Of Human Bondage (Bantam Classics)

I don't know that I've read very many bildungsroman, but based on what I've read about the genre, Of Human Bondage fits perfectly. We watch the main character, Philip, grow from an awkward youth to a man that's about my age. Few of the characters are particularly likable, including Philip, but they feel more realistic than those developed by earlier English writers. Parts of the narrative were painful enough that I wanted to put the book down, but I was glad that I persevered.

Maugham's writing is pulpy and not always terribly elegant, but the story feels heartfelt and genuine. I prefer a good story written fairly well to a poor story written in brilliant prose. You can't shine a turd.

One of the aspects that I most enjoy about writing from times past is the perspective that it lends. My favorite part of Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" was its sketch of early-19th-century New York rather than its perplexing narrative of the reluctant clerk. On Human Bondage follows a middle-class boy through turn-of-the-20th-Century London, Paris, Heidelburg, and the English countryside. We see the effects of his surroundings and his company on the decisions that he makes (many of them poor).

Gore Vidal's surprisingly engaging preface to the book points out that Philip's middle-class sensibilities about money and cleanliness were unusual in contemporary writing. As a middle-class guy myself, I felt sympathetic to some of his reactions, though the conservative English culture of the time made the overall impression of his situation seem more alien.

The book (as the author admits in his introduction) is longer than it should be, but I will admit that it was ultimately rewarding.