Cakes and Ale

Rating:
Summary: An Author's Tale
Review: "I have noticed that when I am most serious people are apt to laugh at me, and indeed when after a lapse of time I have read passages that I wrote from the fullness of my heart I have been tempted to laugh at myself. It must be that there is something naturally absurd in a sincere emotion, though why there should be I cannot imagine, unless it is that man, the ephemeral inhabitant of an insignificant planet, with all his pain and all his striving is but a jest in an eternal mind." p.189

Well crafted. I genuinely enjoy Maugham's style. It seems every author, at some point, is compelled to write about writing. Cakes and Ale is such a novel. It is the reconstruction of an author's life after his death. An ugly process. In this case, one that replaces the sordid experience of inspiration with the conformity of societal acceptance.

Rating:
Summary: CAKED AND ALED
Review: Cakes are what aled me, as now ale is what cakes my memory like mud, dry and pale in the looking-glass that's half-full and looking back to see if anyone's looking back to look me full in the face. Whilst this is occurring, the book's pages turn back to their humble beginnings. They're shy (that is to say, discreet, that is to say, English) and poor (that is to say, not well-to-do, that is to say, not American) and make ends meet up with each other inevitably, by design, as the author's hand is the mirror-image of mine. We write trogether--matching sentence for sentence, word for word, letter for letter--pausing every now and then to look back over our shoulders to see if anyone's looking at us--a reader, perhaps, or maybe even two, who look just like each other and just like us, or I presume they do. I can't tell for certain as their heads are turned away from us, turned over their shoulders, looking back, at you[underlined}. Views are full of such views.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful portrait with insight into the human condition..
Review: First, this should not be the first book by Somerset Maugham that a person should read. Certainly, every character in it is well drawn and there is a wonderful storyline BUT it lacks some of the majesty and grand sweep that make 'The Razor's Edge' and 'Of Human Bondage' so powerful, so grand, and able to stand among the best English language works written this century (although neither of these is typically regarded with Faulkner or Joyce because they are not stylistically avant-guarde in any way). If you haven't read both of these books, read them first.

On the other hand, this is another great book by this author: and like every other one of his that I have read (atleast five more) a worthwhile read. It may be more lacking in pathos than the two mentioned above: while it is second to them in this area, for how much the characters are touching, and heartfelt, it is eons ahead. Rosie, the main characters love interest, is beautifully written as is the other main character.... it's definately a good and worthwhile read.....

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful portrait with insight into the human condition..
Review: First, this should not be the first book by Somerset Maugham that a person should read. Certainly, every character in it is well drawn and there is a wonderful storyline BUT it lacks some of the majesty and grand sweep that make 'The Razor's Edge' and 'Of Human Bondage' so powerful, so grand, and able to stand among the best English language works written this century (although neither of these is typically regarded with Faulkner or Joyce because they are not stylistically avant-guarde in any way). If you haven't read both of these books, read them first.

On the other hand, this is another great book by this author: and like every other one of his that I have read (atleast five more) a worthwhile read. It may be more lacking in pathos than the two mentioned above: while it is second to them in this area, for how much the characters are touching, and heartfelt, it is eons ahead. Rosie, the main characters love interest, is beautifully written as is the other main character.... it's definately a good and worthwhile read.....

Rating:
Summary: short and sweet
Review: I have never been disappointed by Maugham Somerset: Cakes and Ale is a light, beautifully written, partially autobiographical story about a barmaid with a big heart, British class-conciousness and snobbery and the literary scene in the first half of the twentieth century.

The narrator (Willie Ashenden, modelled after the author, a medical student turning into a writer) is mainly observant and doesn't influence the events taking place: The origins and later success of the great writer Edward Driffield and the touching portrait of his first wife, Rosie.

Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Maugham
Review: If you've read The Razor's Edge and Of Human Bondage and have yet to read Cakes and Ale, what are you waiting for? Maugham expressed his fervent regard for Cakes and Ale as what he referred to as maybe not his best work(it's no Of Human Bondage), yet what was his most enjoyable to write.

As Maugham duly states in the introduction: "I like Cakes and Ale because in its pages lives for me again the woman with the lovely smile who was the model for Rosie Driffield."

As with all of Maugham's works, there exists an undeniable semi-autobiographical dynamic that makes the reading all the more plausible and life-like. As in Of Human Bondage, we once again visit Blackstable and, not to my surprise, are introduced to a young orphaned boy(this time William Ashenden) who lives with his uncle(once again the town vicar)and who, of course, yearns to become a writer. This is, however, where the similarities stop. In the interest of those who have yet to read it, I will not disclose any plot happenings. That being said, I must say that without doubt the character that steals the show is none other than the loving, beautiful, and perplexing Rosie.

"I've had my time and I'm ready to call it a day."
- Rosie

Rating:
Summary: Good, but the least of the 3 I've read
Review: In addition to this, I've also read Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge. This is the least of the three, but still enjoyable. Not as controversial as one might be lead to believe, though I suspect it raised a few brows in its time. Maugham seemed to be big on having women as whores for central characters. Not all the women characters, but there seems like there is always one. This doesn't always mean they are bad people, just real real loose! This title isn't necessarily only for completists. If you are new to him, check out Of Human Bondage. It's his best that I've come across so far.

Rating:
Summary: The Muse of Youth
Review: In the development from squalling tyke to full-fledged adulthood, human beings tend to gather around them items of media that reflect back upon them their personal conception of the world, in all its myriad forms: music that invigorates the higher spheres, movies that confirm our own view of existence, and authors that speak directly to us, that seem able to give tangible expression to our individual perceptions. For me, reading Somerset Maugham is like diving into the ambivalent soup of my own viewpoint. With his dry wit, penetrating digressions and general psychological understanding of the foibles and frequent inconsistencies of human behavior, Somerset ~feels~ like a fellow brother-in-arms, a voice in the ether, a soulmate artist intoning over the distance of seven decades. It's like reading my own thoughts. Thus have I systematically perused the man's greater works, including his two masterpieces *Of Human Bondage* and *The Razor's Edge*, and returned again and again to the little jewels that fashion the glittering arraignment of his literary crown, being the short stories that are the condensed summation of Somerset's genius perception. Not that the man would agree with that last statement: Somerset considered himself the top of 2nd tier authors, far from `genius' status; and was condemned by critics for his popularity and lack of the experimental drive. Given that he did not delve into the symbolic/semantic abysses of his contemporaries Faulkner and Joyce, Somerset's oeuvre and reputation has remained 2nd tier for the Ivory Tower set, with his focus on `real world' examination paling before the tongue-twisting allegory-riffing of the literary elite. But I'd rather browse the *Collected Short Stories* for the nth time than be rebuffed by *Finnigan's Wake*, the resultant insights of those short stories revealing more in their brevity than anything I could possibly assimilate in the syntax swamp of the Dubliner.

Despite his so-called 2nd tier status, Somerset has survived the literary axe of indifference, gaining stature as the years march on and his works are continually reexamined; and it is curious to read, near the beginning of this novel, the author's alias Ashenden argue with a potboiler-scribe named Roy Kear about posterity - specifically which of their colleagues will endure their current era. Roy Kear claims that that the principle subject of their discussion, a one Edward Driffield, so-called "last of the Victorians", has put a permanent stamp upon the literary zeitgeist. Ashenden/Somerset refutes this with this simple opinion that he finds Driffield's works "rather boring." And later, around the halfway mark of *Cakes and Ales*, Somerset slips from the narrative into a long digression about posterity itself, concluding with the basic idea: "Longevity = Posterity." Driffield, loosely based on Thomas Hardy, wrote so many novels, and lived to such an advanced age, that he outlasted all his competitors and was eventually hailed as a "living genius" by a society desperate for continual applications to the Canon, especially those survivors who could be re-discovered and subsequently championed. If Somerset's theory is correct, then even Stephen King will be considered an essential stone in the Zeitgeist (... "NEVER! NEVER!" I can hear the Bloomites and literati shout, even now) with his accurate reflection of 20th century atmosphere - real-time horrors metaphorically transfigured into cheesy monsters - and, more importantly, by his vast, prolific staying power. Time will tell.

*Cakes and Ale* is a minor work of Somerset's oeuvre, but not insignificant: the author himself stated it to be his favorite work, and I must admit that, like the short fiction, this slender volume contains the essence of Somerset's talent and technique, a condensed viewpoint much easier and overall enjoyable than the emotional torment *Of Human Bondage.* The book concerns itself with the legacy of Edward Driffield, post-mortem; Roy Kears has been hired to write a glowing tribute/biography of the famous author, and he enlists Somerset, who knew the deceased long before his literary fame, to help with research. *Cakes and Ale* is thus a near-sequel to *Of Human Bondage*, as Somerset reflects on his boyhood days - the terrible conformity and isolationism of English villages; his eventual escape therein - a flight aided in part by Driffield and the central pivot of the man's career, his first wife Rosie. Rosie, free-thinking, vivacious and serially unfaithful, inspires Driffield's finest novels and serves as his golden-haired muse. Roy Kears and Driffield's second wife view Rosie as the stain upon the authorial page, the impediment which kept the author from his deserved glory: she is to be reduced as much as possible from the biography. Somerset thinks otherwise, although he is remarkably prejudiced, given his relationship with her; but with the concluding passages of *Cakes and Ale* he gives concrete evidence as to the importance of this wanton Muse, without which Driffield might never have attained his peak prowess.

(A side note: Rosie's character reminds me of Ida, from Graham Greene's *Brighton Rock*, and both can be viewed as an English author's artistic attempt to exorcise the puritan viewpoint of the day about "loose women" in general. "Rosie was made to love," Somerset gushes, biased by circumstance but psychologically keen nonetheless).

*Cakes and Ale*: A minor but extremely enjoyable text from one of the greatest observers/authors of the early 20th century. Highly Recommended.




Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: Maugham once said of himself that he was in "the first row of second tier" of writers ... but this book leaves novels by "first tier" writers in the dust. Wonderfully written, great paragraphs, insights into the human condition, and a story line and builds and builds. You really identify with the characters by the end and feel their emotions as they feel them. I loved it. Maugham did, too - he said it in the intro to my edition that it was his favorite novel.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: Maugham once said of himself that he was in "the first row of second tier" of writers ... but this book leaves novels by "first tier" writers in the dust. Wonderfully written, great paragraphs, insights into the human condition, and a story line and builds and builds. You really identify with the characters by the end and feel their emotions as they feel them. I loved it. Maugham did, too - he said it in the intro to my edition that it was his favorite novel.