The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
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Book Reviews of The Painted Veil
Book Review: The Painted Veil
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm not sure what to think of this book. It's definitely a masterful telling of growth and sorrow, but despite that I didn't feel connected with the novel. The characters are hard to like even though they are only doing what is in their nature.
Kitty is a silly foolish girl interested only in frivolity and parties. She is not all to blame, her mother has made her this way in hoping that she'd make a good match for marriage. However, time flies by and soon Kitty finds herself a spinster at twenty-five, not having made a suitable match. The same is not said for her younger sister who, although not as pretty, is getting ready to marry a very notable man. Desperate not to be left behind, Kitty agrees to marry Walter, a doctor who is returning to China where his work as a bacteriologist is.
After two years with him though, Kitty has discovered that they have nothing in common and does not love him at all or could even begin to. During her time she has found a lover, whom she has fantasies that she can run off and be with him forever. Her hopes are dashed though when they are finally caught by Walter and he gives her two choices. Come with him to a cholera infected area of China, or convince her lover to marry her and divorce his wife. She asks her lover and receives an unexpected answer that forces her to go with Walter in the face of certain death by cholera. It is here however, that she begins to learn and change and try to make herself a better person. The only thing holding her back is the lack of Walter's forgiveness.
Kitty is definitely not a like-able character. I don't care that she does work towards becoming a better character as she cannot be consistent with it. I realize it is human nature to do the best for yourself and take the easy route, but she does it quite a bit and I find it hard to sympathize with her. I also don't feel any pity for Walter, her husband. He wasn't a very strong person and in addition to that he just has very strange mannerisms that seem unlikely in a doctor. He would have had trouble going through medical school with some of his social issues.
The writing was ok. There was some description but it wasn't written very interestingly. It was in the 3rd person and mainly followed Kitty and all her day to day proceedings. Maugham does great dialogue, but he didn't do as well with making a connection to his characters in my opinion. At times I found myself skimming through some boring parts of the book hoping something would happen.
This could probably be considered a classic. But that to me doesn't automatically make a book excellent. I thought this one was average, not fantastic but not poor either.
The Painted Veil
Copyright 1925
246 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2010
Book Review: Ed Norton improved Somerset Maugham's ending
Summary: 3 Stars
The novel is eloquent, especially in its description of the feelings of Kitty, Walter's wife. Her need for affection and recognition is palpable, but Walter is so highly-strung, even for a Brit, that he can hardly hold a conversation. The plague in the remote region of China, which Walter (and later Kitty) try to alleviate, makes Kitty grow. This part is deep and moving. But Walter does not change at all; he is the same intolerable, reticent, unforgiving husband. He dies without forgiving Kitty. And that's where Ed Norton made a smart revision. His Walter does change and does forgive Kitty, and the process is real and unsentimental. The second mistake of Maugham is that when Kitty returns Beijin, she returns to the arms of her lustful, trashy lover. That right there destroys the immense growth that had taken place in her soul upon seeing the suffering of the plague's victims. Now, at the end of the novel, she hates herself. And rightly so. Ed Norton deserves a lot of credit for revising Maugham's disappointing and confusing ending.Book Review: Unique Loveless Story
Summary: 3 Stars
For a book whose narrative focuses entirely on the romantic trials of a young woman, love is an almost insignificant character in Maughm's The Painted Veil; it is a luxury that barely surfaces in Kitty Fane's family, and Kitty's own (unfortunate) experiences with it are inconclusive and unreliable. In fact, the book is about how Kitty's character develops as she laggingly acknowledges and understands her failures with men. Largely, her faults exist not because of her lack of emotional mechanics, but as a result of her inability to accept a woman's (secondary) position in her society. By the end of the book, Kitty, having learned from her 'enlightening episodes', resolves to start a new life.Book Review: I Liked the Movie Better...
Summary: 3 Stars
This is one of those books that is probably rated better if you haven't seen the movie with Edward Norton Jr. and Naomi Watts. The writing is effective but the problem was that I preferred the storyline of the movie over the book. Still, it's worth a read even if you have seen the movie because it fills the characters out nicely. The book portrays Kitty Fane's character more fully than others and seems to be written partly from her viewpoint.
That being said, I adore the movie! The Painted Veil
Book Review: Not a Good Book
Summary: 2 Stars
I found the story uninteresting and for the most part uneventful. The Painted Veil is about a one-dimensional, self-absorbed woman. She has an affair with man just like herself. She is married to a simple, self-restrained man who could prove interesting in the story but the writing stays with this boring woman. She has a few experiences that seem to change her and makes her aware that other people in the world exist and have feelings beside her.
But alas, she proves to be the same self absorbed woman that she always was but with her new realization she now feels bad about it.