Reviews for Of Human Bondage

The average rating for Of Human Bondage based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-05 00:00:00 Carol Cervantes The Explorer felt more like Maugham the playwright rather than Maughham the novilist. By this I mean that playwrights have the ability to narrate the behaviors of the actors and rely upon the actors to communicate the emotions of the characters. The novilist, however, needs to place his readers inside his characters if their emotions are to be effectively felt. With The Explorer, the characters are described in various emotional states, but I was never placed inside of them. I never had the opportunity to walk in their shoes, so to speak. Then there is the unsympathetic plot. The term "First World Problems" comes to mind in that the characters are the upper crust of English society. The problems that drive this book develop from injuries that affect the characters' social standing and the pride that the characters have in themselves. Disappointments are derived from standard of decorum that cannot be overcome because their world is set inside a self-imposed (and highly ornate) little box. The plot felt unrealistic in that solutions to their problems were numerous in my mind but never explored by Maugham as the book progressed. There are other issues that also detract from the story. For instance, the character that sends the plot moving towards its end was absent from the events that he claims to have witnessed. Another issue is that certain damning publications are never disclosed to the reader. I never had a chance to engage first-hand in the intrigue. In total, this is not a very good book especially in light of some other very good books that have been written by this very good author.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-10-28 00:00:00 Michael Hehl 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.