W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)

This was my first book by Somerset Maugham and won't be my last. I was impressed by his writing style, and his analysis of the human emotions in the relationships young British woman Kitty Fane has with her worthy but to her dull and unexciting husband Walter, and her affair with the exciting but less worthy Charlie Townsend. It's set against the colonial backdrop of British colonials in Hong Kong in the early 20th century. Kitty enjoys her affair with Charlie, but when it is threatened with show more exposure, Charlie backtracks and refuses to leave his wife Dorothy. In exasperation and disgust, she accompanies her husband on a dangerous mission to a cholera-stricken town where Walter, a bacteriologist, is charged with helping the local convent of nuns to alleviate the suffering of the townspeople. He eventually succumbs to the disease and Kitty realises his true worth. Back in Hong Kong, Kitty discovers she is pregnant and is taken in by the Townsends, much to her discomfort. It is an open question whether her baby is Walter's or, more likely, Charlie's. She returns to Britain to find her mother has passed away and she tries to form a relationship with her distant father as he is posted to a new life-changing role in the Bahamas.

I really enjoyed this novel and the author's descriptions of Kitty's emotional traumas and dilemmas, and relations with other characters, which rang as true and realistic, notwithstanding the very different setting (and the typical for the time assumptions of racial superiority of white Europeans over the Chinese). A great read. show less

Another well written, insightful, and thought provoking book by SM. Paul Gaugin's life is loosely told as that of an Englishman, Charles Strickland. He sacrifices society and creature comforts on a personal quest who's search for expression and beauty leads him to Paris and Tahiti. He finally achieves this but then suffers a terrible death. All after leaving a trail ruined lives of family and friends. SM doesn't answer if it was worth it or not. He just poses the question with his story. show more
SM's English is sharp and his thoughts provoking. I am interested in the real life of Gaugin and how close it was to this book. I would also like to see the 1942 movie.
Almost a 4.5 but the ending was one sentence too long. show less

It must be said up front that I am a huge fan of Maugham. I like his writing style, which always makes me feel as if I am sitting with a friend and he is telling me about someone he actually knows. With this conversational tone, Maugham leads you into the depths of the human soul and sometimes leaves you to find your own way out.

Based very loosely on the life of Paul Gauguin, this novel is a study in how much a true artist will do for the sake of his art: not only how much he will endure, show more but how much he will inflict upon others. You cannot like Maugham's character, Strickland, nor, I think, can you truly understand him. Even our narrator never manages to understand the man, and he has been observing him for a lifetime. I can't help wondering how much Maugham felt that he was, himself, a man who had to follow his art at any cost. Of course, for Strickland and anyone who happens to come too close to him, the costs are extreme.

One of the important questions Maugham raises in this novel is what makes up success and who gets to decide if you are successful. Is it truly about how much you acquire outwardly or how much you acquire inwardly?

"I wondered if Abraham really had made a hash of life. Is to do what you want, to live under the conditions that please you, in peace with yourself, to make a hash of life; and is it success to be an eminent surgeon with ten thousand a year and a beautiful wife? I suppose it depends on what meaning you attach to life, the claim which you acknowledge to society, and the claim of the individual."

I think Maugham thought that we too often attach the wrong meaning to life, that we strive too often for what others tell us should be our want instead of the things that our soul cries out for in the night. None of us wishes to be Strickland. Hell, we don't even want to know Strickland, but each of us is faced with his same choice--cut our own path or follow the dictates of society--and too often we make the wrong decision. show less

This is a collection of stories that draws heavily on Maugham’s experiences as a writer doing espionage work in Switzerland during the First World War. Some say that Ashenden, a sort of alter ego for Maugham, is the precursor to James Bond, but I found a bit more of le Carré in him, in the portrayal of sad, desperate people scrabbling to get their secrets sold and save their skins.

There were moments of comedy—the Odd Couple pairing of Ashenden and Mr. Harrington had me definitely on show more Team Ashenden—and moments of pathetic sadness, as in the story the ambassador told Ashenden about “a friend” who wasted his youth by chasing after a dancer and then marrying a woman he grew to despise. I liked the Switzerland part of the book best, then the Russian part, even though I felt Ashenden to be a bit out of character when falling for Anastasia.

I’d cautiously recommend this if you like early 20th-century stories and particularly if you want to explore the earliest spy stories. show less