I'd probably give this three and a half stars, if Goodreads were capable of half stars, so rounding up to four it is. As is typical for Maugham, the characterisation is very very good, and if this doesn't hold my interest to quite the same level as The Painted Veil then I still gobbled it down in a couple of days.

I have a great sympathy for Larry and his desire to loaf, and I was with him nearly all the way up until the end - until, I should say, the chapter in which he goes on about his Indian experiences and the Absolute, which I'm sorry to say was interminable, not up to Maugham's usual standard. Unlike Larry, I am not a religious person who doesn't believe in God. I'm a disbeliever all through, and the more he wittered on about becoming one with the universe the more tedious I thought him. Still, there aren't a lot of characters like him in the books that populate my shelves, and for the most part I'm very glad of the variety he provides.