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The Moon and Sixpence

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The Moon and Sixpence

By: W. Somerset Maugham
Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
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About this listen

 This is the story of an artist who was willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of art. In much of its general outline, this famous novel follows the life of Paul Gauguin, famous French post-impressionist painter, but it is not a novelized biography of Gauguin. Rather it is a sharply-delineated, carefully wrought "private life", written by one of the most vivid and penetrating contemporary literary masters.

Charles Strickland, the central character, is a stock broker in London. One day, at the age of 40, he leaves his business, his wife, and their children and goes to Paris. He has neither money nor prospects. He knows almost nothing of art. But he is seized with a passion to paint, and for the rest of his life nothing else matters to him. He gives up everything to which he has been accustomed for extreme poverty, social ostracism, and the freedom to paint. When he finally dies of leprosy in Tahiti, where he had gone native, the few paintings that turn up for sale bring only six to 10 francs apiece. But he has achieved his desire to create beauty and, with the years, the world fully recognizes his blazing genius.

(P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Fiction
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Somewhat compulsive, yet it is hideously sexist and pretty racist too. Also - the narrator sounds a bit like Kenneth Williams! Perhaps the connection with Gaugin gives it some substance. The general impression is rather distasteful somehow. Perhaps Maugham was a misogynist and racist, or just an Englishman of his era, or perhaps it is just easy to confuse the author’s attitude with that of ‘Strickland’, the protagonist.

Interesting but very flawed

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One of Somerset Maugham’s best. A surprising and thought provoking take. He is a master of creating characters that reveal themselves slowly through the narrative. You start by hating Charles Strickland but by the end you are firmly in his side.

Extraordinary story

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A captivating story with a desperate sadness of the human condition expertly woven so intricately into the characters’ lives.

A Maugham Masterpiece

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I found this to be an excellent, if western, reflection on beauty, suffering and the artist struggle for meaning in a world that only they truly understand and which does not understand them. The unnamed narrator is wholly and fundamentally set in the ranks of the English middle class and shares their prejudices. It is from that perspective the narrative explores its themes and it is interesting that the principle character and subject of story only finds his true, artistic voice in the company of what the narrator keeps referring to as 'natives'. His parting comment shows perhaps the authors more enlighten view behind that of his narrator. All in all a thoroughly good listen.

Always excellent

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Great book, highly recommended for detail, description, characters. Started off a bit slowly but soon got into it. May be a bit old fashioned for some and the treatment of women generally is tough. However, this is an interesting story of the time which some readers feel is based on Paul Gauguin. Highly recommended.

Is it Gauguin

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