The Razor's Edge

"The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard”… and so begins the book The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham.  Maugham does an outstanding job providing real characters that move in different directions – all connected to their own internal motivations.  The author actually serves a role in the book, a character himself, one who tells the story of the various people who enter his world.  The main character, Larry Darrell, returns from World War I interested in learning what should be the meaning of his life.  Larry’s journey back has him meeting with his fiancée’s aristocratic uncle, Elliott Templeton, who is always concerned about whose company he is engaged in at any given moment.  The juxtaposition of the two characters serves as an underpinning of all the characters, Larry and his fiancée Isabel, Larry and Grey (the son of a millionaire), Isabel and Sophie (a prostitute turned good and then returns back to her ways), and the list continues.  Larry is incapable of doing what most men his age would do, work and attempt to rise in the society he lives in.  Instead he decides he can’t work, mainly based on what he experienced during the war, losing his fellow military comrades.  Isabel, Grey, Elliott, and others can’t believe that Larry would turn down offers from Grey’s father to work as a stockbroker in his company, instead Larry intends to “loaf” around the world.  Larry will eventually lose Isabel, who wants the “good life” and ends up marrying Grey.  But funny how things happen in life as the great stock market collapse ruins Grey and Isabel’s fortune and she now needs to rely on her uncle for money, similar to what Larry had to do earlier in his life.  Ironies happen throughout and make one think about how those that “should have” end up with little.  Still, Isabel could never get over the loss of Larry, even when he leaves for a trip to India to find himself.  Larry returns a decade later and winds up in the arms of Sophie, a former prostitute, but can one really change?  Here’s where Isabel plays a role.  Death, drugs, greed, and the desire for things one shouldn’t have…  Maugham knows how to write.  I really enjoyed the “coming of age” character who seeks to find out “why,” “what,” and “how.”  He is true to himself even in the worst of circumstances.  There is so much more here but a nice read on characters that grow up during the story.  And yes there can be salvation… for those who deserve it!