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Customer Review: Masterpiece of literature
I really enjoy Maugham's writing - it is a pleasure to read. Although written close to 90 years ago, the characters and settings are so alive and present that it comes across as a book that could have been released within the last decade. His characters grow and change during the novel, and in this one in particular Philip undergoes tremendous changes in philosphy and lifestyle.
There are times that the reader wants to shake Philip for not making the 'right' choices, but that is a testament to how thoroughly Maugham brings the reader into the story.
The title is perhaps best summed up when Philip realizes that he prefers to love someone who does not love him - someone who he knows he doesn't really like - than be loved by someone he does not share that feeling for.
A few of the events are a bit predictable (the stock market and even the final relationship, for example, not wanting to reveal the details to a new reader) and the endgame resolves itself rather rapidly after a 500 page buildup, but overall one of the best books I have read in quite some time.
Customer Review: An intense novel which I love and despise.
The novel 'Of Human Bondage was one of the few novels (along with Memoir of a Geisha) which ever drew me in so deeply to form a bond with the main character, but this one was even more intimate. I became increasingly frustrated with the main character Phillip and with his arrogance and self pity, cruelty and foolishness of his behavior. I will not give the book away, but it is one of the novels I can most readily recommend to anyone, and it is the only book I have ever read which I was still emotionally attached to the character months afterward, still frustrated with his behavior and still wanting to change him and make him do the right thing, only stopping after continually telling myself it was just a book. I recommend it highly.
Customer Review: A timeless classic
Of Human Bondage is quintessential Somerset Maugham and is, or should be, one of the classics of English literature. Don't be put off by its length; you will only wish it were longer by the time you finish it!
The book is set in the last decades of the nineteenth century and, apparently partly autobiographical, it tells of the growing up of a young orphan, his apprenticeship of art and then medicine and of course his painful tuition in love. Philip, the hero, is initially raised in an English country vicarage, the life of which is described with fetching authenticity. In fact, its realistic evocation of exotic settings, a typical feature of Maugham's writing, is one of the novel's undoubted attractions. Philip moves on to Heidelberg, then Paris among a community of artistic hopefuls and painting schools, and back to turn-of-the-century London, with its contrast of glitter and squalor, its top hats and workers' dorms, music halls and stockbrokers' clubs. There he becomes trapped in a tragic and sordid love affair that becomes so compulsive it threatens to enslave him.
If the hero's unrequited obsession is alluded to in the title, however, Of Human Bondage has a broader scope. Indeed it is - well - about life; but if that sounds pretentious, this is probably one of few works that can genuinely make that claim. The cast of characters is impressive in being both broad and convincing, and sufficient plot is granted each so that they can come alive. True, Maugham's sometimes acid, always witty and insightful style is at its best when portraying human faults. Purely positive archetypes are given briefer and just a little less compelling descriptions; but perhaps that is just reality. Few novels are able to bring forth such a variety of places, people and situations so convincingly and with such depth. Ultimately the test for this sweeping portrait is that one feels one has stood in it many more times than once, so strong is the association with its protagonists. And if you have occasionally fallen for an idiot who wasn't interested in you, then reading this may provide a cure.
Product Description
From an orphan with a clubfoot, Philip Carey grows into an impressionable young man with a voracious appetite for adventure and knowledge. Then he falls obsessively in love, embarking on a disastrous relationship that will change his life forever.
Customer Review: OK the last 100 pages are garbage
When I started reading this novel I thought how perfect it was but as time wears on the main character begins to annoy you with his experience of every burden. There is nothing he has not seen or done in "the real life that counts". The last 50 pages of it are almost unbearable.
Customer Review: A masterpiece
One of the great books of the 20th century. There is so much more to it than what you've probably heard or assumed. I highly recommend it.
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