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The Painted Veil

by W. Somerset Maugham

3.79 · rating details · 8,259 ratings · 1,159 reviews

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelle...more

Paperback, 246 pages

Published November 14th 2006 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (first published 1925)

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Jan 03, 2008

Jessica rated it

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, ...moreI 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)

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Apr 27, 2010

Hannah rated it

Shelves: 2010-reads, classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. There's just so much to take in with this book that I hardly know where to begin. At first, the story of the feckless Kitty Fane reads so simplistically that I seriously wondered why Maugham was considered the brilliant writer that he was. It wasn't until Kitty and Walter began their tranformative journey to Mei-tan-fu that I began to sense why this is such a beloved book, in spite of the fact that Maugham creates and sets up two of the least lovable/admirable main characters since Kathy and H...moreThere's just so much to take in with this book that I hardly know where to begin. At first, the story of the feckless Kitty Fane reads so simplistically that I seriously wondered why Maugham was considered the brilliant writer that he was. It wasn't until Kitty and Walter began their tranformative journey to Mei-tan-fu that I began to sense why this is such a beloved book, in spite of the fact that Maugham creates and sets up two of the least lovable/admirable main characters since Kathy and Heathcliff. In spite of (or because of) that, the journey of Kitty and Walter Fane takes not only a physical toll to this damaged couple, but also a moral and spiritual one as well. As much as I loved this book, I would add that I question Maugham's ending, and personally feel that the movie adaptation presented a much better resolution then his more ambigious one. That was very likely his intent, but I confess that I preferred the more cut and dried morality tale set up by the screen writers. But I will also confess that Maugham's ending has kept me thinking of this book for 3 days straight after finishing it, so perhaps his way is, in actuality, the superior.

In fact, Walter's dying words caused me to google the Oliver Goldsmith poem Walter references on his deathbed:

An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog

Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.

In Islington there was a man,
Of whom the world might say
That still a godly race he ran,
Whene'er he went to pray.

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad,
When he put on his clothes.

And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound,
And curs of low degree.

This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad and bit the man.

Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.

The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.

But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied:
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.

hmm...much like Walter's last words, The Painted Veil might mystify, intrigue, and haunt the reader long after the last page is completed. It did for me.
(less)

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Apr 17, 2009

Martine rated it

· review of another edition

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

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...moreWhat 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)

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Jul 29, 2007

Bookshop rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

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...moreMy 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)

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Oct 01, 2008

Ruth rated it

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.

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Apr 24, 2008

Rose rated it

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

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Aug 18, 2007

Brian rated it

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

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Jul 18, 2008

Nikki rated it

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

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May 28, 2007

Caroline rated it

· review of another edition

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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Jul 10, 2008

Cameron rated it

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

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Dec 24, 2008

Lucy rated it

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...moreKitty 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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Sep 23, 2008

Rebecca rated it

Shelves: english, asian

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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Feb 11, 2008

Kelly rated it

Shelves: fiction, brit-lit, 20th-century-early-to-mid, worlds-lost-dead-and-dying

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...moreTo 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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Oct 28, 2009

Annalisa rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Annalisa by: Ann

Shelves: audiobook, historical-fiction

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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Nov 06, 2011

Ilaria Banelli rated it

· review of another edition

E’ proprio vero, non si può scegliere chi amare.
Lo sa bene Kitty, che dopo aver sposato Walter si accorge che non lo ama e non lo ha mai amato.

Ambientato nel 1920 a Hong Kong e in Inghilterra, racconta la storia di Kitty, una ragazza ambiziosa che finisce per sposare un uomo che appena conosce, solo perché vuole sposarsi prima della sorella. Walter, a suo modo,la ama molto, è gentile e onesto, ma Kitty non ricambia i suoi sentimenti e ha una relazione con un politico.
Dop...more

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Oct 14, 2011

g rated it

Shelves: favorites

Vain, flighty socialite Kitty cheats on her husband, bacteriologist Walter, soon after they are married--one of those colossally stupid pairings, fueled by unmanageable lust on his end and fear of spinsterhood on hers. Walter, bless his heart, is the kind of rational scientist by day who falls to pieces over a pretty lady, reduced to cringe-worthy puerility by his infatuation. Kitty can't take Walter seriously as a lover; having given himself so helplessly, Walter is wounded beyond reason by Kit...more

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Mar 29, 2008

Michelle rated it

Shelves: bookclub

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

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Mar 11, 2008

Jackie rated it

Shelves: 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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Feb 18, 2008

Sonia Reppe rated it

Shelves: 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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May 07, 2009

Evalyn rated it

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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Dec 08, 2011

Anya rated it

Shelves: wishlist, read-in-2011

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

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Nov 17, 2007

Erin rated it

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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Jan 19, 2012

Trisha rated it

"Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920's, it is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love."

First, let me say that this was definitely not an uplifting book...more

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Jan 08, 2012

jerksuke rated it

· review of another edition

I remember seeing the film when it first came out and against my better judgement rather liked it. When I realized it was Maugham who wrote the book I was eager to read it but it disappointed.

I really love the story, the whole idea of Fane giving Kitty that ultimatum at the start and his later confession, to no great surprise that he wanted the trip they took to kill her. It's such a good concept and the possibilities for what these characters could have been were so great. That said, ...more

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Dec 04, 2011

Alvi Harahap rated it

I personally really enjoyed "The Painted Veil" - Kitty, amoral as she often is, is first and foremost human; she is flawed and makes mistakes. But the whole point of the ending, as I read it, is that Kitty *isn't* a 'burden' to her father; for the first time in her life she is sworn to love someone and *earn* their love in return

The characters are realistic, I think, in that they epitomise many human flaws, which in a way might make them distasteful to the readers. The char...more

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Sep 17, 2011

Anne (Booklady) rated it

Shelves: fall-2011, favorites, great-literary-fiction

W. Somerset Maugham's love life was paradoxical, especially since he had many affairs with both men and women during his lifetime. He wrote: "I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed... In order not to hurt their feelings, I have often acted a passion I did not feel." Therefore, it is not wondrous that Dante’s character, Pia, should inspire one of my favorite stories, THE PAINTED VEIL.

In 1925 Engla...more W. Somerset Maugham's love life was paradoxical, especially since he had many affairs with both men and women during his lifetime. He wrote: "I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed... In order not to hurt their feelings, I have often acted a passion I did not feel." Therefore, it is not wondrous that Dante’s character, Pia, should inspire one of my favorite stories, THE PAINTED VEIL.

In 1925 England, Kitty Garstan is a spoiled young woman who revels in the attention of “her” young men. She is shallow and jejune, but the young Bacteriologist, Walter Fane, loves her to his own detriment. Though he knows she is embarrassed by his marriage proposal because she does not love him, she accepts to escape the shame of her homely younger sister’s impending nuptials. Mrs. Garstan warns of spinsterhood and the loss of beauty. After all, Kitty IS 25 and with no recent “good marriage” proposals, besides a life in Hong Kong where Walter is stationed intrigues Kitty.

Much to Kitty’s delight, she finds the colonial outpost’s society and the attention of the handsome Colonel Charles Townsend greatly to her liking. The Assistant Governor of Hong Kong is her living, male doppelganger. Bored with Walter, Kitty soon falls into an affair with the married Townsend. But Walter is no fool. He knows. “I have eyes, Kitty.”
Then to Kitty Fane’s astonishment, her husband agrees to allow her to divorce him under one condition: Charles must divorce his wife and they, Kitty and Townsend, must marry within a week of both decrees or Walter will ruin her lover by naming the Colonel as co-respondent. Otherwise, he expects his wife to accompany him to Mei-tan-fei, a city in the height of a Cholera epidemic.

An ecstatic, Kitty rushes to Charles and discovers another truth that her husband knows. The man she loves is a cad, a supercilious one at best. Devastated, she returns home and tells Walter, that she is to go to Mei-tan-fu with him. During the days of their long journey, she mourns the loss of her lover and resigns herself to the fate her husband has planned for her. Dr. Walter Fane means for her die of the Cholera that is plaguing the Chinese city. Awaiting her certain death, Kitty Fane discovers beauty, strength, and serenity within herself. But the greatest realization for Maugham’s Pia is the lesson of love: how she has affected those people who had tried to love her by withholding her own love. By forgiving the callous selfishness learned from her mother Kitty can truly love and be loved by others she desperately needs.

THE PAINTED VEIL is strictly told by Kitty’s point of view, since Maugham created her character first, rather than allowing the setting dictating Kitty’s thoughts, words, and actions. Borrowing the story of the Sienna gentlewoman from Dante’s INFERNO and infusing Percy’s sonnet line – “Lift not the painted veil which those who live call life “- Maugham delivers a hauntingly beautiful story of character growth in his usual compact prose.
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Sep 10, 2011

Jen, Sinatra fan rated it

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

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Aug 13, 2011

Elizabetha Souvre rated it

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Shelves: liz-classics, liz-favourites

Kitty una chica de la clase alta Inglesa, completamente vacía y vana se casa sin amor con un Bacteriólogo que trabaja en Hong Kong, Walter Fane,quien es un completo misterio para ella .Nunca podrá saber que destino la espera en aquellas tierras ni la tragedia que su propia indolencia provocará.

Es un libro excelente , pero no pato para depresivos.

Está contado desde el punto de vista de la , para mi, insoportable Kitty, por lo que la mayoría de los personajes se mueven en sombr...more

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Jul 04, 2011

Lia Jacobson rated it

Frankly speaking, I thought the film was better. I know that's very anti-book of me to say and many avid readers of novels cringe when people admit to that, but this was one of the few cases for me where that was true. I saw the film first, which adds to my bias, but I have the irregular advantage of being able to say I liked the book too, simply in a different manner.
SPOILERS!!!
The novel is the third-person account of Kitty Fane, a spoiled and unsympathetic girl who marries a man sh...more

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Jul 04, 2011

Jaclyn rated it

The Painted Veil is the story of Kitty Fane, a young English doctor's wife who accompanies her husband to Hong Kong. Kitty's husband, Walter, is desperately in love with her and she's just more than a little bit bored by him. While in Hong Kong Kitty begins an affair with a government official who appears to be everything her husband isn't - popular, fun, and sociable. Of course, Kitty's affair can't possibly stay a secret, and when Walter finds out he gives her a choice: either come with him...moreThe Painted Veil is the story of Kitty Fane, a young English doctor's wife who accompanies her husband to Hong Kong. Kitty's husband, Walter, is desperately in love with her and she's just more than a little bit bored by him. While in Hong Kong Kitty begins an affair with a government official who appears to be everything her husband isn't - popular, fun, and sociable. Of course, Kitty's affair can't possibly stay a secret, and when Walter finds out he gives her a choice: either come with him to Mei-tan-fu, a northern Chinese city where a cholera epidemic is killing thousands of people, or he will divorce her. When Kitty realizes that her lover is not exactly distressed at the idea of her traveling into the midst of a plague, she realizes that she has no option but to go with Walter.

In Mei-tan-fu, stranded with a husband who can no longer stand to speak to her and the specter of death hovering over every day, Kitty begins the difficult process of growing up. Looking for something to do with herself, she volunteers to work at the convent in the heart of the town and is struck by the nuns' sense of peace and calm in the heart of an epidemic. Kitty comes to feel a grudging respect for her husband and a sense that there is more to existence than polo and parties. Then tragedy strikes and Kitty is forced to embrace change once again, and to decide what kind of a woman she will be.

Kitty Fane is not a particularly sympathetic character. Reading through this very quick narrative, I mostly just wanted to slap her. At the beginning of the book, she shows a callous disregard for Walter's feelings and seems to believe that he is just as one-dimensional as she herself is. Of course, he isn't. Reading the character of Walter, you are struck by the impression that he has depths that Kitty will never reach and - unfortunately - that means the reader will never get to see them either. Even when Kitty realizes that Walter is brilliant, brave, even heroic, she still can't bring herself to love him. And because she feels she can't love him, she never really makes the effort to get to know him. By the end of the book, Kitty has done a lot of growing up and you're proud of her, but at the same time you think it shouldn't have been so hard for her to be a good, responsible person. Maybe I felt a little bit toward Kitty, at the end, as Kitty had felt toward Walter - proud of her (in this case, for embracing her capacity to change and actively trying to be a better person), but still can't bring myself to like her at all. It's a testiment to Somerset Maugham's writing that after reading 246 pages about such an unlikeable protagonist, I still cried for her.

Yes, the writing - the writing is exquisite. This was my first time reading Somerset Maugham and I'm not sure what I expected. I thought it would be a bit more experimental. Maybe his other books are - but this one was simple, clear, and yet still had the capacity to wash me away with some beautiful language. Take this passage where Kitty describes the Mother Superior of the convent:

Her character was like a country which on first acquaintance seems grand, but inhospitable; but in which presently you discover smiling little villages among fruit trees in the folds of the majestic mountains, and pleasant ambling rivers that flow kindly through lush meadows. But these comfortable scenes, though they surprise and even reassure you, are not enough to make you feel at home in the land of tawny heights and windswept spaces.

Now that's gorgeous. Can't you picture that country? And to think of a person who can embody both "tawny heights and windswept spaces" and "smiling little villages" at the same time... rare. The story was good enough - pretty compelling - and the characterization was interesting. It would be a three star book but for the language, which takes it to four. Highly recommended.(less)

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From Wikipedia: William Somerset Maugham, CH, was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era, and reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.
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“How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode.” — 208 people liked it

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