A Story that you have read recently
Recently I have gone through an interesting story and the name of the story is 'The Luncheon' by William Somerset Maugham.
Summary of the Story:-
The Luncheon, a famous story, relates to a lunch that the writer took with a lady guest. At first, the lady guest admired the writings of the young writer to get a luncheon invitation from him. The writer was initially at a loss what to do. Later on, he agreed to go to Foyot’s, a luxurious restaurant in Paris because he was too young to have learned to say ‘no’ to a woman. When they met there together for dating, they started talking with each other. The lady guest was very talkative and she was not as beautiful as the writer expected. She sometimes told him that she ate little for luncheon. But, the fact is that she had almost half a dozen items of food, such as, salmon, caviare, asparagus, ice cream e.t.c. All the foods were highly expensive. On the other hand, the writer completed his lunch with a mutton chop, the cheapest dish on the menu. However, he many times thought to himself about paying the bill. Instead of explaining his financial problem, he allowed her to continue to order such expensive items from the menu. When he walked out of the restaurant, he had not a single penny in his pocket. This is how the writer was exploited and deceived by the lady guest. Truly speaking, the lady guest was a flatterer and the young writer was the victim of her professional flattery.
What I liked and didn’t like:-
I liked the beginning as well as the ending portion of the story which is really praise-worthy. For instance, at the end, the writer said, “Today she weighs twenty-one stone.” Thus, he artistically and tactfully used wit and humour to take revenge upon his lady guest. But, I did not like such vindictive activity of the writer because life is short but it is enjoyable.
My changes in the story:-
If I were the writer of the story, I would name the lady guest as Ricky or Ticky or Vicky. Moreover, I would depict the appearance of the lady guest beautifully.
Concluding Statement :-
The Luncheon by William Somerset Maugham is, undoubtedly, an interesting and fantastic story. The writer shared his past experience in the story. But the way he has depicted the total story expresses his outstanding genius as a storyteller in the arena of English Literature.
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