Published in 1930.
I kinda liked it by the end. I really enjoyed his style of writing. Very sardonic first-person narrative. Very British. Everything understated and subtle. The dialogue absolutely hilarious in its stuffiness and subtext.
But the book did not have much of a plot. The narrator, who is a writer by the name of William Ashenden, is prompted by his writer-friend Alroy Kear to write about his acquaintance, a great writer by the name of Thomas Driffield, who died recently. Ashenden writes down what he knows of Driffield's early life, especially his time with his promiscuous first wife, Rosie.
The book is mostly a satire of the literati of Maugham's time and is at its best at such satirical moments. But I read that Maugham's main interest in the novel was Rosie. He had conceived her character a long time back and used this plot simply as a setting for her.
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