Liza of Lambeth takes a look at life in Lambeth – a poor, working class section of London. Liza is an 18-year-old beauty who attracts a lot of suitors, but she doesn’t get smitten herself until Jim Blakestone moves onto her street. Jim is a 40-year-old married man with several children – including a daughter only a couple years younger than Liza – who is aggressive and somewhat abusive to his wife. The two start an affair, which eventually leads to Liza’s downfall.

I love William Somerset Maugham. I’ve read all his famous books and several of his lesser-known works. Few have disappointed me. Liza of Lambeth is Maugham’s first published novel, published when he was 23 and working as a doctor in Lambeth. He tried to capture what he saw of the population there, including the dialect (which is spelled out phonetically throughout the book). However, I’m not sure he really understood the people of that district. Compared to his other books, the characterizations felt very shallow and sensational. The plot seemed a little flimsy in places, and it wrapped up too quickly and a little unbelievable. It definitely seemed like a first attempt at a novel, and wasn’t his most successful book. By the time he wrote Mrs. Craddock a few years later, he’d much improved.

On the good side, it was extremely easy to read – I finished it in about four hours. It was a light break from the heavier books I’ve been reading, and it was an interesting depiction of a population I know nothing about. When I say his characterization was shallow, I only mean on an individual level. He seemed to understand the community and their daily, public interactions, but not the motivations or private lives of individual people. So it did feel like an accurate portrayal of a community, even if the characters themselves were a little two-dimensional.

This isn’t my favorite Maugham book, by far, but it’s not bad, either. I wouldn’t recommend starting with it. I’d say this is really for the die-hard Maugham fans. For first-time readers, I’d recommend Mrs. Craddock or The Painted Veil. Pretty much anything but The Magician, which is the only Maugham book that I absolutely hated.