W. Somerset Maugham’s “Of Human Bondage” is one of the best books I have ever read about the trials and tribulations that a human being goes through just prior to his teenage years, during his teenage years, and just before entering adulthood. The character of Philip, born with a club foot deformity, is a textbook, detailed, and analytic study of the formation and evolution that takes place in the mind and body of person as he passes through these turbulent years. It is also a social commentary about institutions, such as schools and churches, that are so rigid, unbending and unwilling to accept change that they become barriers to the growth and education of the human being and society as a whole.
This is the first book that I have read by Mr. Maugham. It will not be the last. I loved this book.