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Title: Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 0-375-72502-4 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A wonderful portrait with insight into the human condition..
Comment: First, this should not be the first book by Somerset Maugham that a person should read. Certainly, every character in it is well drawn and there is a wonderful storyline BUT it lacks some of the majesty and grand sweep that make 'The Razor's Edge' and 'Of Human Bondage' so powerful, so grand, and able to stand among the best English language works written this century (although neither of these is typically regarded with Faulkner or Joyce because they are not stylistically avant-guarde in any way). If you haven't read both of these books, read them first.
On the other hand, this is another great book by this author: and like every other one of his that I have read (atleast five more) a worthwhile read. It may be more lacking in pathos than the two mentioned above: while it is second to them in this area, for how much the characters are touching, and heartfelt, it is eons ahead. Rosie, the main characters love interest, is beautifully written as is the other main character.... it's definately a good and worthwhile read.....
Rating: 4
Summary: A pleasure to read
Comment: Maugham once said of himself that he was in "the first row of second tier" of writers ... but this book leaves novels by "first tier" writers in the dust. Wonderfully written, great paragraphs, insights into the human condition, and a story line and builds and builds. You really identify with the characters by the end and feel their emotions as they feel them. I loved it. Maugham did, too - he said it in the intro to my edition that it was his favorite novel.
Rating: 4
Summary: short and sweet
Comment: I have never been disappointed by Maugham Somerset: Cakes and Ale is a light, beautifully written, partially autobiographical story about a barmaid with a big heart, British class-conciousness and snobbery and the literary scene in the first half of the twentieth century.
The narrator (Willie Ashenden, modelled after the author, a medical student turning into a writer) is mainly observant and doesn't influence the events taking place: The origins and later success of the great writer Edward Driffield and the touching portrait of his first wife, Rosie.
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Title: Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 0140185976 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: March, 1993 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Razor's Edge by W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM ISBN: 1400034205 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 055321392X Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham, Somerset Maugham ISBN: 0375724621 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 11 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Summing Up by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 014018600X Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1992 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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