The Explorer Book

This book was written by Maugham when he was 25, and it is obvious that the author was a very young man because his characters never change throughout time (that is, at that time W.S.M. did not know yet that a person when s/he is 25 is different from when s/he is 29). Two people passionately in love with each other separate for four years and when they meet again everything seems to be just like when they last saw each other. Albeit they are fiercely in love (we are told so), they have no problem separating again for another couple of years, so inhumanly great they are. This is another weakness of the book - the good people are simply übermenschlich, the bad ones are "rotten to the core". Since both kinds are never really encountered in life, reading about them becomes boring pretty soon.