Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset (PDF)

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⭐I suppose the easiest, and quickest, way to sum up Maugham’s OF HUMAN BONDAGE would be to write something along the lines of “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” which is certainly the case for the story’s protagonist, Phillip Carey.If, however, that was all I wrote, then not only I would I be overly brief in this review (which probably is not a bad thing), I would also be overly unoriginal since we all know the above quote belongs to the great Henry David Thoreau.Unfortunately, because I do not have Thoreau’s genius for writing simply (which requires skill and patience that most writers, to include me, do not possess), I will have to deploy many more words than just Thoreau’s for my own summing up of Maugham’s masterpiece.But what Thoreau wrote so poetically is undeniably what the essence of Maugham’s story is about:Carey, born with a clubbed foot and who grows up to be shy and insecure because of it, lives a life yearning to be someone he can never be, to love someone whom he can never love, and to be somewhere other than where he happens to be.His yearnings, we find, go mostly unfulfilled.What I enjoy most about the story is Maugham’s descriptive ability. His writing magically places me deep within the England and the Germany and the France of the early twentieth century. I can hear the cart wheels rolling along the cobble-stoned streets. I can see the crowded, smoke-filled cafe. I can taste the absinthe and feel the immediate allure and rush as it blissfully numbs away the bite of reality.What I enjoy least about the story is Carey’s excessively drawn-out infatuation with Mildred Rogers, the cruel and insensitive simpleton who fancies herself to be of a station in life much higher than the one she is unable to escape, no matter how hard she tries. While she does not have the capacity to improve her lot in life through earnest devices and effort, she does have enough smarts about her to understand early on in her relationship with Carey that she has a power over him from which he is also unable to escape no matter how hard he tries. She uses and abuses Carey with her power so often and for so long that I found myself becoming impatient and bored with, not only Carey’s unbelievable weakness, but with the story as a whole. However, by the time, I was already deeply hooked, addicted to the tale and desperate to know whether Carey would find a way to ween himself from his deadly addiction to Rogers, or if he would die unfulfilled and, as in an Oliver Wendell Holmes poem, with his music still in him.While I find the tortuous, one-sided love affair between Carey and Rogers to be a bit too much, through it I am reminded that any unhealthy dependency, be it our dependency on love, on money, on drugs, or on whatever, often takes us down a long and troubling path that, if we stay on it, will eventually lead us to the point of our destruction. And it usually is not until we nearly reach that point that we are finally able to realize just how destructive our dependency, our yearning, really is. Only then, if we are lucky or blessed or both (for unfortunately, many are unable to stop before reaching the point of their destruction and continue helplessly, fatally on), can we find the strength to separate ourselves from that which is destroying us and begin on a path to recovery.But I guess that’s how life goes, and how it has always gone throughout the desperate ages — if we do not somehow find a way to come to peace with our satiated yearnings, our unrequited desires, they will most likely be the sad and desperate songs we sing until we finally, and at last, are placed within our cold and lonely graves.This review originally appeared at bojiki.com

⭐An exceptional exploration of the human condition, Of Human Bondage explores with deft story telling the bonds that inhibit us and the fragility of our spirits.Maugham weaves an intricate, beautiful, and disturbing portrayal of the frailty and frivolity of man’s pursuits. Passions built on character or reason are so often times dashed for the passions based on romantic ideologies. The ideal love, the ideal work, the ideal desires of an intelligent man seduce us and we chase with unrestrained enthusiasm the beauty, poignancy, and possession of those perfected dreams. Yet, idealism is unattainable, and when man puts every breath, every heartbeat, every effort toward any ideal, it becomes ugly, it becomes nothing less then obsession. Maugham illustrates this point wonderfully, manipulating his poor Phillip Carey to inquire exhaustively on life, purpose, and most strikingly, love. Carey chases what he has come to obsess despite its utter destruction of him. Yet, he goes back toward his destructive pursuits time and again, assuredly placing himself in the shackles of bondage. Put simply: We THINK we know what we want. And our desires imprison us.Of Human Bondage also expounds on the nature of insecurity and ideal of self as a crippling facet of enslavement. Phillip Carey allows himself to be punished for his perceived shortcomings and he despises the very essence of himself. In this instance Maugham has touched upon a great universal truth of humanity. So very often, we seek out and highlight our imperfections, our nuances and use them as excuses or a sort of crutch that we need, yet, a crutch that manages to cut us each day that we use it. We detest our flaws but come to depend on the pain they cause. We hinder who we are, and who we can be to assuage the pain of our flaws. An altogether common bondage that mankind is incredibly susceptible to.Conclusively, Maugham has crafted a masterpiece; indeed, Of Human Bondage has come to be regarded as his greatest literary work. The themes explored in this novel resonate, at least in some way, to every reader, and the author proved to be a provocative, and thoughtful guide. Maugham makes it clear that freedom, personal, individual freedom is relative to our desires and the importance we attach to them. Furthermore, as man is willing to inhibit himself in relation to his own flaws, self esteem must be seen as a hindrance to freedom as well. Our misguided passions and our damaging views of self serve as the bondage of our lives. It is of our own making, and Somerset Maugham has composed an exemplary work here of the greatest prose. Undoubtedly, a piece that deserves considerable attention.

⭐This is a coming-of-age story in which we follow Philip from his orphaned childhood through the early part of his adult life, as he develops his moral framework, explores ways of earning his living and experiences many emotional ups and downs. This is traditional story-telling and is largely very well executed; we are drawn into Philip’s life and feel for him. However I believe that this very long novel needs editing; there is a lot of repetition – for example we are told numerous times that Mildred is anaemic (which is not particularly relevant to the story) and the recurring descriptions of Mildred’s vulgarity made me feel as though I was being hit over the head by a sledge hammer. Keep reading though – the ending is good!

⭐I read this as part of book club listing but was absolutely enthralled – the story seems to grip you right from the start, as it progresses you never know what is going to happen next, and find yourself giving him advice to try and save him from any more hard times, loved it from start to finish, would recommend to anyone who enjoys down to earth stories, loved it loved it loved it. When you hear the old days are the best, this book lets you know just how the old days were.

⭐Read it aged 16 and again at 61… And each reading invoked a very different response based on age, experience and wisdom of years.a must read for anyone burned by the demons of unrequited love and passion.obviously dated language eg i say what a rotter… But the emotional landscape is the same whatever the era.

⭐I last read this fifty years ago and had forgotten the sheer scale of it. Love and heartbreak. Comfort and degradation. Squalor and middle class refinement. It is all there and more. A sensitive and touching insight into the human condition. Many things have improved but much about human nature remains the same today.

⭐This is the the first time I’ve read Maugham and I am deeply impressed. At first I was put off by the sparse, straight-forward prose and was about to put it down wondering what all the fuss was about, but the text somehow gets under your skin and putting it down becomes impossible.The book is full of deep insights into the human condition, and there are many occasions when you find yourself lifting your eyes from the page to chew over what you have just read.The only reason I haven’t given it a five is because I feel it “just” misses that touch of genius that I have strictly reserved for books that belong to their own pantheon. Still, it is an incredible work, infinitely better than anything written in the last 50 years or so.

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