John S. (Seajack) reviewed The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong (Armchair Traveller) on + 347 more book reviews
Having enjoyed "The Painted Veil", set in China, I was expecting an interesting travel book, and was disappointed. I found the first section on his trip through colonial Burma annoying; Maugham came off as too bwana-ish for me. Thailand wasn't much better as he came off rather cranky. The (unfortunately shorter) sections on Cambodia and Vietnam were the highlight for me.
I had been unable to get through his autobiographical "The Summing Up" as too dense to be worth it, so ... I guess I'm just not a fan of his non-fiction.
I had been unable to get through his autobiographical "The Summing Up" as too dense to be worth it, so ... I guess I'm just not a fan of his non-fiction.
