The Painted Veil

by W. Somerset Maugham

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3,903 ratings, 3.76 average rating, 744 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		21%
4		41%
3		28%
2		7%
1		0%

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published

September 2006 by Blackstone Audiobooks (first published 1991)

details

MP3 CD

isbn

0786174749 (isbn13: 9780786174744)

description

First published in 1925, The Painted Veil is an affirmation of the human capacity to grow, change, and forgive. Set in England and Hong Kong in the 19…more

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Jan 02, 2008

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: friends, but I recommend the movie MORE!

I agree whole-heartedly with other reviewers -- the movie was better! I saw the movie first and loved it. It is a brilliant and beautiful love story -- and who can resist Edward Norton's stoic, yet smoldering interpretation of Walter.

You can appreciate the movie better once you read the book and get to know the characters as they were originally intended. The movie does a good job of interpreting those characters honestly and uses dialogue verbatim from the book. But, in the movie, ...more I agree whole-heartedly with other reviewers -- the movie was better! I saw the movie first and loved it. It is a brilliant and beautiful love story -- and who can resist Edward Norton's stoic, yet smoldering interpretation of Walter.

You can appreciate the movie better once you read the book and get to know the characters as they were originally intended. The movie does a good job of interpreting those characters honestly and uses dialogue verbatim from the book. But, in the movie, Walter and Kitty are much more likeable -- probably because they find (SPOILER ALERT)redemption in their love for one another, and Kitty is able to resist Charlie's later advances.

While the book was well-written, I was expecting a similar ending to the movie and was all the more disappointed with Kitty in particular. I would have liked to experience more resolution between Kitty and Walter, but she was trying to be honest -- and if she truly did not love him, it would not have been fair to expect her to say she did. It was still disappointing. Equally, if not more, disappointing still was the way Kitty was able to dismiss her experiences with Walter and the epidemic as part of another world -- how, far too quickly, she embraced the luxuries and comforts of life back in Hong Kong. But, perhaps, this was more realistic.
Even still, it is the moment I became less forgiving of her character and the direction the book was taking. I would have liked her to have still more sympathy and love for her family, became more transparent with Waddington and, finally, resist Charlie -- even one last time. She didn't change as much as I had hoped.

The book did have one very redemptive moment for me at the end -- Kitty told her father that (SPOILER ALERT) she would raise her daughter to be self-sufficient. I did not expect the book to have such a clear message. It made a lot of sense, but still did not entirely redeem Kitty for me. She experienced moments of truth, which were so revealing, but ultimately more frustrating than they were helpful. I only hope she was able to raise her daughter to be more compassionate and less self-absorbed -- but, for a character like Kitty, it seems unlikely.(less)

Like this review? yes (14 people liked it)

3 comments

Feb 16, 2008

Martine rated it:

(review of isbn 0749304308)

bookshelves: british, early-twentieth-century, film, modern-fiction, psychological-drama

Read in February, 2009

What do you do when you discover that the wife you love despite the fact that she is shallow as hell and obviously despises you is having an affair? For Walter Fane, a bacteriologist working in early-twentieth-century colonial Hong Kong, the choice is easy. Either he will divorce his wife, which will disgrace her and leave her destitute (she was never taught to work or be independent, having always been expected to make a brilliant marriage), or, as a penance, she will have to accompany him on a...more What do you do when you discover that the wife you love despite the fact that she is shallow as hell and obviously despises you is having an affair? For Walter Fane, a bacteriologist working in early-twentieth-century colonial Hong Kong, the choice is easy. Either he will divorce his wife, which will disgrace her and leave her destitute (she was never taught to work or be independent, having always been expected to make a brilliant marriage), or, as a penance, she will have to accompany him on a trip to Southern China, where he has volunteered to work as a doctor in a cholera-ridden area from which few people return alive. Unable to face poverty and social disgrace, Kitty assents to her husband's proposal, convinced that he is hoping the trip will kill her. But is he really?

Most authors would turn a melodramatic story like the above into a cliche-riddled soap opera in which husband and wife, out in the wilds, share some dramatic, eye-opening experiences and come to appreciate and love each other, after which the wife, having obtained her husband's forgiveness, dies a tearful death. For let's face it, who could resist a beautiful woman's death in such an exotic setting? To his credit, Maugham gives his readers a different ending, one in which Kitty is allowed to live and learn. Does she become a radically different person? Nope, she doesn't. Decades' worth of miseducation can't right a wrong like that. But she does gain a new insight into life in general and her life in particular, and tries to make amends for earlier wrongs. That's more than you expect from her at the beginning of the book, where she seems an entirely vapid and selfish being, another one of those horrid female characters Maugham drew so well.

Whether or not you enjoy The Painted Veil largely depends on your tolerance for melodrama, unlikeable characters and racism, all of which abound in the book. My own tolerance for such things is substantial (at least in books -- not so much in real life), so I didn't mind the book too much. On the contrary, I found myself engrossed in the psychological details of the story -- the love, the loathing, the fear, the longing, the weakness, the growing awareness, the sense that forgiveness and redemption may be just around the corner. I also found myself (not for the first time) admiring Maugham's prodigious talent for characterisation. All the characters in the book, from the protagonists to the bit players, are fascinating and well drawn. I was intrigued by Walter, the quiet scientist who may or may not intend to let a horrible disease waste away his wife. I would have liked the story to be told more from his point of view, but then again, that would have made him less mysterious, which probably would have ruined the effect. Like many readers, I didn't overly care for Kitty, but I found it interesting to follow her journey and meet the men in her life. As I said, Maugham is a master of characterisation, and in The Painted Veil he presents some very interesting men. Charlie, Kitty's vain lover, is a superb creation, as is Waddington, an officer Kitty and Walter meet in China, who teaches Kitty that it's all right to defy society's expectations every now and then. The story itself may not be Maugham's best (I much prefer Of Human Bondage), but it certainly features memorable characters, as well as a social message which I'm sure was much needed at the time of writing. I can't wait to see the film adaptation, which apparently is even better than the book...(less)

Like this review? yes (12 people liked it)

3 comments

Jul 29, 2007

Bookshop rated it:

(review of isbn 1400034213)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2005

My friend, who was visiting from Singapore, brought with her several books to read along the way and this was one of them. She said it was good and I was intrigued by this "Vintage chick-lit".

It turned out that she was right. Unlike the chick-lit of our age, it does have a moral message. Prior to reading this book, I read a chick-lit written by a Brit and it made me so sick with boredom: fat, plain, average Jane meets ordinary but oh-so-gentlemanly John who in the end turns...more My friend, who was visiting from Singapore, brought with her several books to read along the way and this was one of them. She said it was good and I was intrigued by this "Vintage chick-lit".

It turned out that she was right. Unlike the chick-lit of our age, it does have a moral message. Prior to reading this book, I read a chick-lit written by a Brit and it made me so sick with boredom: fat, plain, average Jane meets ordinary but oh-so-gentlemanly John who in the end turns out to be some millionaire and they live financially happy ever after. Supporting casts are an understanding friend surrounded by picky, bitchy, back-stabbing girlfriends as well as greedy investment bankers/advertising executives/struggling writers ex-boyfriends. After that trash, this book was a relief.

Back to 'The Painted Veil'. Set in the 1920s in Hongkong and England, it tells a story of a pretty and ambitious but shallow girl with twisted priorities. She ends up marrying a quiet man she hardly knows because she doesn't want her younger sister to marry before her. This husband, though a borderline geek, loves her very much in his own way. She, of course, quickly finds faults in her husband and has an affair with a flashy diplomat. After being found out, her husband forces her to accompany him to a cholera-infested area and there, she grows up.

Story-wise, there's nothing extraordinary: a girl's dream is shattered as the reality is different from expectations and consequently, she strays off course. But the emotional and circumstantial descriptions thru' the flowing and precise, rather-dated English, was excellent.

What I like the most is the way her husband loves her: he is not in any way a flashy character. He is more of the strong, quiet type (which I know drives women crazy with their stillness) and he loves so much that he counts the marriage as a great blessing. He said, (not verbatim as I don't have the book with me), he takes as favours what other husbands receive as entitlements. I thought that is the sweetest thing that anyone can say.

Reading the book brings me back on track as well: a lot of time, I am not grateful for what I have: a loving family, a good job, a modest but well-kept abode, etc. I often strive to find things I cannot have (ahem, like wishing for the Manhattan GM Louis Vuitton bag :D) and forget to enjoy the blessings at hand. I also think of how often we, as human, fall for the glossy outer surface of a person and forget to find the true values.

A good, gripping short read.

PS: this novel was made into a movie starring Greta Garbo in 1934 and the movie is remade (due out next year) starring Edward Norton as Dr. Walter Fane (good choice) and Naomi Watts as Kitty Fane.(less)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comment

Sep 30, 2008

Ruth rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in October, 2008

I read this as an audiobook, right after The Abstinence Teacher and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, both of which were so poorly written I couldn't finish them. Coming into Somerset Maughm's lucid prose was like being let out of a cage.

Like this review? yes (9 people liked it)

4 comments

Apr 24, 2008

Rose rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in January, 2008

The film would have you believe that The Painted Veil is about the relationship between a man, Walter Fane, and his young wife, Kitty, but the novel centers on Kitty. At 25, Kitty Fane makes the mistake of her life when, in a panic at the thought of her younger sister marrying before she does, Kitty marries the next available suitor. Walter, a serious and dedicated bacteriologist, is a terrible match for impulsive and frivolous Kitty. They move to China, where Walter spends his days working as a...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

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Aug 18, 2007

Brian rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in April, 2007

I read this book shortly after I finished reading Maugham's "Of Human Bondage," and not too long after seeing (twice) the movie version starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. I found the story very interesting and the plot intriguing. I also found the differences between the film and book fascinating. I actually preferred the way the film version played out, relative to the main character Kitty Fain, the part played by Naomi Watts. Kitty has her faults but also finds redemption in...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

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Jul 16, 2008

Nikki rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in July, 2008

The setting is 1920's Hong Kong and China. Young Kitty Fane is a spoiled and self-righteous brat that I hated in the beginning. She marries a man that loves her more deeply than her shallow soul could comprehend simply to not be outdone by her younger sister. She betrays her husband and he gives her a choice; they can either divorce, or she can travel with him to a remote area of china where the Cholera epidemic is raging. When shunned by the lover she thought would marry her, she decides t...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

15 comments

May 26, 2007

Caroline rated it:

(review of isbn 0099507390)

Read in May, 2007

This is the first W. Somerset Maugham novel that I have read and did so with my book group. We all loved it. The central characters are British and the story takes place in Hong Kong and in a cholera-infested region of mainland China in the 1920's. Maugham's writing style is somewhat spare,but the characters are richly drawn and the plot was engrossing and never predictable. This book is not among Maugham's best known works, but it made me want to read more (e.g., "Of Human Bondage,"...more

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Jun 24, 2008

Cameron rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

loved the movie! But who doesn't love Edward Norton? I've heard that the book isn't quite as satisfying with not much moral character change on the part of Kitty, but we'll see.

...So now that I've finished, I do agree that the book has less emotional impact than the movie did. For one thing, the movie adds a lot to the plot, a making it seem like Kitty and Walter are in Mei-tan-fu a lot longer (in the book it's a few weeks) and that Walter actually does a lot to help the community in...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

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Jun 05, 2008

Lucy rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in December, 2008

Kitty is a beautiful young woman, raised by her shallow and socially aggressive mother to be equally shallow and ambitious. In spite of her beauty, Kitty finds herself unmarried at the age of 25 and losing her place as her mother's beloved when her much younger and less attractive sister, Doris, becomes engaged to a baron. Embarrassed by her sister's superior match, desperate to leave the disappointed glare of her mother and panicked that another decent offer won't come her way, she says "y...more Kitty is a beautiful young woman, raised by her shallow and socially aggressive mother to be equally shallow and ambitious. In spite of her beauty, Kitty finds herself unmarried at the age of 25 and losing her place as her mother's beloved when her much younger and less attractive sister, Doris, becomes engaged to a baron. Embarrassed by her sister's superior match, desperate to leave the disappointed glare of her mother and panicked that another decent offer won't come her way, she says "yes" to Walter Fane, a bacteriologist working in Hong Kong, whom she barely knows.

They marry and she accompanies him to Hong Kong where she finds herself bored, ambivalent and unmoved by her husband's love for her. Quickly, she falls in love and begins an affair with Charles Townsend, a handsome, suave politician who, like her, views life as a shallow thing to be lived as selfishly as possible. When Walter discovers their relationship, he coldly gives her an ultimatum: accompany him to inland China where there is a cholera outbreak or he will cause a scandal and divorce her (this was written in 1925 when an affair such as this would, indeed, be an actual scandal) unless Townsend will agree to divorce his own wife and marry her within the week.

Predictably, to all except Kitty, Townsend's true colors appear and he disappoints her. Disillusioned and actually afraid of her husband who she believes only wants to kill her, she travels inland and her deeper, more understanding, more aware life begins.

The title comes from the English poet, Shelly's, sonnet, "Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live/Call Life." I love the multiple layers found throughout the book that stem from its title. There are several descriptions of reflections on water, camouflaging the death and disease of the village condemned by cholera with scenes of light and beauty. As Kitty is a front-row witness to death, she observes the veil that lifts when life leaves a body several times. Most poetically is her own veil, lifted to experience a life so different from the superficial one she had expected.

I hate that I wanted the Hollywood ending (apparently...there actually IS a Hollywood ending. The book was made into a movie and I hear it gave the story the satisfying ending I didn't even know I wanted until it didn't happen). Seriously, why do I feel disappointed? Maugham writes a fantastic portrayal of a shallow woman developing into something more. I suppose I wanted her progress to have an effect beyond her own awareness. I wanted it to fix her marriage, alter her relationship with her sister and parents, and finish the relationship with her adulterous lover for the right reasons. Eventually, Maugham allows those things to happen but not at a pace which allows Kitty to avoid loss, pain and humility. Once again...why do I feel disappointed? Those consequences are truths and I appreciate and respect truth. Maugham unflinchingly writes Kitty's growth as a woman as it would have realistically happened.

But, it's a gritty reality.(less)

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5 comments

Apr 07, 2008

Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

bookshelves: asian, english

Read in September, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I didn't HATE it (as witnessed by the fact I gave it two stars), but what a depressing book! Maybe I've completely missed the point. Perhaps someone more skilled at this era would point out bits of existentialism and stark minimalism that govern these lives... but I don't think that's it.

Maugham's writing style is factual and unembellished. It reminds me a lot of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Great Gatsby, except that Gatsby was much more interesting and developed. There is no beaut...more

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Jan 28, 2008

Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

bookshelves: 20th-century-early, brit-lit, fiction, the-aftermath

Read in February, 2008

To be honest it was only the last few chapters of this book that really redeemed it for me and pushed it up to three stars from two. Before that, had it not been for a lovely turn of phrase now and then, and the articulate expression of the writing, I really might have thought this done by a /fantastically/ average old fashioned romance novel writer. The story is a quite run-of-the-mill morality tale, one that fills our shelves even more vapidly nowadays in the chick-lit genre. Shallow, frivolou...more To be honest it was only the last few chapters of this book that really redeemed it for me and pushed it up to three stars from two. Before that, had it not been for a lovely turn of phrase now and then, and the articulate expression of the writing, I really might have thought this done by a /fantastically/ average old fashioned romance novel writer. The story is a quite run-of-the-mill morality tale, one that fills our shelves even more vapidly nowadays in the chick-lit genre. Shallow, frivolous girl learns the error of her ways, grows to appreciate men she thought she couldn't before. Good lord did I hate Kitty Fane for the majority of the novel. I couldn't stop from rolling my eyes again and again at her, everything she "discovered" was so incredibly trite, and sorry Maugham, rather tritely expressed minus out some lovely imagery that was occasionally employed. I can't even make the 'oh, this was published 80 years ago' excuse for it. This plotline has to have been tired by the 1850s. Come /on/, now. I kept reading because I was sure, /sure/, that Maugham would build up to something, that he couldn't let me down after The Razor's Edge. It really took right until the end and only because I can personally relate to Kitty's final realizations, which are very self-actualizing and rather surprisingly feminist in nature. Finally the modernist in Maugham comes out, and he leaves behind his weepy soap opera in favor of some real discussion.

What did keep the novel at least mildly interesting until that point was the secondary character Waddington, who is rather colorful, and the mysterious portrait of Kitty's husband, Walter. I know several men like Walter, so I was really able to sympathize with him. The character drawing of Kitty's despicable lover Charles Townsend just right at the end was very interesting. We all know someone like Townsend. That person who must, /must/ make sure that you love them, and that they appear justified in all they do, however self-interested they are, so they can put themselves on a pedastal and see that everyone else does too. Though I really have to say, there is a good deal of casual racism in this novel towards the Chinese. While some of it is certainly part of characters, some of it appears to come from Maugham. And I swear to God, nobody could have done a more trite portrayal of nuns. If one more author gives a nun a "merry face," I will absolutely scream.

Ahem, overall: meh. I'd really only recommend it to women, and those of a sentimental disposition. It's short enough that some might actually make it to the end. (less)

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6 comments

Oct 26, 2009

Annalisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0786168927)

bookshelves: audiobook, historical-fiction

Read in October, 2009

recommended to Annalisa by: Ann

I will probably never say this again: the movie was better than the book. Most of the movie follows the book, taking out unimportant sidetracks, up until the point Kitty slides back from her character development into the same narcissistic girl she's always been. I thought the range of emotions through infidelity were well done and her moments of understanding about other characters good, but then Maugham takes that potential for growth away and I lost my sympathy for her. Had the book followed ...more

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Mar 25, 2008

Michelle rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

bookshelves: bookclub

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 10, 2008

Jackie rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

bookshelves: completed

"Because he had dressed a doll in gorgeous robes and set her in a sanctuary to worship her, and then discovered that the doll was filled with sawdust he could neither forgive himself nor her. His soul was lacerated. It was all make-believe that he had lived on, and when the truth shattered it he thought reality itself was shattered. It was true enough, he would not forgive her because her could not forgive himself.
She thought that she heard him give a faint sigh and she shot a rap...more

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Oct 14, 2007

Sonia rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

bookshelves: classics

An English society girl, feeling the pressure to be married, weds a stiff scientist who takes her to China, where she has an affair with a British colonist. When the husband finds out, he forces her to go with him to a cholera-infested village in need of medical help. At first she hates him for it, but then she starts to see him in a new light (hey, he's brave and he's helping all these people). She also sees a different side of life from the hardships of the village, and helping at the orpha...more

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Apr 15, 2009

Evalyn rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in May, 2009

Very readable, the language flows, the story is interesting and the setting is exotic. That said, I'm still pondering the meaning or the conclusion the reader is supposed to gain by the ending. Kitty seems to be searching for the great secret of life, something she feels the nuns know and others know, but she can't seem to figure it out. Because of the nuns, I figured it was a spiritual revelation she was seeking but then by the end it appears she was simply seeking a life of peace and quiet. ...more

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Aug 26, 2007

Erin rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in November, 2007

It took me awhile after I finished this book to decide how I really felt about it. It's beautifully written and refreshingly realistic. This is no fairy princess story so if that's what your expecting, look elsewhere. But I learned a lot about myself and my own nature through reading this book, kindof like I do when I read Austen or Bronte. I think it just ended a little bit too abruptly for me. I needed one more chapter to assure me that things really would turn out OK or something. But other t...more

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Mar 08, 2010

Linda C. rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in March, 2010

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 lov...more

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Feb 25, 2010

Will rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277771)

Read in February, 2010

This short masterpiece tells of love, betrayal, and a search for real meaning in life. Kitty is an attractive middle class Brit. The only real future for her is to marry well. But when she finds none of her suitors quite up to her hopes, and with her younger sister becoming engaged, she succumbs to the pressure and agrees to marry Walter, a man who adores her, but whom she finds boring. He takes her with him to Hong Kong where he works as a bacteriologist.

There is much here about class...more This short masterpiece tells of love, betrayal, and a search for real meaning in life. Kitty is an attractive middle class Brit. The only real future for her is to marry well. But when she finds none of her suitors quite up to her hopes, and with her younger sister becoming engaged, she succumbs to the pressure and agrees to marry Walter, a man who adores her, but whom she finds boring. He takes her with him to Hong Kong where he works as a bacteriologist.

There is much here about class. One hero of the story is mother Superior, the head of a corps of nuns dedicated to caring for the sick and the poor. She had been brought up in a very wealthy family in France, but found a purpose in life beyond her personal needs. So too Walter, a shy biologist who risks life and limb to try to stem a cholera epidemic in the interior of China.

Maugham offers musings on religion without sounding excessively preachy, and offers a considered view on what makes life worth living. It is a joy to read and to watch as Kitty comes of age, learning from the people she encounters and ultimately sees past the veil of her life to some underlying truth.. There are also comments here on the nature of westerners "doing good" in cultures considered lesser.

Walter's dying words are "It was the dog that died." This is a reference to the poem "An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog" by Oliver Goldsmith. There are various interpretations to be had of the significance of this. The poem tells of a man who is bitten by a mad dog. Yet it is not the man who dies but the dog. In the novel, I believe that Walter sees himself as the mad dog who had dragged Kitty into a life-threatening situation, (foreshadowed by Maugham's prologue) biting her in a way, expecting that it would be a death sentence for her. Instead it was Walter who would pass, thus the irony. (Here is a link to the poem - http://www.online-literature.com/oliver-...)

The title offers a nice field in which one can play the game interpretation. The title comes from a poem by Shelley, "Lift Not the Painted Veil Which Those Who Live" (http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/543/). The notions offered in the novel have a primary source here.
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