Reading and Reading

The Magician, by W. Somerset Maugham. Having read Of Human Bondage and The Painted Veil, I decided to read yet another Maugham book. Oliver Haddo is evil personified, and the number he does on the various characters, inciting as much psychological fear as real fear, is quite masterful. Dabbling in the "black arts" he manages to seduce Margaret purely for the sake of getting revenge on her fiance. Margaret quickly loses all that is good and innocent and becomes poisoned by the evil with which she lives. Had Maugham continued with this line, it truly would have been frightening and interesting. It starts to get a little wierd, however, when Haddo appears set on creating a homunculus and in need of Margaret to complete it. The ending is just plain bad. I guess Maugham needed a way to end the story. Wish he'd come up with a better way.