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Somewhere between "The day broke gray and dull." and "...the sun was shining." things got better for our main character Philip. Alas, not for dear reader though. 600 pages to find out "Philip asked himself what was the use of living. It seemed quite inane." But in 85 pages more the sun was shining (because thank goodness, the book was over). W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM's 1915 "Of Human Bondage" gives me a 4* headache. JI
Oh yeah, 10 years later on the American continent THEODORE DREISER's "An American Tragedy" ran into the same problem. It's author also got paid by the word. At least Clyde (this main character) killed his girl. She shouldn't have got pregnant if she wanted to live. Something happened in almost 900 pages. I guess the tragedy was he wasn't satisfied with his lot. It wouldn't have been that abortion was illegal? Not in 1925. 5*. JA

So take your choice of European or American blah blah. None for me thanks, nice titles though.

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"Little Boy" Speaks Large

I first read JOHN HERSEY's 1946 publication "Hiroshima" a very long time ago. When I get to the part about the hand and arm skin coming off of a bomb victim's body "like a glove", I still wish it was fiction. And that's not the worst of it! A new worthwhile chapter, "The Aftermath", was added by the original author in 1985. This important book is still a very short read. A matter of hours offers one much introspection. Yeah, Dad fought at Guadalcanal but I still can't reconcile the Enola Gay with humanity. 8*. JI

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