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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Whilst reading this book did I have a breakdown and cry like a baby. Yes, yes I did.
Never have I read a book at the exact time in my life in which I needed it so very much. The themes are so effortlessly relevant today and the characters are fascinating. The atmosphere is engulfing.
“For men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they are born, the city apartment or farm in which they learnt to walk, the games they played as children, the old wives tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read, and the God they believed in. It is all these things that have made them what they are, and these are the things that you can't come to know by hearsay...”
Wanting and yearning for that thing in your life that is almost seems it was ingrained in you since as long as you can remember can be motivating but it can be crumbling. This book is beautiful and every sentence is like a work of art. It is a book to be savoured and I am sure I will be re-reading and recommending this to anyone who will listen. I wish I could write a review as beautiful as this book but alas I can't so instead I just recommend that you read this gorgeous piece of literature.
“The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead.”
“Almost all the people who’ve had the most effect on me I seem to have met by chance, yet looking back it seems as though I couldn’t but have met them.”
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book felt like it was 80% about Elliott Templeton and 20% about Larry Darrell. I expected it to be more focused on Larry and was kind of disappointed. While the ending somewhat surprised me, it felt unsatisfactory. I also had a hard time reading and understanding Maugham's writing style so it made liking this story difficult.
this is pretty much as close to 5 stars a book can get without me actually giving it 5 stars (I have very minor gripes). very interesting from the start with how maugham himself was the narrator/observer without reallyyy being involved in the actual plot. all the main characters are so unique and enthralling. my minor complaints are that I briefly lost interest in some small sections and I didn't like how the female characters were described at points (bit of misogyny)
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Maugham begins The Razor’s Edge by explaining that it’s barely fiction at all, that all the characters, events, and conversations are real and recreated to the best of his ability with only names changed, except the narrator who goes by Maugham. True or not, the stories of these people/characters are singular in their spread across time and continents, reflecting lifestyles and attitudes both of their time and ahead of their time. Yet they are ordinary in their search for “success” be it in love, business, social standing, or answering the most enduring questions of the human race. The two main characters are Isabel and Larry, young adults at the novel’s start who get engaged only to realize that their aims in life are too different to stay together. Their lives along with the lives of several other characters are pieced together as the the narrator reunites with them sometimes after years of separation. As a result, the dialogue often becomes out of hand because characters are relaying the narrative rather than the narrator. Fortunately, I still enjoyed Maugham’s style which finds a nice balance between description and reportage though he can be too obsessed with women’s appearances. Women seem to be Maugham's weakness because, even though Isabel, who is probably the main protagonist, is written pretty fully, her character falls apart for me at the end due to the author/narrator's interpretation of her motives--the women's actions are ultimately the result of carnal desire and a need for stability. Whether he believes this is the result of social conditioning or women's true nature is unclear.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes