Maugham makes each character completely believable, however extreme or banal their actions may be, and in almost every case, with one notable exception, he makes the reader sympathise with even those whose attitudes and actions at first seem obnoxious. In each case, while the settings and stories are interesting, the real strength is in the depth and variety of the characterisation. I listened to the audiobook version, narrated excellently by Steven Crossley who created perfectly appropriate voices for each of the myriad of characters who cross the pages. The remaining seven are quite substantial in length, with a couple reaching novella length, and I found every one of them good, and several excellent. It’s billed as having eleven stories, but four of them are extremely short fragments of description or little anecdotes – well written and quite enjoyable, but more like linking passages than stories, and I decided not to rate them. This is a collection of short stories, many of them with a colonial setting in the South Seas, though a few are set in Britain. A masterclass in character… 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
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