Hey Maugham, what the Dickens?

I had been reading ‘A tale of two cities’ as an e-book on my mobile (hope Mr. Charles doesn’t turn in his grave). But then I went and bought a real book – Of Human Bondage. The temptation of holding a book and reading it (kind of like having a cake and eating it too) was too great for me to resist. Thus I began reading two great books at the same time.

The styles of two authors cannot be more different. Maugham is extremely descriptive and the book is often described as an ‘autobiographical novel’. The characters are so alive since they are written from life. I could really relate to Philip, maybe not his tempestuous, obsessive love, but his shyness, love of reading, obstinacy and vanity. Then again, I found the book very similar to ‘The Razor’s Edge’.

On the other hand, Dickens is full of satiric humor, that is at the same time very thought provoking. I do not think I have understood all that is implied in the book or that I will after a second or third reading. Each sentence seems to have been written after a lot of thought and deliberation. The book makes me feel like I have been sleeping all these years (this is my first Dickens) and makes me want to read all of his books.

In ‘Of Human Bondage’, Mr. Maugham writes,

… there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action. In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. … But in England you get neither: you’re ground down by convention. You can’t think as you like and you can’t act as you like. That’s because it’s a Democratic nation. I expect America’s worse.

Makes you really wonder about India if the ‘land of the free’ is so restrictive, or wonder about France and Germany.