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A review by ipb1
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
5.0
Synopses of this book generally use terms like 'spiritual odyssey' - and that has been enough to deter me for a long time, fearing something sanctimonious, moralistic, judgmental, awful... What I was not expecting was 'funny'.
Larry Darrell, the putative central character of the book, does not in fact appear often, and his explorations of anti-materialism and Brahminism serve more to counterpoint the other characters rather than to turn the novel into some sort of spiritual bildungsroman. What you actually get is a more gentle and highly readable story in which snoops are cocked at snobbery, old vs new world, social and sexual mores, etc. etc. Particularly effective is Maugham's interpolation of himself as a character in the narrative which allows an observational objectivity and wry humour throughout.
Larry Darrell, the putative central character of the book, does not in fact appear often, and his explorations of anti-materialism and Brahminism serve more to counterpoint the other characters rather than to turn the novel into some sort of spiritual bildungsroman. What you actually get is a more gentle and highly readable story in which snoops are cocked at snobbery, old vs new world, social and sexual mores, etc. etc. Particularly effective is Maugham's interpolation of himself as a character in the narrative which allows an observational objectivity and wry humour throughout.