Of Human Bondage - Maugham

After reading Dad's review, I decided to check out Maugham's Of Human Bondage. It was a very interesting tale of a neurotic young man afflicted with a clubfoot, and his coming of age in England and France during the late 18 and early 1900s. Although it starts off fairly slowly (the tale begins in Philip's youth), it builds powerfully and is a very captivating read.

I don't have much to add to Dad's review, except to say that it is filled with interesting bits of Philip's evolving philosophy, such as when he thinks:

Society had three arms in its contest with the individual: laws, public opinion, and conscience; the first two could be met by guile, guile is the only weapon of the weak against the strong... but conscience was the traitor within the gates; it fought in each heart the battle of society, and caused the individual to throw himself, a wanton sacrifice, to the prosperity of his enemy.

Pattern Recognition - William Gibson

Another brilliant book by Gibson, and the first in the Blue Ant/Hubertus Bigend trilogy. The likable but neurotic protgagonist, Cayce (pronounced "Case"), is a coolhunter - a precog who uses her sensitivity to brands and logos to serve as a consultant to major franchises, helping them make branding choices based on what she senses will become trendy or not. In her spare time, Cayce and her online otaku friends obsess over "the footage" - segments of breathtaking, unearthly films scattered across the net, discovered a fragment at a time. Cayce's life changes when an exceptionally powerful employer hires her for a special consulting job, and draws her into a web of intrigue, Soviet mafia, and mystery...

I also really identified with Cayce, and many of her reflections resonated with me, such as, "Does she feel liminal, now, or simply directionless?"

Gibson's 3 Trilogies:

The Sprawl Trilogy:

• Neuromancer
• Count Zero
• Mona Lisa Overdrive

The Bridge Trilogy:

• Virtual Light
• Idoru
• All Tomorrow's Parties

The Bigend Books:

• Pattern Recognition
• Spook Country
• Zero History

Of Human Bondage

I quite enjoyed Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham, a short, breezy story of a young man entranced by an unusual couple.  So I was very interested in reading Of Human Bondage, generally regarded as Maugham's masterpiece.  The book deals with limitations, or bonds, imposed by accidents of class or wealth, but the main bondage experienced by the protagonist, Philip Carey, is his obsession with a low-class, self-absorbed and cruel waitress.  Obsessions are often treated in contemporary culture as highly-charged fixations that are potentially good things, unfortunately "carried to an extreme" - but Philip Carey's obsession is incomprehensible, degrading, and pathetic.  Contrasted with this main story line, Maugham very effectively captures moments of joy or beauty, although such moments are rare in this book. Also, Maugham is especially gifted at depicting ordinary events that suddenly turn deeply sad or hopeless - some of these scenes are heartrending.  While living in Paris with the aspiration of becoming a painter, Philip becomes acquainted with Cronshaw, an older, successful poet and, when he had been drinking, a fascinating conversationalist:

    But this evening, Philip wanted to talk about himself.  Fortunately it was late already and Cronshaw's pile of saucers on the table, each indicating a drink, suggested that he was prepared to take an independent view of things in general. "I wonder if you'd give me some advice," said Philip suddenly.
    "You won't take it, will you?"
    Philip shrugged his shoulders impatiently.
    "I don't believe I shall ever do much good as a painter.  I don't see any use in being second-rate.  I'm thinking of chucking it."
    "Why shouldn't you?"
    Philip hesitated for an instant.
    "I suppose I like the life."
    A change came over Cronshaw's placid, round face.  The corners of the mouth were suddenly depressed, the eyes sunk dully in their orbits; he seemed to become strangely bowed and old.
    "This? he cried, looking round the cafe in which they sat.  His voice really trembled a little.  "If you can get out of it, do while there's time."
    Philip stared at him with astonishment, but the sight of emotion always made him feel shy, and he dropped his eyes.  He knew that he was looking upon the tragedy of failure.  There was silence.  Philip thought that Cronshaw was looking upon his own life; and perhaps he considered his youth with its bright hopes and the disappointments that wore out the the radiancy; the wretched monotony of pleasure, and the black future.  Philip's eyes rested on the little pile of saucers, and he knew that Cronshaw's were on them too.

It may not exactly sound like it from this review, but I really liked this book.

The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale - Jan Bondeson

Bondeson's tale is a stranger-than-fiction account of the "Monster," a savage serial stabber in 1790s London, who preyed upon unaccompanied young women by with a "tremulous eagerness," accompanying his attacks with shockingly foul and indecent language. Although the Monster (or perhaps, Monsters) employed a variety of sinister stratagems of assault, including stabbing unsuspecting maidens in the face using a knife hidden inside a bouquet of artificial nosegays, and tearing at women's exposed arms with some sort of metal claw, his preferred method of attack was to slash at his victims' thighs and buttocks, inspiring fearful aristocratic women to wear copper petticoats, and lower class women to hide frying pans under their skirts.

All told, the Monster attacked somewhere between 15-30 women, causing mass hysteria and vigilante mob action, before a local pervert and malcontent, artificial flower-maker Rhynwick Williams, was brought to trial and ultimately convicted (although both then and now, doubts remain about his guilt), essentially ending the slew of attacks and putting an end to the witch-hunt.

The book is largely an exploration of the panic caused by these stabbings, as well as the popularity of the subject in the media (the book contains ribald poetry, bawdy newspaper cartoons, and descriptions of various Monster plays from the period), as well as the bizarre circumstances of the two trials.

Pretty odd, but interesting!

Ernest Cline's Ready Player One

WOW! My bookclub's most recent pick was Ready Player One, and I read this thrilling 372-page sci-fi novel cover to cover over the last several hours. Talk about a page-turner! I won't give away the main quest driving the plot, but suffice to say, it is action-packed and awesome.

The experience of reading this book was very self-indulgent for a cyberpunk nerd like myself -- it is a book about otaku, for otaku, and it has the works: a post-apocalyptic wasteland where everyone with enough money for a visor and "haptic gloves" escapes the filth and squalor of our used-up Earth via a full-dive VR universe called OASIS; brilliant teen hackers; a soulless corporate entity in full villain mode; and, in an unusual twist on your typical sci-fi novel, endless real-world references to obscure sci-fi, video games, and everything 1980s.

The British newspaper The Observer says that the otaku is "the passionate obsessive, the information age's embodiment of the connoisseur, more concerned with the accumulation of data than of objects." In Ready Player One, and in many nerd subcultures IRL, a player's ability to amass vast knowledge of game-related trivia is a sought-after mark of authenticity, and a status symbol within the group.

In one early scene, our ridiculously erudite, but chronically poor and therefore low-level hero, Perzival, spars with the braggart I-r0k in a VR chat room, about what it takes to be a "gunter" (egg hunter, or elite gamer):

"Poseur."
"Poseur? Penis-ville is calling me a poseur? ...This chump is so broke that he has to bum rides to Greyhawk, just so he can kill kobolds for copper pieces! And he's calling me a poseur!"
..."That's right, I called you a poseur, poseur." I stood up and got in his grille. "You're an ignorant know-nothing twink. Just because you're fourteenth-level, it doesn't make you a gunter. You actually have to possess some knowledge."

As Perzival's friend Aech would say, "Word."


This novel is recommended for everyone, but especially if you like:
- Stephenson's Snow Crash
- Sword Art Online (anime TV series)
- Gibson's Idoru