Fiction | Book Chatter

Of Human Bondage
By W. Somerset Maugham
Vintage, 9780593687680, August 2024, 688pp.

The Short of It:

Happiness is an elusive thing.

The Rest of It:

If you’ve been following along then you know that I chose Of Human Bondage for an October read-along. It’s a book that has long been on my radar but it never seemed like the right time to read it. While I was in the hospital after brain surgery, I began to think about all the books that I haven’t gotten to, so once I was well enough, I promised myself to get to it. Boy, am I glad I did.

Philip is orphaned at a fairly young age. He is sent to live with his Uncle and Aunt, the Uncle is a Vicar so religion plays a huge role in the first half of the book. There, for only a short while really, he comes off as difficult and can be mean-spirited to his Aunt who truly seems to only want the best for him. So off Philip goes to a prep school.

There, he meets an interesting cast of characters, both classmates and professors but he is relentlessly bullied for the club foot he was born with. Not able to play sports, not able to wear regular shoes, as soon as anyone becomes cross with him the insults fly out of their mouths, always targeting his foot. This often leaves Philip isolated and alone.

The book chronicles Philip’s poor choices. He has many grand ideas but they often come to him on a whim and are poorly executed. Money, poverty really becomes a struggle as does his desire to be important and to be happy but what does that even mean?

Philip wants to go into religion, then business, then art and the bits of him in Paris are quite good. He does all of this to avoid the inevitable, him going to med school, like his father did. Surprisingly, he ends up seeing value in medicine and perhaps learns a thing or two while pursuing that.

The story sounds rather basic but it’s made much more complicated by certain characters. Mildred for one. She is a horrible, shrew of a person and Philip’s obsession. No matter what she does, and she does plenty, he cannot for the life of him figure out a way to live without her.

She is a villain if there ever was one. In the first movie version of this book she was played by Bette Davis. Accurate casting if I do say so.

The book feels very “Dickensian” and Philip reminded me a lot of Holden from Catcher in the Rye. As long as this book is, nearly 700 pages, I never once felt it a chore to read. I enjoyed picking it up. I had to know how Philip ended up. Did he ever obtain that elusive happiness? Read it and find out! It will be on my faves list at the end of the year. I usually don’t place classics on that list but I did enjoy it quite a bit. Such a character study.

Here are the weekly read-along recaps:

Of Human Bondage – Week 1
Of Human Bondage – Week 2
Of Human Bondage – Week 3
Of Human Bondage – Week 4
Of Human Bondage – Week 5

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Beware of Pity
By Stefan Zweig
Actuel, 9781922491169, October 2020, 340pp.

The Short of It:

A strange, interesting read.

The Rest of It:

In 1913, Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of the barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host’s lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder that will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health.

This delicate blunder completely ruins Hofmiller. His innocent invitation to dance is repeated in his head over and over again. He sees the stricken look of the girl as she reveals the current state of her legs. After such a faux pas, and his desire to be included in the lives these people lead, he finds himself trying to please Edith any way he can, until he realizes that her only reason for living, is the love she has for him. There is no reciprocation in this regard.

My club chose this book for this month’s meeting and it is indeed very interesting and I feel that there will be plenty to discuss. It reads like a high brow soap opera and I don’t mean that in a negative way. It’s very episodic and dramatic and Edith is quite the femme fatale. as well as Daddy’s “little” girl. She is a young woman who is not used to being told “No”. What she wants, she usually gets so the push/pull of Hofmiller’s relationship with her is one that completely absorbs his every thought.

How can Hofmiller remain in good standing with Edith’s father, and the good Dr. Condor when he cares not one iota for the girl? Why does he even feel it necessary?

Pity. It’s all about pity. The title of the book makes it very clear. Pity can cause you to do all sorts of foolish things. It affects the way you make decisions but others use it to manipulate those around them. Manipulation, guilt, pity, grief. All topics for discussion. Edith is a frustrating character, but in her defense, she is promised over and over again that the next treatment will do the trick. She hangs onto hope because those around her continue to stoke the fire.

I found this book to be rather entertaining, if not a tad exhausting. Much of it was very fast paced. Hofmiller running here, and there and then back again. His interactions with other soldiers, providing a much needed break. All of it interspersed with parties and gatherings and dinners.

I enjoyed the writing very much. We get to know each character’s intentions quite well. I will say also that one part of the story took me by surprise and it changed my outlook on many things. Lots of food for thought.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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