Rating: 
Summary: Classic Maugham
Review: Of Human Bondage is Maugham's most note worthy piece of work. It made the top 100 for this century. It is an epic novel about the life of Philip Carey: a boy whose parent's die and is forced to live with his aunt and uncle. The story takes place in England in the late 1800's.Philip is a smart boy and enjoys reading. This is his saving grace being that he was born with a club foot and is unfit for physical labor. He grows up under a harsh religious life, his uncle being a Vicar in a country church. Philip is quick to lose his belief in religion when he goes off to boarding school where he was relentlessly teased for his limp and foot. He is unsure of what he wants out of life, but eventually tires of school and desires to be an artist. In Paris, while studying art, he meets several friends. In addition, he realizes he is a mediocre artist. Giving up art he attempts to take on accounting and then tries to be a doctor. The story becomes a little more traumatic when Philip meets a waitress named Mildred. Much of the book is dedicated to her and his unrequited love for her. She is plain and not very winsome, however Philip falls for her hard. Mildred takes him for several rides: borrowing money and eventually moving in with him (platonically). However, Mildred continues to see other men while seeing Philip and takes advantage of Philip horrendously. This book is not for those who are shy at large page counts. It is long and often times fairly dry. Maugham has several key pages though that he uses to describe the meaning of life, which is the point of this book. Maugham seems to feel that there is no point in life except misery, which is a curse of being human. Also there are strong atheist view points expressed. However, Maugham does seem to hold some redeeming value in the human aspect of love. Despite Philip being handicapped, I didn't find feeling much sympathy for him. Many times I felt he whined a bit much. However, the times in England were tough and the descriptions of the poor rival Jack London's "The People of the Abyss." Overall, though, this book failed to meet my expectations. It was good reading, but "A Christmas Holiday" by Maugham was much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Possibly the best book I have read
Review: This book has everything - a fascinating main character, interesting minor characters and exploits the theme of human suffering at an emotional and physical level. Maugham is masterful in the way he carries the reader on Philip Carey's journey so that you are almost pleading with the character not to follow the road he is taking. Possibly the best description is when he falls to his lowest point as a shop assistant and the indignities he is forced to endure in order to survive. Although there is a tendency sometimes to criticize him for his foolhardiness, as a reader you are ultimately drawn into sympathising with the plight of this relatively inexperienced young man. I am hard put to think of any modern novel that has it all as this book does. Although I have read his other novels, I believe Maugham really surpassed himself when writing this fantastic book which I re-read every few years and always enjoy. Only Thomas Hardy comes close in terms of examining man's emotional suffering at the hands of a woman - something that he strongly experienced in his married life.
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