Ashenden | 
so-soQuite an interesting collection of spy stories, all centered around Ashenden, openly based on Maugham himself who was a WWI spy. The stories flow into each other but could be read individually. Many unlikeable characters, colonial BS, racism, and antisemitism make some of the stories distasteful. Yet, overall, I‘m glad I read this. I‘m intrigued by Maugham for some reason and I haven‘t figured out why yet. Next up, some plays and a biography.
These connected short stories seem to be acting as a roman à clef, a term I first heard of a few weeks ago when I finished Maugham‘s novel Cakes and Ale, another example of the genre. Of course, this collection introduces Ashenden, the character stand in for Maugham in both books. In the tagged, Maugham drew from his experience as a spy during WWI. It‘s intriguing to think which parts are true and which just pure imagination.
#weirdwords @CBee
pickIf your reading experience with Somerset Maugham is Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, Cakes and Ale, this will be a surprise. Spy stories: spare prose, desperate characters working to survive in an amoral fug.
