I really appreciated the prior review as the reviewer obviously knows and cares a lot about Somerset Maugham. I agreed with many of his assessments about this book (the search for "homosexual themes" in Maugham's writings was ridiculous), but I personally did not feel that the book as a whole was egregiously salacious. I did feel that there was much too much detail regarding Maugham's decline--did it add to my knowledge of the man to know that he was incontinent at the end of his life? I also could have done without the outdated psychological analysis regarding the "causes" of Maugham's sexual preferences. In the end, I felt that the author really did try to provide a balanced portrait of Maugham, but not having known anything about the author before I picked up the book, I almost wish I had not read it at all. Apparently there is a new biography of Maugham that has just come out now--I would recommend giving that one a try over this one, which was informative, but dated. ( )