Of Human Bondage

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Considered to be W. Somerset Maugham's masterpiece and adapted into multiple films, Of Human Bondage follows the journey of Philip Carey as he grows from a helpless, lonely child to a young, adventuring hedonist, in the end maturing into a confident family-man. Born with a club foot, orphaned nine-year old Philip is sent to live with his aunt and distant uncle. After a year of fruitless efforts at Oxford, Philip tries his hand in Germany and London before settling Paris to study art. There, he encounters love and heartbreak with various women, ending in devastation after he engages in a salacious affair with a woman who cannot return his love. Maugham has said Of Human Bondage is written as "not an autobiography, but an autobiographical novel," and intertwines many elements of Maugham's life, including his stutter, lonely childhood, and sensational affairs. Yet, when all is said and done, Philip Carey concludes, "the simplest pattern - that in which a man was born, worked, married, had children, and died - was likewise the most perfect."