather unemotional, but that actually works to his adavantage. Maugham lets us make our own conclusions and allows us to construct Philip's emotions as we would experience them. That's what makes this book so special: there are so many times that you feel like Philip because for every reader Philip is largely their own creation and not an artificial construct foisted on you by the author. If you like literature to be subtle and yet have the power to transport, this one is for you!

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Summary: A deeply affecting story of obsession and life choices.
Review: Of Human Bondage is a literary beacon of light for the wayward drifter who is in the grip of an emotional force that is larger than him or herself. It is a piece of literature that can resonate quite loudly for people who are in a transitional phase in their lives, whether it be coming out of a hardship or entering into one (you decide), searching for the ideal career, the perfect mate or all of the above. Of Human Bondage addresses, at its core, the fixations and or foibles that can or can't lead to one's life choices. Maugham's classic isn't really about introspection and self-analysis-although that is a minute slice of the pie-rather the book explores (in conjunction with fixations and foibles) the environment, the people who fill it and how it and they influence thoughts and actions. In the case of Philip Carey, his entire emotional affliction derives from the biggest failing, that he, in much irony, totally and lustfully embraces: Mildred Rodgers, a dowdy, dispassionate waitress who could give a flying flip over her possessive suitor's welfare and attention (unless she wants something). Human beings are quite successful at establishing their own burdens and barriers, and Philip Carey is the absolute representation of that fact. In the beginning, he emerges as a confined and oppressed, yet gifted, young lad who wants to be the holder of his own choices, but he is not. The one who reigns over him is his rather impersonal uncle, the Vicar of Blackstable. Their stringent life as well as the mocking depravity that he (Philip) receives over his clubfoot at school, are the undeniable catalysts that get the story off the ground. He gallaivants from one adventure and possible career to another, like a boat drifting on waves: up, down, up, down. But each new adventure is more of a representation of escape and avoidance rather than of a progressive learning experience. Philip is a person with a multitude of demons, and instead of hitting the bottle for relief, he flees his surroundings, one fresh slate upon another. Instead of trying to endure the common hardships that are responsible for emotional strength and character development, Philip, sadly, flees from them, thus stunting his emotional growth, making him especially vulnerable when he must face pain (Mildred, loneliness, poverty...) head-on, unable to turn back and escape. Each experience-of which Mildred plays a huge part-drains him more and more, pushing him into a darkened abyss where the glimmer of hope seems so terribly unattainable. On page 413, a jaded Philip has a speck of realization dawn upon him: "But on the whole the impression was neither of tragedy nor of comedy. There was no describing it. It was manifold and various; there were tears and laughter, happiness and woe; it was tedious and interesting and indifferent; it was as you saw it: it was tumultuous and passionate; it was grave; it was sad and comic; it was trivial; it was simple and complex; joy was there and despair; the love of mothers for their children, and of men for women; lust trailed itself through the rooms with leaden feet, punishing the guilty and the innocent, helpless wives and wretched children; drink seized men and women and cost its inevitable price; death sighed in these rooms; and the beginning of life, filling some poor girl with terror and shame, was diagnosed there. There was neither good nor bad there. There was just facts. It was life." There was a saving grace, a shield of armor that Philip was endowed with as a result of his various 'escapes.' And that is that his perception became extremely honed. He became attuned to both his positive and negative experiences via varying roles as youthful academic, office worker, artist, medical student, store clerk, poverty-stricken wreck, and latterly, as a burgeoning doctor. He learned to come to grips with his genuine fears and dreams versus his ridiculous ones-the paramount ones being boredom and a globe-trotting doctor. You get what you give! In all of those roles-minus office worker, youthful academic and artist-Mildred Rodgers played an integral part in shaping who Philip was and what he chose to pursue as well as who he chose to offer his affections to. Foregoing the glamour of international travel-Cordova, Toledo, Leon-I can see Philip behind the guardrail with Sally, facing the setting sun and the vast ocean in Dorsetshire, whispering silently, "Thank-you, Mildred Rodgers! Thank-you!"

Rating:
Summary: ho hum
Review: Describing this book as clearly written is more accurate than declaring it as profound or deeply probing. It's quite an easy read and that is not a mark against it; the lucidity made me not mind reading a book which was honestly not very engaging. I thought Philip petty and he floats through his life as blown by a wind from orthodox Christianity, to Parisian art, to a "respectable" profession, finally settling down with a woman he does not love for a life which is far from the searching adventurousness which he once fancied all with the stoic spirit of, if it gets to hard, I'll just commit suicide. The disengaged lightness of tone in Razor's Edge works much better than an aimless wondering through writing a novel. I did not find this book inspiring (but it wasn't bad either).

Rating:
Summary: Super stars for this beautifully written work
Review: I bought this book based on reviews made by previous reviewers. I really do have them to thank for those recommendations. In the beginning I did have my doubt as to being able to like it. The first 50 pages or so transported me back to my childhood reading of boarding schools and their occupants. I agree with one of the reviewers that the beginning part is a bit slow and deliberate. However, right up till page 129, two things happened - First was that I simply could not put the book down and the second was that I tend to stop reading after two pages or read very slowly for fear that I'll finish the book so fast there'll be no other GREAT book to read (although I know it's not true). At the end, the book had far surpassed all my expectation of what pleasure reading should be. It truly is a beautifully written book. Buy it and expect countless hours of enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: awesome writing
Review: It's not what the storyline is about, it's about reading a gifted writer's work. To discuss the plot or the characters to one who hasn't read this book, would be like describing chocolate to one who has never indulged. It's NOT a love story, it's NOT about a person who makes less than admirable decisions, it's about the reader, seeing him/herself in every word and looking at the walls he/she builds as a result of his/her own perceptions and learning to understand that freedom is a perceived state that is conquered only through self awareness. A gem among the classics. An inspiration to anyone who esteems artful writing (in contrast to the plethora of clueless attempts published in every genre) and to anyone who is intrigued by human behaviour and its social influences.

(My only criticism is the choice of cover for the penguin edition with a painting of "The Cafe" by Graham Bell. What a bland and uninviting first impression it makes. It only gains appreciation once the reader is well into the book, which by then, is no longer needed to attract the reader.)