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juushikaTitle: Of Human Bondage
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Published: New American Library, New York: 1991
Pages: 680
Total pages: 1111
Text number: 5
Read for: my own enjoyment
In brief: I view this book as James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with less complex language and therefore more pages. The text follows the life of the principle character from childhood to marriage, recording his various epiphanies, views on politics and morality, love affairs, and the pervasive problem of his disability: a club foot. It is not a challenging read, remains interesting throughout, but appears to lack the depth of some other works.
This book took me a long time from start to finish, mostly because of the interruption of school and partially because of the page count. I enjoyed reading it and would have no problem recommending it, but it does not make my list of "must read" books. That said, I did take away a few very apt descriptions of religion, politics, and morality expressed by the main character and echoed in my own life.
The put it bluntly, the text itself is put bluntly. It is told from a third person omniscient narrator concentrating almost exclusively on Phillip, the book's protagonist. The language is straight forward, and there are no hidden or surprise turns in plot or characterization that would force the reader to pay careful attention to the text itself. To some extent, the ease of reading makes this an enjoyable book: it is by no means boring, is well written, and never once becomes frustrating. It's a good book to pick up in brief moments between other things (the chapters are short), and forgetting minor details between reading sessions won't impair understanding of the text.
However, the easy writing style means that the reader is not required to pay close attention and runs the risk of coming away from the text without many thoughts or ideas worth hanging on to. I nearly did this (prepping for this review has made me think and thus prevented that, thank goodness), and it's not hard to completely miss the "points" of the book. When searched for they are there, but the simple style doesn't necessitate that searching, which is a pity.
If the reader does chose to search the text, however, there are a number of rather quotable phrases about religion, politics, morality, and even art/sexuality/other side topics hidden within the book. I found that the book did a wonderful job of reflecting many of my own views and explaining them quite clearly. It made my own views more comprehensible to me. I can't guarantee that this will happen for all readers, but it will at least explain a certain viewpoint and explain it quite well. The text lacks the grand, inspiring epiphanies of Joyce, but it does have subtle, plain epiphanies that make the text worth reading.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Published: New American Library, New York: 1991
Pages: 680
Total pages: 1111
Text number: 5
Read for: my own enjoyment
In brief: I view this book as James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with less complex language and therefore more pages. The text follows the life of the principle character from childhood to marriage, recording his various epiphanies, views on politics and morality, love affairs, and the pervasive problem of his disability: a club foot. It is not a challenging read, remains interesting throughout, but appears to lack the depth of some other works.
This book took me a long time from start to finish, mostly because of the interruption of school and partially because of the page count. I enjoyed reading it and would have no problem recommending it, but it does not make my list of "must read" books. That said, I did take away a few very apt descriptions of religion, politics, and morality expressed by the main character and echoed in my own life.
The put it bluntly, the text itself is put bluntly. It is told from a third person omniscient narrator concentrating almost exclusively on Phillip, the book's protagonist. The language is straight forward, and there are no hidden or surprise turns in plot or characterization that would force the reader to pay careful attention to the text itself. To some extent, the ease of reading makes this an enjoyable book: it is by no means boring, is well written, and never once becomes frustrating. It's a good book to pick up in brief moments between other things (the chapters are short), and forgetting minor details between reading sessions won't impair understanding of the text.
However, the easy writing style means that the reader is not required to pay close attention and runs the risk of coming away from the text without many thoughts or ideas worth hanging on to. I nearly did this (prepping for this review has made me think and thus prevented that, thank goodness), and it's not hard to completely miss the "points" of the book. When searched for they are there, but the simple style doesn't necessitate that searching, which is a pity.
If the reader does chose to search the text, however, there are a number of rather quotable phrases about religion, politics, morality, and even art/sexuality/other side topics hidden within the book. I found that the book did a wonderful job of reflecting many of my own views and explaining them quite clearly. It made my own views more comprehensible to me. I can't guarantee that this will happen for all readers, but it will at least explain a certain viewpoint and explain it quite well. The text lacks the grand, inspiring epiphanies of Joyce, but it does have subtle, plain epiphanies that make the text worth reading.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
