The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
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Book Reviews of The Painted Veil
Book Review: Perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
I, like many others, saw the movie first (I am a huge Edward Norton fan!). I have come to learn that when I see a movie first that when I pick up the book I have to look at the book as it is completely separate from the movie, and infact is not tied to the movie at all - this is the only way I am able to give a book a fighting chance. That being said, I loved this book (and the movie too). It was actually nice to envision the actors from the movie, in terms of physical looks, while reading the book.
Kitty is spoiled rotten, having a life of great privileged. Kitty also prides herself as being very independent, especially from her mother's 'demands' and 'disappointments' that she is not married yet. To get away from her 'overbearing' mother (at least overbearing in Kitty's opinion) she marries Walter Fane, who she does not love and barely likes. Upon their marriage they move straight to China as Walter's work as a scientist is. Bored in China, Kitty meets Charles Townsend, a politician; soon they start a torid love affair! Despite Kitty's new found happiness, Walter finds out. In an attempt to tear Kitty away from Charles Townsend, he uproots them to the center of a Cholera epidemic. Bitter against Walter, Kitty finds her new life unbearable. However, in time she is able to see another side of Walter as he works to save the town's infested water supply and many lives.
I would not say that this is a book about a love affair (as Kitty and Charles Townsend have), but more of self discover, as Kitty finds who she is and what she is capable of bearing. All the characters are very well written. I loved and hated Kitty all at the same time; I felt sorry for Walter; and I hated and like Charles Townsend. The plot unfolds expectantly, as W. Somerset Maugham makes you as in the end: "What and who is really important to us and in life?" You come away from this book with a better understanding of why humans do the things they do. I walked away from this book satisfied as it did not end in the typical way that most books do. There is a happy ending, but at the same time there is not a happy ending; something this book shows both sides of very well.
Book Review: A refreshing story for our time
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought The Painted Veil off Amazon after watching the movie on HBO. I hadn't read any Maugham since high school so I thought this story looked interesting. I'm also attracted to stories with a Chinese influence. You'll see that more and more as I move through the list. The Painted Veil has really nothing to do with China. It's the story of poor shallow, Kitty who marries Walter in order to beat her homely, younger sister down the aisle. Walter takes her to Hong Kong where she falls in love with the charming and dapper, Charles. Her loathing of Walter only grows in proportion to her ever increasing desire for the also married Charles.
Knowing Kitty has been unfaithful, Walter takes her to a remote village in China to help fight a cholera epidemic. It is here that Kitty finally grows up. Walter indirectly shows her what a cad Charles is and that the true meaning of self worth is in the care and comfort of others. Not until Walter dies, does Kitty come to know the influence he has made in her soul. We watch Kitty find meaning and dimension in her life. As readers we watch her come full circle as a woman from petty and shallow to loving and compassionate. By the end we welcome Kitty into our hearts.
The Painted Veil is a classic. I rate this story 5 out of 5. If you'd like to take a trip back in time, The Painted Veil doesn't disappoint.
Linda C. Wright
Author, One Clown Short
One Clown Short
Book Review: Vintage Maugham
Summary: 5 Stars
The Painted Veil pits amiable but unscrupulous fools against tormented souls, has a duly sarcastic starting-point, and is set in far-away, warlord-era China; in short, it has the ingredients for vintage Maugham.
The book begins in Hong Kong, with an adultery scene. Kitty Fane is beautiful, shallow, and calculating. She soon finds her match in Charles Townsend, a vain and cynical but popular colonial official - and in her own husband, the lover's very photo-negative, who drags her through plague-ridden country in revenge. The story is that of her spiritual transformation. It can even be read to show women's superior ability for moral elevation.
The Painted Veil is full of Maugham's innumerable human insights, and it is filled with danger, physical and psychological. This is an easy to read, absorbing novel. Readers expecting lush visions of warlord-era China to jump from the page, though, will need to look in another place. The "native" country is distant, dream-like and morbid, seen through the eyes of the heroine, whose preoccupations are elsewhere. It is only peered at from the height of a curtained palanquin. Indeed, the novel paints the superficial and self-centred expatriate community of Hong-Kong much more than it does labouring China; as such, it probably remained true to life until very recent times.
Book Review: UNVEILING OF LOVE AND INFIDELITY
Summary: 5 Stars
Kitty, a superficial socialite groomed by her ambitious mother to marry someone of political, social, and economic stature. After years of many social functions and rejecting numerous suitors Kitty is now put under pressure as her younger, unattractive sister is engaged. Kitty senses her marital clock is ticking, hurriedly marries a profoundly serious, shy, medical researcher by the name of Walter Fane. He is just about to leave to go to Hong Kong for work. She goes with her husband, he adores her but she finds it too much all this adoration. Kitty also finds that there is something missing in her relationship with him. She becomes lonely and vulnerable.
Kitty then has an affair with a married man with three children, Colonial Secretary Charlie Townsend and they begin a torrid affair. Walter eventually discovers his wife's adultery. In an act of revenge he threatens to divorce her and make public the scandal that would ruin Carlie Townsends career if she does not accompany him to Cholera plauged Mei-tan-fu in China. Kitty is torn in two emotionally.
I highly recommend this book. I'd even consider giving it a 5.5 if I could.
Book Review: Wonderful book!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Painted Veil is the story of Kitty Fane, an Englishwoman living in Hong Kong in the 1920s. Unhappily married to Walter, a bacteriologist, Kitty embarks on a love affair with Charles Townsend, a local government official. When Walter finds out about the affair, he coerces Kitty into accompanying him to Mei-tan-fu, a town that has been struck with a cholera epidemic.
What I loved about this book, and what I love about all Maugham's books, is the way he has with language. The novel is short, but each sentence he uses packs a powerful punch; from the first page I was absolutely enthralled. Kitty is an extremely shallow, materialistic character, but still she's likeable--you even understand why she does what she does. We only see Walter through Kitty's eyes, and we're given a distasteful view of him; I wish that Maugham had introduced the reader to what he was thinking. Despite its flaws, however, I was utterly captivated by The Painted Veil.