Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9443 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

A Masterpiece.
I feel I don't have to divulge the synopsis of The Moon and Sixpence, as many other readers have given their own detailed accounts of the storyline, setting the scene quite clearly.
However I felt I had to express the feelings I went through while reading this book and the way in which it changed my outlook upon life.
I think we can all, at some point relate to the way in which Charles Strickland abandoned all that he had ever known. Some would say he took a gamble with life and in a sense, he did just that. Charles Strickland changed his life in such a dramatic way, a way in which the vast majority only ever dream of doing. His overpowering need to express something so great from within himself, coupled with his obstinate personality, lead him to that place of paradise which he had only ever seen in his minds eye. For him it was the place where he knew his soul would at last be able to rest in peace.
Having personally studied the life and works of the genius Paul Gauguin, I feel W. Somerset Maugham captured something so deep and personal and skillfully adapted his findings so that the reader could learn to look beyond his horizons with great hope.
I feel we all need time to look at what the future holds for us, it takes great courage to be who we want to be, but here is a beautiful story to uplift and enlighten our senses.
Thank you for reading my opinions.

"You are an unmitigated cad!"
When he first meets Charles Strickland, a London stockbroker, the young narrator of this novel thinks of him as "good, honest, dull, and plain." When Strickland suddenly abandons his wife and children and takes off for Paris, the narrator, on seeing him again, decides he is a cad. Though he has had no training, Strickland has decided to become an artist, a drive so strong that he is willing to sacrifice everything toward that end. Anti-social and feeling no obligation to observe even the smallest social decencies, Strickland becomes increasingly boorish as he practices his art. Eventually, he makes his way to Tahiti, where he "marries," moves to a remote cottage, and spends the rest of his life devoted to his art.

Basing the novel loosely on the life of Paul Gauguin, Somerset Maugham creates an involving and often exciting story. His narrator is a writer who, after Strickland's death and his posthumous artistic success, feels impelled to set down his memories of their early interactions in London and Paris, in the interest of "history." Because the "real" narrator never saw Strickland after he left Paris, the narrator depends on his meetings with a ship captain and a woman in Papeete for information about Strickland after Strickland arrived in Tahiti. The ship captain is described as a story-teller who may be spinning tall tales, a constant reminder to the reader that this is fiction, and not a biography of Gauguin.

By depicting Strickland as a "dull, plain" man suddenly gripped by an obsession so overwhelming that nothing else matters to him, Maugham involves the reader in his actions, which even the narrator claims not to understand. The least convincing aspect of Strickland's characterization is the narrator's observation that Strickland is completely indifferent to his wife of seventeen years and his children. No confrontation between Strickland and his wife appear, and one wonders if perhaps Maugham found himself unable to depict Strickland's abandonment realistically. The story moves quickly, however, and whatever is sacrificed in the characterization is more than recouped in the plot and its development.

Straightforward in its story line, the novel is romantic in its depiction of the artist in the grip of an obsession, his subsequent abandonment of civilization and return to nature, his suffering of a long terminal illness (during which he paints his masterpiece), and the fate of this creation further develop the romantic themes. Good, old-fashioned story-telling at its best, this uncomplicated story, written in 1919, still has broad appeal. Mary Whipple

flawed greatness.
I think this book deserves it's great reputation, not only because it is beautifully written, but Maugham gives some startlingly perceptive and powerful insights into the nature of creativity and genius. He never for one moment recommends Strickland to us as a nice man, or even a decent human being. He never makes any apologies for his behaviour, and the narrator is frequently driven to exasperation by his callousness towards the people he hurts. That said though I actually found it hard to have sympathy for the people in Strickland's life, with the possible exception of Shroeve, the buffoonish little Dutch painter who is far too kind for his own good, and who Strickland tramples all over sadistically. The women in Strickland's life come across as a vacuous lot, none of them with the nerve to get what they want out of him and then tell him to go to hell. I also found some of the Tahiti scenes quite tedious, that sort of thing has been done so many times now and it's not that interesting. By contrast the Parisian scenes are absolutely marvellous, very akin to Zola. This must have been a brave novel for Maugham to write at the time, with its lack of sympathetic characters (it's hard to even feel sorry for Strickland's abandoned wife or his suicidal mistress, as neither are very warm or pleasent) and an even remotely likeable central character, but it works ... well until we get to Tahiti anyway!