Ladies,I'm not a misogynist.I use vixen as I lack for a better word in describing this masterpiece of literature.It brings you into the bowels of the human element. A materclass on how to counterpoint the mean,vitriolic,scheming mind set when confronted by it.I can mention other classic masterpieces in this genre ANNA KARENINA-Tolstoy NANA-
Emile Zola,EAST OF EDEN-John Steinbeck.This is only one side of the human character. .The writing is so suberb,informative,and with observant glimpses into the complex working of the human psyche,that,regardless of its rather disconsolate,and sometimes disturbing subject matter,they remain some of the true gems in classic literature.

Of Human Bondage is one of my favorite books. The best time to read it is in late adolescence, when the need to figure out who you are and how you fit in is particularly acute. But its insights into the human condition can be profitably and pleasurably absorbed at any stage of life.

First published in 1915, it's a coming of age story that Maugham felt compelled to write so he could put to rest memories of his own past. Phillip Carey is a sensitive, reserved boy who bears the physical affliction of a club foot. His parents die when he's young, and he's sent to be raised by his uncle, a Vicar more concerned with his creature comforts that the emotional needs of a young boy. Tormented at school for his deformity, Phillip becomes an outsider, with the acute powers of observation that compensate the outsider for being cut out of the human herd. He flees England to study German in Heidelberg. Returning home, he becomes a clerk in a firm of Chartered Accountants, but his soul rebels against the tedium of the work. Hoping that his small talent for drawing can be developed into something larger, he goes to Paris to study art.

As an art student, Phillip learns a lot about life, and enough of art to know he'll never be anything but average as a painter. Spurning mediocrity, he goes back to London and enrolls in medical school. At this point he meets Mildred, a waitress in a tea shop. Despite being very clear eyed about her flaws of character and personality, Phillip falls madly, self-destructively in love with her. Phillip has spent much of his young adult life attempting to free himself from the convention wisdom and morality of his time. He prides himself on being clear eyed about people and in control of his emotions. But his carefully erected rationalist philosophy proves powerless against his unreasoning desire. This tempestuous relationship is the beating heart of the novel, and the strongest memory most people retain about it.

Some critics have expressed disappointment with the story's ending. After suffering many more trials, Phillip is finally at the point of leaving England for a life of adventure as a traveling doctor in the Orient. With his dream in his grasp, he willingly abandons it for a more conventional kind of life. But unlike Raskolnikov's abrupt conversion to Christianity at the end of Crime and Punishment, Phillip's choice of the conventional life, and a conventional romance, has been carefully prepared for by the author. For much of the book, Phillip and other characters have been debating how much free will an individual actually has. Cronshaw, a drunken poet Phillip befriends in Paris, sums it up this way: "I act as though I were a free agent, but when an action is performed, it is clear that all the forces of the universe conspired to cause it, and nothing I could do could have prevented it." Phillip is free to choose his life's course; he is also the plaything of chance and fate.

Much in the novel corresponds to events in Maugham's own life. His mother died young, he was raised by an uncle who was a Vicar, spent time in Heidelberg and trained as a doctor. Maugham didn't have a club foot, but did have a bad stammer that made conversation a trial. He was also a closet homosexual at a time in England when such behavior led to social ostracism and the threat of jail. Maugham himself lived the life Phillip dreamed of, free of many conventional constraints. Unlike Phillip, it's not clear that such a life brought Maugham any closer to happiness. Gore Vidal, another gay writer of consequence, perceptively noted that Maugham's greatest character may have been the authorial self that he presented to his public with unflagging consistency right into old age. This controlled, avuncular persona successfully masked the insecurities, grievances and sexual torments of Maugham the man.

Maugham once characterized himself as a "first rate writer of the second rank." If the first rank is peopled with the likes of Dostoievski, Proust, Joyce, Faulkner, Marquez and Mishima, he's right. But its intellectual depth and emotional honesty put this novel in the first rank. It should be read as long as there are young people with keen minds and ardent hearts trying to figure out where they fit in the world.

The novel starts off when Phillip is orphaned and left to the care of his cold and selfish uncle and affectionate aunt. Then it takes us through his life at school, his year in Germany, his attempts at being an artist in Paris, an accountant in London and finally a doctor. We meet a lot of interesting characters along the way, most of whom suffer through poverty.

The problem with the novel is that, until I got close to the end, I almost never sympathized with Phillip. He seemed a very foolish and selfish young man to me and I never understood his obsession with Mildred. I wanted to punch him in the face when he gave her money to go on a holiday with his friend Griffiths. I called him a fool when he spent money on her from his already diminished fortune. I guess Maugham must have been a very good writer to invoke such emotions in me.

I think some parts of the novel, such as his years at school were overlong and unnecessary. The novelist could have given an idea of how bitter Phillip was and how he came to be like that without dwelling so much on his early years. But I must say some parts of the novel really moved me. Philip's transformation from a religious child to an atheist, his coming to the realization that he was never going to be more than a mediocre artist, the views on what art is which the novelist conveys to us through the bohemian goups of artists in Paris are very interesting. As one of the other commentators said, I felt the novelist did a very good job of reflecting and clearly explaining some of the ideas that I too have.

I was very much moved by the depiction of the poorer classes towards the end of the novel and its stark contrast with the still poor but happy and healthy people in the country. I agree with one of the commentators who said the ending was unconvincing.[SPOILER] Although Maugham prepares us against it when he lets Philip go broke, almost starves him to death and makes him work in a shop, I can't imagine Phillip settling down with a lower class girl. It is almost too romantic.

I view this book as James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with less complex language and therefore more pages. The text follows the life of the principle character from childhood to marriage, recording his various epiphanies, views on politics and morality, love affairs, and the pervasive problem of his disability: a club foot. It is not a challenging read, remains interesting throughout, but appears to lack the depth of some other works.

The put it bluntly, the text itself is put bluntly. It is told from a third person omniscient narrator concentrating almost exclusively on Phillip, the book's protagonist. The language is straight forward, and there are no hidden or surprise turns in plot or characterization that would force the reader to pay careful attention to the text itself. To some extent, the ease of reading makes this an enjoyable book: it is by no means boring, is well written, and never once becomes frustrating. It's a good book to pick up in brief moments between other things (the chapters are short), and forgetting minor details between reading sessions won't impair understanding of the text.

However, the easy writing style means that the reader is not required to pay close attention and runs the risk of coming away from the text without many thoughts or ideas worth hanging on to. It's not hard to completely miss the "points" of the book. When searched for they are there, but the simple style doesn't necessitate that searching, which is a pity.

If the reader does chose to search the text, however, there are a number of rather quotable phrases about religion, politics, morality, and even art/sexuality/other side topics hidden within the book. I found that the book did a wonderful job of reflecting many of my own views and explaining them quite clearly. It made my own views more comprehensible to me. I can't guarantee that this will happen for all readers, but it will at least explain a certain viewpoint and explain it quite well. The text lacks the grand, inspiring epiphanies of Joyce, but it does have subtle, plain epiphanies that make it worth reading.

W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage is one of the best novels I have ever read. The language is simple. The narration is subtle. The characters are real and display emotions and feelings everyone can identify with. The power of novel becomes apparent when you are reading it. You choke up every once a while, you smile for hours after you have finished reading certain passages, and you comprehend your own self, your woes and possibilities, better through perspectives that novel provides.

Philip Carey is born with a clubfoot, and as he grows up, orphaned, he struggles with his own deformity. The initial quarter of the novel is about his growing up, and details incidents and relationships that shape our hero. He then develops a fancy of becoming a painter and travels to Paris, only to quit few years later to return to London, where he studies to become a doctor. The most engrossing part of novel starts here with the entry of Mildred, the waitress.

The rest of the novel thrives on the passion of Philip, his love that carries him to the edge of self-destruction, and his coming of age. Unrequited love has never been potrayed better. Philip allows himself to become an instrument in hands of cold-hearted Mildred, who repeatedly ruins herself through absurd choices, and ruins him for not withstanding his love and care, he finds himself snubbed, ridiculed, bereft. Eventhough his reason tells him otherwise, Philip is unable to release himself from his passion for a considerable time. As is said in the novel, "But when all was said the important thing was to love rather than to be loved; and he yearned for Mildred with his whole soul."

The novel is lot more than just story of Philip and Mildred, and there are other unforgettable characters. Each person Philip encounters and each friend he makes, leaves an indelible impression on him and the reader. Be it his idealist friend Hayward, who has too much promise too little product, the poet Cronshaw who dies in poverty, Fenny Price whose hard work cannot make her draw even reasonably well, his uncle and aunt whose love is both tacit and beautifully potrayed and the writer Norah who shows Philip of a caring and loving other.

The most charming people in the novel are Athlneys. Athlney brings life and humor into the novel, and I think saves Philip from a total destruction. The novel really highlights the virtue that lies in a simple, happy married life and Anthlneys win over both Philip and readers with their goodness and simplicity. Thorpe Anthlney with his nine children is a jolly character, and be it his conversations or actions, he wins over our hearts outright.

Philip finds love in most unexpected quarters and is surprised by how help crops up from strangers. His every experience makes him as richer as the reader becomes in reading about it. The thoughts about the meaning of life, or about love or religion or about virtue or vice, and about each aspect of life that Philip encounters are spelt out with a subtlety and mastery. These thoughts find easy resonance with the reader, and make Of Human Bondage an unforgettable affair. The honesty of this piece is stunning. This novel, written without any flourishes and intricate wordplay or mystery, is I think a celebration of the deep insight and understanding of the author.

I have read his other works. The Razor's Edge, The Moon and Six Pence as well as his short stories are a proof of Maugham's ability to tell simple tales with great mastery. These, on their own, make Maugham a great novelist. But it is after reading Of Human Bondage that I realized why most novelists and readers have considered this piece as one the greatest pieces in World Literature. Maugham's aim was perhaps of catharisis and he put his own emotions into the characters, and therefore, he's created a work that is timeless and unforgettable. A must read for everyone who can read.