Somerset- almost named our kid that too.

"The love that lasts the longest, is the love that is never returned."
William Somerset Maugham, author of one of my favorite novels, " Of Human Bondage" (1915). One of the strangest, most hurtful love stories I have ever read. I read it once in 1991, and then years later read it again. The second time, I disliked it almost as much as the first reading, therefor elevated it to my most favorite novels. There was nothing in it like my Hemingways or even Carson shorts stories. It wasn't "to the point", "modern" or written with witty brevity. It was cruel, unusual in it's definition of love, and marks a definitive point in modern American literature that noone else in his time would dare try to put down on ink. He dared- and he wins. For some, Maugham's works are just tragic, and tales of hardness. For others, who see through this...he is showing how the "love-lights" glow beyond what we are used to. People put on masks, and they pretend ( I know alot of those types) . In the end, everyone tries to find what they want, but if with masks on, what do you get? Maybe not what you wanted after all? You may live.. Perhaps not all intact, but that is life, no? This is a short version of what Maugham's stories are like, only in Pre-K form. Read his stuff. Be enlightened!