Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham....

Image taken from http://jamespreynolds.com/of-human-bondage

I'm continuing my quest to read books that are considered classics, things I perhaps "should" have read (or was assigned to read and didn't) or books that I think some people might say, "You haven't read THAT?" 

This book wasn't even on my radar, but my blog friend DJan mentioned it in a post one day. She was rereading it at the time and remembered being profoundly affected by it the first time she read it. Because I A) tend to respect the opinions of people whom I respect; and B) love to have other people with whom to discuss works of literature, I decided to add this one to my iPad. Besides, it was free. (I think.)

Sometimes after I read a book, I go in search of reviews and criticism to see if I "got it," if what I think the book's message was agrees with some of the rest of the smart people in the world. I NEVER read book reviews BEFORE I've read something, and if I stumble across one accidentally, it annoys me to no end. At school today, I did a search for Of Human Bondage, and I got the yellow triangle of death that indicates I've attempted a search that is prohibited by our school district. Oh. I get it. In the "please allow an exception" box, I typed that I was researching it for possible classroom use (I didn't say whose classroom or at what point in the future, so it wasn't a COMPLETE lie), and I promised there was no actual bondage involved. I haven't heard back from them. They may be trying to figure out why someone so close to retirement is researching a book for classroom use. Whatever.

This book was published in 1915 and is set mostly in England. It follows the life of a young club-footed boy who is orphaned at a very early age and sent to live with an uncle and his wife. The uncle is a vicar (and I've never figured out what that means and am not interested enough to research it, at least not right now), and he and his wife are childless. 

I kept looking for the book's message, the thing it says about life for all of us, the lesson that can help all of us lead better lives. What I mostly got out of it was, "Life sucks and then you die." (But he didn't die in the book, so I haven't spoiled anything.) I don't mean that as a flippant way of saying the book was a disappointment. Rather, I thought it was a rather realistic view of the way some lives go. 

Philip Carey (the main character) struggles with his physical deformity, the lack of a loving family life, and uncertainty about what he wants to be. Every time he thinks he has figured it out, he changes courses completely, throwing us all off track and forcing us to mentally start over in our assessment of Philip. Each time I found myself thinking, "Well, this will be the time he gets it right." And most of the time I was wrong. Isn't that what life is all about, after all? We keep making mistakes, we change our minds, life throws us curve balls, and we adapt. 

Philip adapts better than I would have in similar circumstances, I'm sure. He lives in abject poverty for a time, and I found my own stomach growling in sympathy. He is drawn again and again to a woman who is so obviously wrong for him, and she proves it again and again, and I found myself wanting to scream at the book (iPad, sorry), "Walk away from her and don't look back!" But isn't that also representative of life? We stick with people who are bad for us much longer than those on the outside can understand. Even longer than WE can understand. (Reference: See husband #2.) And we can't make choices for other people or fix their problems, even if it means standing by and watching helplessly as they stumble and fall. 

Because this book was on my iPad, I wasn't aware it was 700 pages long. Even so, it wasn't a difficult read at all. The language was pretty simple, although I felt dense when I didn't immediately get some of the more obscure literary and artistic allusions. (Please, for all that is holy, please tell me they were obscure. Thank you.) I also had a little problem with the stretching of the limits of punctuation; how many semi-colons and colons can a single sentence contain? Is there a rule for that? Maybe things were different back at the turn of the other century. 

That was another thing about the book that I found refreshing: Because it was written in the early 1900's, things weren't nearly so explicit as they are these days. There was clearly some sex going on, but you really had to figure it out for yourself. I found myself wondering, "Are they saying what I think they're saying?" I'd better shut up now, before I convince you I really AM dense. 

I enjoyed Of Human Bondage, and not JUST because I could mentally check a classic off my list. I was fascinated by the process of training doctors in England in that time period. Somerset Maugham went through training to become a doctor himself, but he never practiced. In fact, I discovered in my limited "research" today that this book is considered highly autobiographical. 

I'm trying to intersperse these classics with more contemporary literature (at the risk of getting way smarter/cultured than I intended), but I'm finding it hard to do. I started another book right after this one, and already on page 3 the main character has told her ex-husband to go take care of their boys because she already wants to get her new boss naked, and she hasn't even started the job yet.

Good. 

Grief.

I may have to put that one away for a beach read. Or a last resort.