Let me start off by saying, holy shit, this is an amazing book. Originally published as 6 separate short stories, the episodes in this novel feature Margaret Sargent, who is based on McCarthy herself. We see Sargent, a intellectual bohemian, having a love affair that will end her marriage, working for a shady art dealer, meeting a man upon a train, going to an elitist dinner party, affecting the life of a married liberal reporter, and confessing to her analyst. You get a clear sense of what New York social world was like in the 1930’s from McCarthy’s detailed writing. Her sly wit hones in on its subject slowly and carefully. For instance, in the fifth episode ‘Portrait of an Intellectual’, you get the sense that she is poking fun at the man throughout the story. Or maybe that she is commenting on a certain type of person who was prevalent at the time. Parts of the stories seem dated—the attitudes toward race, sex and so forth, but other parts still seem relevant. A young woman, trying to find her way in a confusing time. Negotiating through a labyrinthine social network while trying to retain whatever scruples she had when she started. The random love affairs, flirting with Trotskyism, failed marriages, all vestiges of a struggle for personal identity. Throughout the book, McCarthy drops these wonderful sentences. This is a great book. I am sad to see that not many are reading McCarthy these days. That is too bad. She has such a great style and preceptiveness about society.

Based on strong recommendations from TEV I grabbed a copy of this book from our Used department when I happened upon it. He says it is a good starting point for Banville. And now I can see why. Banville is like that music you are not sure you like when you first hear it. But as time goes on, you find yourself humming the songs and the more you listen, the more you like. I thought the storyline interesting enough. After Frederick Montgomery, a charismatic and indolent Irish expatriate, aimlessly floats his way through California and the Mediterranean’s sleazier areas, he winds back up in his hometown. There Freddie becomes obsessed with a painting and decides to steal it to raise money. But along the way, he murders a young woman before taking flight to an old family friend’s place. The whole story is told through a confession by Freddie while he is in jail awaiting trial so you are left to wonder what is true and what is fiction in his account. Banville’s writing is subtle, but elegant. And you really get into the Freddie’s schizophrenic mind in a way that is almost uncomfortable. But this book is definitely worth reading.
I think I have been converted to being a big fan of Banville. I certainly want to read more. I just wonder which novel I should pick next.

Biography is a genre I had not really explored until a few years ago. I enjoy learning about the era in which the person lived as well as the person’s life. With Meyer’s biography of Maugham, you get a lot of history as well as an in depth analysis of Maugham’s every move. Maughm lived for almost 92 years and in those years, he wrote a great deal, read a great deal and lived a great deal. As the author of several of my favorite books, Of Human Bondage, The Razor’s Edge, and The Painted Veil, I wanted to know more about the man behind these extraordinary books. Notoriously secretive, Maugham lived a life caught between repressed homosexuality and artistic expression. Trained in medicine, he learns to empathize with the poor and brutalized women he met as he attended them in childbirth. These experiences deeply influenced his writing. He was also a spy for years in Switzerland, the South Seas, and Russia just before the revolution. Maugham earned a great living not just with his novels, but also with his plays. With his profits, he bought an estate in Cap Ferrat on the coast between Monte Carlo and Nice. Invitations were prized but Maugham also expected his guests to entertain him in return for a stay at a gorgeous and lush palace.
Reading this book was a thorough education in the life of W. Somerset Maugham. I only wish that Jeffrey Meyers had given the same attention to his writing as he gave to his research. Some of the chapters felt thrown together. And as much as I learned, reading this book was not always pleasant. One nice thing that Meyers does do however is cite the influence Maugham had on future writers. Overall, this is a fact filled book, but carelessly written I would say.

Here are two reviews I found online: one by Christopher Hitchens at the Atlantic and one from Merle Rubin at the Christian Science Monitor.