Book Review: Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham

I’ve been reading books all my life and have encountered many different sorts. But I’ve never read a book that I so throughly enjoyed without being able to explain why. To put it simply, it’s the story of a person named Philip from the age of nine on to when he’s thirty. It’s the first book I have read that so completely explains the story of a person and all his inner thoughts.

I find “Of Human Bondage” exceptional in that the author is extraordinarily frank. It’s not difficult to see that he’s taken a lot of material from his own life. Only a person who has experienced it can write the way he does.  And while you’re exposed to Philip’s thoughts, you cringe because you realize that you sometimes react in exactly the same way. Philip is all too believable. He does some smart things, and some stupid things and you can see his yearnings and struggles for understanding the meaning of life.

You really begin to care for Philip and how he’s going to end up. There are many small plots within the whole life story just as with any other life. This is one book that is thoroughly real and insightful.

Somerset Maugham doesn’t make use of story devices that other authors do. There is just one frame of reference throughout this very long book – and that is Philip’s. There’s no jumping around in the Chronology. Each chapter blends into the one before it. It’s the simple telling of Philip’s life, and I’ve never been so completely interested in a stranger’s doings. It goes to show that even the most outwardly dull chap leads a rich inner life which anyone would be interested to know about in detail – if it’s told with utmost frankness. In this case, Maugham couldn’t have been more open than if he was writing in his personal diary.

There are many truly exceptional characters in this book, and there are parts of it that will resonate with everyone. For example, Philip’s obsession with Mildred will explain the contradictory nature of falling in love with a person you truly dislike. His disenchantment with religion is another aspect of his life that many will empathize with, just as they would understand his simple and utter faith earlier in his childhood.

Somerset’s vocabulary is excellent and some of the words he uses are ones I’ve met for the first time. It’s a good thing I had my Kindle with me so I could look up their meanings then and there!

This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. And I’m not very sure why. After finishing it, I feel as if I’ve gone through quite an emotional experience. I haven’t read Maugham’s other books, but on the strength of this one, I would say that his understanding of human nature is in the league of Dostoevsky, Balzac, and Tolstoy. A must read for any person interested in reading books in the English language.