There are those books you want to read forever and cherish as a treat yet to be savored – and when you finally do read them, they turn out to be far less than expected. For me, the Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham is one of these books. It is a recommendation by my English teacher Mr Bäcker, and this means: I have been waitung for more than 35 years to actually read it. Also, I found my personal copy of this novel totally unexpected in a bookstore in the tiny place of Klundert, Netherlands, where my father lived. This makes for a personal and emotional connection to the novel.

Well, what can I say? Maugham is a respectable writer and the razor''s edge is a good novel. It is set in Paris in the inter-war period. We follow the ups and downs in the lives of Americans who are in one way or the other connected to Paris and come to spend at least part of their lives there. The protagonist is Larry, a young man who seeks meaning and direction in philosophy after the horrors he witnessed as a pilot in World War I. A second main character would be Isabel, his fiancée from before the war. But this marriage does not happen because Isabel won't accept the life in relative poverty that philosopher and asket Larry envisages. Nevertheless, Isabel and Larry stay good but very different friends throughout their lives.

Isabel marries Larry's friend Gray, a stockbroker in Chicago, instead and leads a rich wife's life. But of course, their (economic) happiness does not last, after the crash from 1929 they loose all their wealth and are forced to move to Paris and live at the expense of Larry's hopelessly shallow uncle Elliot. Ironically, Isabel, who chose Gray's wealth over her original love for Larry, now has less money to live on than Larry who somehow suceeded in holding on to his small inheritance on which he lives. Isabel's love for Gray proves true, it is in no way diminished by the fact that Gray can no longer offer her a life of luxury. Instead, Gray is now often chastened by headaches, probably as a result of his self-perceived uselessness and economic incapacity.

Maugham very clearly strives to contrast two totally different lifestyles: Larry's search for truth and wisdom on the one hand and Isabels longing for a life of wealth and comfort on the other hand. It is also obvious that he sympathizes with the first option – happily without depicting Isabel and Gray as unsympathetic or even unhappy. It is to Maugham's great credit that he resists the temptation to set away them as unhappy, shallow or egoistic. It is easily readable, it is good fun to follow the characters and there are some unexpected turns and plot twists on the way. But the message is pretty simple and in itself rather shallow. A book that failed to meet my high expectations. Or, in a more friendly way: a book that was meant for my 18-year old self and should not have set on the shelf for 35 years.