Of Human Bondage
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Narrated by:
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Steven Crossley
About this listen
One of the most widely read novels of the 20th century, W. Somerset Maugham's masterpiece, Of Human Bondage, gives a harrowing depiction of unrequited love. Philip Carey, a sensitive orphan born with a clubfoot, finds himself in desperate need of passion and inspiration. He abandons his studies to travel, first to Heidelberg and then to Paris, where he nurses ambitions of becoming a great artist.
Philip's youthful idealism erodes, however, as he comes face-to-face with his own mediocrity and lack of impact on the world. After returning to London to study medicine, he becomes wildly infatuated with Mildred, a vulgar, tawdry waitress, and begins a doomed love affair that will change the course of his life.
First published in 1915, the semi-autobiographical Of Human Bondage combines the values left over from the Victorian era with the prevailing irony and despair of the early 20th century. Unsentimental yet bursting with deep feeling, Of Human Bondage remains Maugham's most complete statement of the importance of physical and spiritual liberty, a theme that resounds more loudly than ever today.
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Charlotte Dean enjoys nothing more than the solitude of her London flat and the monotonous days of her work at a travel bookshop. But when her younger sister unceremoniously bursts into her quiet life one afternoon, Charlotte's world turns topsy-turvy. Beloved author D. E. Stevenson captures the intricacies of post-World War I England with a light, comic touch that perfectly embodies the spirit of the time. Alternatively heartbreaking and witty, The Young Clementina is a touching tale of love, loss and redemption through friendship.
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Miss Dean's Dilemma
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The Forsyte Chronicles, Vol. 2
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John Galsworthy's magnificent trilogy of power and passion chronicles the wealthy Forsyte family. The complete Chronicles are divided into three volumes, containing nine books and four interludes in total. Volume 2, A Modern Comedy, focuses on Soames's vivacious daughter, Fleur. Soames tries constantly to protect her but is baffled by the carefree attitudes in post-war London. Fleur and her husband Michael Mont host society gatherings, but her previous affair with Jon Forsyte leaves embers of a passion that are ready to ignite - with dreadful consequences.
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Very worthwhile
- By Jonathan Kalkstein on 09-27-22
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North and South
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Written at the request of Charles Dickens, North and South is a book about rebellion that poses fundamental questions about the nature of social authority and obedience. Gaskell expertly blends individual feeling with social concern and her heroine, Margaret Hale, is one of the most original creations of Victorian literature. When Margaret Hale's father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience she is forced to leave her comfortable home in the tranquil countryside of Hampshire....
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Delightful
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David Copperfield
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David Copperfield is the charming tale of a young boy's journey from an impoverished childhood in Victorian England to a renowned novelist. The story of David Copperfield brings to life some of the most beloved and notorious Dickens characters, including the wicked stepfather, Edward Murdstone; David's friend, Tommy Traddles; Agnes; and the bookkeeper Uriah Heep.
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A wonderful Dickens classic, brought to Life!
- By Ron on 06-15-19
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The Good Soldier
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On the face of it Captain Edward Ashburnham's life was unimpeachable. But behind the mask where passion seethes, the captain's "good" life was rotting away.
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Treachery in the Troops
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Anna Karenina
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Vladimir Nabokov called Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina "one of the greatest love stories in world literature." Set in imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity. Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky.
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Not good dramatization but an ok reading
- By Bookoholics Anon on 05-07-11
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The Enchanted April
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This is a journey of both escape and discovery for four exquisitely different women, a month of bliss and privacy for four weary souls. Their refuge on the Italian Riviera provides the perfect backdrop for a story about the search for spiritual harmony within and without.
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Excellent book, excellent narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-26-05
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In The Moon and Sixpence, Charles Strickland is a respectable London stockbroker who decides in middle age to abandon his wife and children and devote himself to his true passion: art. Strickland's destructive desire for self-expression takes him first to Paris to learn the craft of painting, and finally to Tahiti in the South Pacific. The Moon and Sixpence remains a complex and engaging novel echoing Maugham's own struggles between artistic expression and public respectability.
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Enjoyable novel, well narrated
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Great character, a little slow towards the end
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This famous satire of life on Main Street, Gopher Prairie, mirrors with devastating honesty life on Main Streets from Albany to San Diego.
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Timely and timeless
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A collection of the BBC’s dramatisations and readings of W. Somerset Maugham’s fiction, with star casts including Alex Jennings, Dirk Bogarde, and Janet Maw.
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In June 1917, W. S. Maugham was asked by the British Secret Intelligence Service, to undertake a special mission in Russia to support Kerensky's government. The mission failed, and two and a half months later, the Bolsheviks took control. Maugham subsequently said that if he had been able to get there six months earlier, he might have succeeded. Quiet and observant, Maugham had a good temperament for intelligence work. The writer used his spying experiences as the basis for his collection of short stories called Ashenden: Or the British Agent. They became the prototype for the modern espionage novel.
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In this rich new audio production, acclaimed British American actress Rebecca Hall brings one of E. M. Forster's most admired works to life in this classic tale of human struggle. A charming young Englishwoman, Lucy Honeychurch, is wooed by both free-spirited George Emerson and wealthy Cecil Vyse while vacationing in Italy. Though attracted to George, Lucy becomes engaged to Cecil despite twice turning down his proposals. On hearing of the news, George confesses his love, leaving Lucy torn between marrying the more socially acceptable Cecil or George, the man she knows would bring her true happiness. Should Lucy choose social acceptance or true love?
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A lovely performance, and a wonderful story
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Complete Short Stories, Volume 3
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In 1938 Maugham wrote, "Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other." Maugham also wrote that most of his short stories were inspired by accounts he heard firsthand during his travels to the lonely outposts of the British Empire. In volume three of this series, we present all of the remaining short stories which Maugham published after World War I and which he subsequently caused to be republished in various collections.
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Complete list of Short Stories
- By Julieta de los espíritus on 03-11-17
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Far Eastern Tales
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Far eastern Tales is a collection of Maugham's short stories, all born of his experiences in Malaysia, Singapore, and other outposts of the former British Empire. The stories included on this recording are Footprints in the Jungle, Mabel, P & O, The Door of Oportunity, The Buried Talent, Before the Party, Mr. Know-all, Neil MacAdam, The End of the Flight and The Force of Circumstance.
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As perfect a reading as I've ever heard
- By Ted on 05-30-16
What listeners say about Of Human Bondage
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- Changmin Sun
- 01-27-15
One of the best stories
I cannot believe that the novel was published in 1915. Humans haven't evolved very much in the last 100 years as i could relate so well to the emotions expressed in the book!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Hawaiian 54
- 12-03-21
Classic tale
Interesting story line, the main character has intense interior dialog, a difficult life and some difficult to comprehend (imho) relationships-especially with romantic partners.
His gradual shedding of Christianity but not morality follows his general introduction to the broader world.
Narrator does many voices well but drops his volume at ends of words/phrases in a way that makes the story difficult to follow if not listening sitting still in a perfectly quiet room.
Good window to thoughts of a past era.
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- Jakk
- 04-18-22
It's not a love story
There is not a word or moment in this book that isn't masterful. W. Somerset Maugham wrote with such imagery and understanding of the human condition. Through the characters in "Of Human Bondage" he asks the question: what insanity makes us yearn for things that are inaccessible? Those who haven't read the novel might think the whole thing is about a man who "loves" an incredibly detestable woman. But there is so much more. We follow Phillip Carey's difficulties as a boy, a teen and as a young man. He goes through situations and relationships, always dogged by embarrassment over a clubbed foot. Few people would be so self-conscious about such a thing, especially since it's fixable today. Carey flip flops through several careers... gets money... loses money. And, certainly, there is his self-destructive obsession with Mildred Rogers. The things he endures are so humiliating that you just want to shake him! But I have also wanted someone who wasn't good for me. Perhaps you have too.
I also commend and thank Steven Crossey for breathing new life into this classic story.
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- Ryan Unsworth
- 06-06-21
loved it!
A beautifully written and emotive story, excellent performance and quality of recording. It was a beautiful and at times tragic tale of someone's life and their trials and revelations.
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- SmartShopper
- 08-19-22
A book about a man who struggles with the capris of emotions
Spoiler Alert!!!
Borrows a bit from Proust and Tolstoy but a well done story of the childhood to early adulthood of a good-hearted man who falls prey to his obsessive love for a dreadful woman. To tell more would give it away too much!
Wish the ending were longer.
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- Nerine Dorman
- 06-07-23
Sublime
My mom tried, unsuccessfully, to get me to read W Somerset Maugham in all the years that I was a teenager living under her roof. Teenagers are stubborn dears. That being said, I don't think teenaged Nerine would have gotten half as much out of reading Of Human Bondage as middle-aged Nerine has. The audiobook was part of my Audible subscription, but when it timed out, I absolutely had to know how the story panned out, and I have zero regrets purchasing it with one of my credits.
While the novel kicks off with the very young Philip Carey, newly orphaned, who goes to live with his uncle and aunt, who don't have children themselves. It's pretty clear from the get go that they have zero idea how to handle a little one in the house. But if we consider that the novel (by my estimation) takes place before World War I in England, I would hazard to say that this was an era where raising children meant putting them in situations were they were rarely seen and heard even less.
So poor little Philip, with his club foot (he really hasn't lucked out) really has a rough time of things growing up.
As the title suggests, this is a story about the bonds between people – bonds of love and hate, of obligation and responsibility. We watch Philip grow from being a sarcastic yet timid child to a deeply insecure adult, who is struggling to find his place in the world. As a youth, he rebels against the notions of what is expected of him, and yet in his attempts to establish himself – first completing his studies in Germany, then while trying a range of rather diverse careers – he still isn't satisfied with what the world offers and becomes the author of his own downfall. (Which savvy readers could have predicted early on.)
Added to the mix is one incredibly awful complication of unrequited love, that is so full of cringe that I found myself muttering along with the narrator, with an "Oh god, Philip. No, Philip. Don't do it, Philip. Choose life, Philip."
Throughout this, Maugham's observations of the people around Philip are sharp and biting. We see the best juxtaposed against the worst, expressed with incredible pathos. Everyone is morally grey, with both good and bad, and Maugham discusses many philosophies framed within Philip's journey, as he starts from a position of childlike faith until he hits a profound passive nihilistic nadir before he manages to attain ecstatic existential release, and in a way freedom through acceptance of the basic absurdity of the human condition. Watching Philip navigate many of the admittedly self-imposed obstacles he places in his own path is a thing of beauty that I don't often see, and when I do, I relish.
This novel also exists as a sort of time capsule, capturing the essence of a particular era of European culture and history, that reflects the tragedies of being human as well as those sweet moments of pure joy. Read by Steven Crossley, this Audible edition is well worth the investment, and I'm definitely adding Steven Crossley to my list of narrators worth stalking.
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1 person found this helpful
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- 🌟CW_214🌟
- 07-05-21
Masterpiece
It took me a while to get into this book. Many chapters later and a couple stops and starts along the way, it soon got to a point I couldn’t put it down. This is my first time reading Somerset Maugham. To me, this book puts him among my personal greats like Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Waugh, Wharton and so forth. This is a stunning masterpiece that will invoke thought and stay with you long after the “sun goes down”. Whether he will be able to come close in his other works, I’ve yet to know. However, it wouldn’t take away from the relevance of this one I’ll enjoy time and again.
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- JSP
- 11-10-22
Excellent reading of a seriously sad tale
The movie made me want to listen to the book, and I'm so glad I did. I found no problem listening to the succinct diction and modulated voice of the reader; as several others here have mentioned. (shrug) Perhaps the audio quality is depending on speakers/setup/environment. (?) Listening in the car was enjoyable
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- Theloniusphere
- 03-08-22
Coming of Age and a Bit Beyond
This is my first exposure to Somerset Maugham, unless I've read a short story that I've forgotten. Now I'm sure I'll read more. Reviews say Of Human Bondage is his masterpiece. Since I have nothing with which to compare, I can just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. In some ways, Maugham's writing in this novel is almost (but not quite) comparable to Dostoevsky. The detail is certainly there (but not the psychology).
Maugham focuses on one life, Philip Cary, from the death of his mother at nine-years-old until his twenty- ninth year.
Reviews and sources say that the novel is semi-autobiographical. The protagonist develops an interest in art, which Maugham did, and eventually becomes a doctor, which Maugham was.
The novel is long but well worth the read. Recommended.
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- Solo Loco
- 09-25-23
Well written.
Kind of anxiety inducing with the main characters constant bad choices. I did enjoy the book though.
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