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 | | Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN-10: 9780735101210 ISBN-10: 0-7351-0121-3 ISBN-13: 9780735101210 ISBN-13: 978-0-7351-0121-0 Hardcover 2002-06 Replica Books Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Philip Carey, a handicapped orphan, is brought up by a clergyman, but Philip sheds his religious faith and begins to study art in Paris. | ||
Reviews | ||
definitely a classic, but disappointing the second time around Some twenty-five years ago I read "Of Human Bondage" and thought it was a stunning read. So when I saw a good copy of it at a secondhand bookstore I thought I would re-live the experience. Well, it didn't quite "blow my skirt up" the second time around. Why? It can't be because of its overall premise: an often painful story of a young man working through life from his mid-teens until about thirty. He tries to find himself, which he eventually does, but along the way he takes foolish missteps and learns that obsessive love can destroy one's soul (well, almost). At times one gets deeply entrenched with the young man's plight. So the overall story and characterizations are terrific. But I think the problem lies with the overall scope and length of the novel. In between some very emotional episodes there are seemingly hundreds of pages that seem like literary churn. At the end I felt it was a road well traveled but I had wished the author could have placed us on a short cut. Bottom line: of course it's a literary classic. But I would suggest first reading Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" or "The Painted Veil" for a taste of his brilliance. You'll get the oomph of "Of Human Bondage" in half the time. | ||
Maugham's Masterpiece While all of Maughams books are delightful to read, Of Human Bondage is the novel where he really puts it all together. As always, Maugham's characters are impeccable, and every character in this book stands out and is memorable in his or her own way, exposing a different aspect of our nature as only Maugham can express it. Even though it is two or three times longer than his other books, it never loses momentum. By the time I was into it, I was emotionally invested as I can get in a book. Everyone will find a way to identify with Phillip's struggles and lack of confidence, and Mildred truly is one of the most savage and heartless characters I have come across. Maugham can be either the most ruthless or the most sentimental writer depending on the occasion, and Human Bondage finds him gracefully leaping (and sometimes combining) the two. I wouldn't recommend this as a first read of Maugham--The Razor's Edge is more immediately accessable--but for anyone someone who wants a biting critique of society at its most primitive, this book is irresistable. | ||
Larger Than Life Of Human Bondage is a study of how life circumstances mold human behavior and thought. The story follows Philip Carey's life from birth to age 30. We see life through Philip's eyes to understand the experiences that shape the boy and the man. Through life's trials; disability, loss, deprivation, ridicule, friendships, love and achievement Philip grows and changes. He reveals in his human struggle bounded by his passions his desire to find a meaningful life. Maugham's characters are writ large. Philip's uncle is not simply stern, but austere, coldly unemotional, miserly, and unsympathetic. Philip doesn't just have financial problems, but falls upon near starvation and homelessness. His girlfriend is not simply hurtful but calculatingly cruel, and devoid of human decency. Anthley cannot just be a jolly sort, but a verbose and bellowing character bursting with goodwill and humanity. Philip's actions and insights are sometimes disgustingly selfish and other times heartbreaking sincere and humble. He is fully and believably human. After loving Maughams other works such as, The Razors Edge, Up at the Villa, Theatre I felt I must give Of Human Bondage another try. My first attempt failed as I did not have the patience to make through the sluggish first 200 pages of Philip's early years. After Philip goes off to Paris to pursue an artist's life, things really take off for both Philip and the reader. Though written almost a century ago the story is as relevant as ever and will be as long there are people taking life's journey. A full and absorbing tale deserving of it's classic status. | ||
Philip When little club-footed Philip Carey's mother died, he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, severe, religious relatives who knew not how to handle the child thrust into the midst of their lives. He grew up without coddling or affection, but with books and the fantastic worlds they brought to him, worlds he would strive his whole life to recreate in fact. From his experiences in school to an artist's paris, to the hospitals of London and the dregs of society, Of Human Bondage details his search for himself and for his own brand of reality as he waits, desperate for life to finally begin. I see a lot of myself in Philip's apparently directionless wanderings, which is the beauty of this novel. He is believeable to extremes, and gloriously ambivalent morally. The book is beautifully written and wonderfully unpredictable, avoiding trite cliches and overlong prosaic rambles alike. Read it for school, or for pleasure, or for the experience of seeing plainly a slice of someone else's life, someone neither virtuous nor sinful, someone wholly real. | ||
wonderful Little read these days, but Maugham remains head and shoulders above almost all contemporary novelists and this is his masterpiece. | ||