Of Human Bondage - Somerset Maugham

Of Human Bondage is a semi-autobiographical book. It loosely tells Somerset Maugham’s own life trajectory.

The book tells the story of Philip from the moment he becomes an orphan to the time he decides to settle down and get married. It is a rather long book but the reader suffers not a moment of boredom. Philip has a club foot, is raised by a selfish uncle who has no time or patience for children and a loving but awkward aunt. He suffers terrible trials, loses his faith in god, discovers he has no talent to do something he really passionately wants to do, becomes penniless, falls in love with the most horrid woman in literature, and yet whenever something good happens he turns his back on it.

Although our hero has many faults and suffers mostly due to his own bad choices and thoughtless wishes, you can’t help but worry about him and want him to do well. It is a beautiful book that once you start reading just cannot be put down.

There is also a film staring Leslie Howard (Ashley from Gone with the Wind) as Philip and Bette Davies as the awful Mildred. 

A scene from "Of Human Bondage"

You can download the e-book free from Project Gutenberg or the audio from the LibriVox website (read by volunteers) or have a look on amazon.

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