The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

This novel, supposedly based on the life of an acquaintance of Maugham, follows the fortunes of an American pilot who, traumatized by war, rejects his former conventional life to search for a more meaningful existence. After studying in Paris for two years he decides to travel, taking various menial jobs. Although being influenced by some of the people he meets it is not until he reaches India that he begins to find peace.

One sentence synopsis... Tracing the lives of American expats in Paris and India, ‘The Razor's Edge' explores the dichotomy between materialism and spirituality during the Great Depression.

Read it if you like... Westerners seeking enlightenment in India (Larry is the original ‘Eat Pray Love', George Harrison has nothing on this guy), Paris novels (though the book spans Chicago, Paris, and India it's primarily set in France), or pondering the meaninglessness of modern life.

Dream casting... the cover of my copy of the book has Bill Murray as Larry so I thought I'd have to work hard to imagine anyone else but in reality, the whole vibe of Larry - affluent, charming, traumatized from his experiences in WWI, setting off in search of a transcendent meaning of life - would be perfectly captured by Andrew Garfield.

When I try to describe this book to others, it always sounds like I'm relating some soap-opera drama, but the experience of reading it is so much richer than most anything I've ever read. I only picked it because a reading challenge task required me to choose a book with a character with a first or last name that is the same middle name as one of my parents, and so “Larry Darrell” showed up in a search for “Darrell”. How serendipitous!

Larry Darrell's life is followed by the narrator, who is Maugham, the author, but it is a fictional story. Larry ends up searching out questions about life through experience and travel, and many of his answers are found in the practice of Buddhism and Eastern philosophy. But, the other characters in the novel are also fully realized and lived through the narrative and it was simply a very satisfying experience to read. I will definitely but Maugham's other novels on my TBR list.