Bondage. Of Human Bondage.

Thanksgiving has been great, family together on and off all weekend. Yesterday we watched "Brother where art thou", tonight it's "Juno". So I'm feeling warm and relaxed, and probably shouldn't be tackling a mini review of Of Human Bondage. But . . .

The first pages are so sad, and I think the two great early disappointments in his life are what bind Phillip for the rest of his life. He, like all children, have absolute faith in the invincibility of his mother. She dies. Later, he has absolute faith that faith in God can cure his clubfoot. It does not. His infirmity slows him, but it's his sure knowledge that life's point is to smash belief and thwart hope that leads to his calamitous decisions -- maybe even masochistic decisions -- particularly in regard to Mildred. Mildred is a loser, but a loser with a sugar daddy.

Phillip's savior is a guy with a ridiculous name, Thorpe Athelny (or Athelny Thorpe, I forget, and yes, I also forget how to spell it). This is a great character; all the characters are fully developed, unique personalities, an interesting in their own ways, which is maybe the best thing about the book. But Thorpe is the best. He's an extraordinary man in an ordinary life, and it's his daughter with whom Phillip finally finds fulfillment.

By the way, these people are all pretty randy. Yet, that Mildred's a hooker horrifies them beyond belief. Irony? Hypocrisy?

Sky wants to use the PC now to look up something about Wario. And so to bed. NOT!!