A Writer's Notebook [Hardcover]

W Somerset Maugham (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Readers Union (1999)
• ASIN: B000M62YWY
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gems from a Master, May 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Writer's Notebook (Twentieth Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

This quasi-journal of Maugham's thoughts, travels, philosophies and bits of literature is facinating on several levels. For an avid Maugham fan, you can see the germination of the ideas and the travels that became his novels. The charming, brilliant and matter-of-fact way in which Maugham says startling things about life will have you underlining passages throughout the work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book of Wisdon, July 23, 2010

By 

lester - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Writer's Notebook (Vintage International) (Paperback)

I've read most of Somerset Maugham's writings & far from being one of the foremost of the 2nd rate authors ( as he himself termed it ) I consider him to be one of the foremost of all writers. It is possible to re - read Maugham's stories a number of times & get more from them on each reading. His stories are always beautifully written, have a beginning a middle & an end & always have a point. A writers notebook has more wisdom within it's pages than any other book I have read. I first read it perhaps 30yrs back & it has greatly influenced my views on life & it is great that a publisher has re - issued it as I had lost my copy many years back & until recently had not been able to locate a copy for sale other than those on the vintage market.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maugham in miniature, March 29, 2011

By 

Prof PJL Klatzow (Rondebosch, Cape, ZA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Writer's Notebook (Twentieth Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Maugham was a secretive character all his life. Cursed with a dreadful stutter he toured the world in the company of his "secretary" Gerald. Gerald, an attractive high flier, acted as Maugham's "discoverer", bringing back little bits of information which Maugham then wove into his stories.
Maugham had a profound and penetrating view of the frailties of human nature. This little volume consists of snippets and observations which COULD have been major pieces, but were left in unfinished state. If you can bear the fragmentation, it is a wonderfully revealing book, one which can be picked up and put down often. It greatly helps of course if you appreciate Maugham's laconic observations of people. He was a somewhat morose individual but a writer of unsurpassed style.