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    Cakes and Ale
    Cakes and Ale
    Cakes and Ale
    Audiobook6 hours

    Cakes and Ale

    Written by W. Somerset Maugham

    Narrated by Neil Hunt

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Of all Somerset Maugham's novels this is the most entertaining and arguably his best ever. Rosie is a barmaid with a heart of gold and a skeleton in her closet. Maugham's portrait of her makes his novel fairly glow with witty observations of the contemporary literary scene. Features Willie Ashenden, who resurfaces in Maugham's Ashenden.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 25, 2011
    ISBN9781461811381
    Cakes and Ale
    Author

    W. Somerset Maugham

    W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. Born in Paris, he was orphaned as a boy and sent to live with an emotionally distant uncle. He struggled to fit in as a student at The King’s School in Canterbury and demanded his uncle send him to Heidelberg University, where he studied philosophy and literature. In Germany, he had his first affair with an older man and embarked on a career as a professional writer. After completing his degree, Maugham moved to London to begin medical school. There, he published Liza of Lambeth (1897), his debut novel. Emboldened by its popular and critical success, he dropped his pursuit of medicine to devote himself entirely to literature. Over his 65-year career, he experimented in form and genre with such works as Lady Frederick (1907), a play, The Magician (1908), an occult novel, and Of Human Bondage (1915). The latter, an autobiographical novel, earned Maugham a reputation as one of the twentieth century’s leading authors, and continues to be recognized as his masterpiece. Although married to Syrie Wellcome, Maugham considered himself both bisexual and homosexual at different points in his life. During and after the First World War, he worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service as a spy in Switzerland and Russia, writing of his experiences in Ashenden: Or the British Agent (1927), a novel that would inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. At one point the highest-paid author in the world, Maugham led a remarkably eventful life without sacrificing his literary talent.

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    Reviews for Cakes and Ale

    4/5

    20 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      In reading up on Cakes and Ale, I discovered that it is generally presumed to be a roman á clef. I can see why; certain characters seem to be clearly constructed satires. However, in my admitted ignorance—which is, in my defense, brought about by the long distance of time between the book’s publication and now—I am rather unclear on who or what is being satirized. For me, then, that element of the book failed to engage me.Maugham did create a captivating and memorable character in Rosie, a strong, passionate woman in an otherwise staid turn-of-the-century setting. Rosie is enough to make Cakes and Ale an enjoyable read, but at least for me, it offered little more than that.
    • 3/5
      Cakes and Ale are two of my favourite things. Sadly, this book is not destined to become a personal favourite.This story of authors talking about authors is, disappointingly, one big empty space. The narrator is plainly aware that his associates are a fatuous bunch, but if he gives any indication of discontent with this state of affairs, it was not apparent to me.Maugham hints in his introduction that he intended the book as a satire on the literary world he inhabited. I have to say, that as satire, it falls flat on it`s face. I don`t doubt it depicts the world that Maugham knew. It may well depict Maugham - he denied this, but then again he initially denied that one of the characters was based on Thomas Hardy, only to later concede the point. Sadly, it lack the warmth and humour needed for an affectionate parody, or the sharp teeth needed for biting satire.Maugham is certainly a stylish writer. There are passages of excellent prose, particularly near the beginning, but all that style, all that love of language is put to little use. I understand that he came out of retirement to produce this volume, and I can only assume the motive was financial, as there is no hint here of a writer putting pen to paper because he has something to say.I persevered with this one because I was convinced Maugham`s intentions would become clear in the end. Wrong again !
    • 5/5
      This is a lovely short novel which exposes the hypocrisy of 19th C. English rural life. Maugham has a gift for story telling.
    • 4/5
      The first Somerset Maugham book I have read. I would read him again.Well, the idea of the author writing in the first person in the persona of an author talking about authors is perhaps a little incestuous. And it has a very literary bent. But in amongst all that there is a plot, and the plot was good, along with a final chapter with an interesting denoument..What I liked most of all though, reading this in the second decade of the twenty-first century, was the amazing light it throws on the British class system at the end of the nineteenth century. Fascinating.If you haven't tried it, do so - I have no idea whether it is typically Maugham.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant is a the word for this book. A great satire. A Must read. Be it anything: Maugham's dilemma of writing in first person, the recollections of a teenage mind, the hypocrisies.The book was released amidst a lot of criticism as many literary people believed that the character potrayed them. You have to read this to know the reason. The preface itself gets you started (There is a comment on Thomas Hardy.)
    • 4/5
      Written in 1930, this book is narrated by the midlist writer William Ashenden.As a young man in the 1890's, Ashenden knew the British literary icon, Edward Driffield (ostensibly based on Thomas Hardy, which Maugham denied). At that time Driffield was a little known working class writer married to Rosie, an earthy sexually promiscuous woman. Later in life, Driffield rose to fame and acclaim and a second wife. Now, after Driffield's death and being, himself, in middle-age, Ashenden has been approached by Alroy Kear to get the inside scoop on Driffield's life before his iconship was established.Alroy Kear is a best-selling author and sychophant, who, in cahoots with Driffield's second wife wants to produce an autobiography suitable to the elevated and refined status of an icon.I loved this book for its satirical take on the literary scene, which I found just as relevant in 2011 as in 1930: "I read The Craft of Fiction by Mr Percy Lubbock, from which I learned that the only way to write novels was like Henry James; after that I read Aspects of the Novel by Mr E M Forster, from which I learned that the only way to write novels was like Mr E M Forster; then I read The Structure of the Novel by Mr Edwin Muir, from which I learned nothing at all."The character of Rosie, Driffield's first wife, is a weakness of the novel, being rather flat. She is unremittingly sexual and cheerful. But I find that generally Maugham is less successful portraying men's attractions to women than to other men, and that may be because he was primarily gay with a few ambivalent (and I have to wonder if somewhat forced) relationships with women in his life. These were brief and concurrent with his longstanding relationships with men: Maugham lived with his first partner for 30 years until his partner's death, and then with his second for the remaining 20 years of Maugham's life.However for his time (1930), Rosie was a remarkable and disturbing character because of her happy sexual appetite and the lack of authorial criticism for it. The stock character of "the whore with a heart of gold" was supposed to realize her unworthiness and sacrifice herself for the hero. Instead Rosie outlives everyone and is entirely contented with herself.What I loved about this book was its satirical portrayal of class and the literary scene. The sly cutting comments that Ashenden makes about Kear and his success made me laugh out loud. The conflict of class was vivid and so was the hilarious and yet sad manipulation of Driffield first by his patroness and then by his second wife to make him appear refined to the middle-class who read his books.Poor Driffield rebelled in the only way he could, refusing to bathe at all in the last years of his life, and hiding out in the local pub as long as anyone would let him. But they didn't let him much--and that's the whole point. He wrote his best books while married to Rosie, everyone acknowledges that, and yet at the same time everyone around him believes that Rosie wasn't good enough for him. They're all virtuou and wants to make him so. And all he really wants to make him happy are cakes and ale. Rosie was the only one that got that.The title of the novel comes from Twelfth Night. Sir Toby Belch (who would have been a pal to Driffield) says: "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?"Cakes and Ale was reputedly Maugham's favourite of all his books, and I can understand that. This was such a fun read for me, as a writer, especially as I read it just when I was re-entering the publishing process and anticipating the public literary scene that he criticizes.
    • 5/5
      I was delighted by this novel, nominally a remembrance of an acquaintance who is asked to contribute to the biography of a legendary writer. The twist in the final chapter made me laugh out loud--it was the perfect ending for the story of "true love."
    • 4/5
      What a lovely novel! The reader can curl up in the discursive style as if it were a nice warm quilt, enjoying the leisurely unfolding of the story and the characters in perfect comfort. Moreover, this is a very funny book, about the British class system and the literary world a hundred years ago. Plus que ca change --- . It's also clearly a roman a clef, which adds to the fun. Great read.
    • 5/5
      Anyone who has browsed my LT catalog will know that I am a fan of Somerset Maugham, and that my reviews are likely to be biased in his favour since, generally, my mind is already made up. However, I try hard to be fair and honest; for instance, although I enjoyed 'The Painted Veil', I didn't think it an enormously successful book. 'Cakes and Ale', though, should fairly be thought of as a classic of English literature.The story, such as Maugham writes it, weaves between past and present, and follows the lives and affairs of several of the literary set. Maugham writes as William Ashendon, his literary alter ego, who has been approached by a writer friend of his for his notes on the recently deceased Edward Driffield, another writer.Driffield has been likened to Thomas Hardy, though Maugham himself denies the connection in his introduction. Regardless, the similarities are there, and are useful to the novel. The writer Driffield is not as interesting as his first wife, who is really the highlight of the book, and a very modern creation considering Cakes and Ale's vintage.Once again, Maugham's writing is incessantly quotable - seriously, it's like reading Shakespeare or something. My favourite line is a retort made by Ashenden: 'Is it possible to be a gentleman and a writer?'
    • 5/5
      If you like Maugham, you will love this.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as Maugham's more famous The Razor's Edge, Cakes and Ale is nonetheless a well-written piece by a masterful author. Worth reading for the language and style, even if it does not necessarily have the most compelling plot.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful book! Even though it was written over 70 years ago, so many of Maugham's jabs at writers, critics, and the reading public are still right on the mark. In particular, I smiled in appreciation while reading his description of how writers become what we now call trendy - reminded me a lot of the "Fifty Shades of Gray" frenzy:)