The Painted Veil

Aug 11, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily by: Tatiana

Shelves: classics, 2012, fave-classics

This is so good.

The Painted Veil, first published in 1925, is now considered a classic. That fact - combined with the cover, description and the reviews - had me switching into classic-reading mode. That might sound like I've gone a bit mad, but I mean that I approach classics with a different frame of mind and a greater tolerance for slow-moving plots, airy-fairy language and characters I cannot relate that much to. You know what I mean, you cannot expect fast-paced action if you want to appre...more

This is so good.

The Painted Veil, first published in 1925, is now considered a classic. That fact - combined with the cover, description and the reviews - had me switching into classic-reading mode. That might sound like I've gone a bit mad, but I mean that I approach classics with a different frame of mind and a greater tolerance for slow-moving plots, airy-fairy language and characters I cannot relate that much to. You know what I mean, you cannot expect fast-paced action if you want to appreciate Austen and others like her, violence is toned down in classics, sex is a rarity. This doesn't mean they aren't good, but I always prepare myself for a very different - and perhaps more challenging - kind of read.

As it happens, I need not have bothered.

This book hooked me from the very first page where Kitty is caught in the bedroom with her lover and kept me interested right the way through. From the delving into Kitty's recent past and her mother's insistence that she marry as soon as possible, to Kitty's relationship with an intelligent and shy man who genuinely loves her but she cannot love back, to the middle of a cholera epidemic that challenges Kitty's views on life and love. Her character development is astounding, how she goes from being an annoyingly fickle and selfish young women, to one who sees the world in a new light and gains a certain wisdom that is only achieved through facing and overcoming hardship.

Much about this story reminds me of Gone With the Wind (thankfully, not the length), it's the same idea of an immature and self-centred young woman being unable to appreciate the love of the man by their side until it's too late. They would prefer to fawn over a married man who will never treat them seriously, and yet they are so shocked to discover that their beauty cannot get them everything they want. Both Kitty and Scarlet are extremely spoilt and vain, so used to getting what they want that they are unprepared when life suddenly treats them unkindly. But they do both manage to change and grow stronger as well.

This is a very sad novel. I find it sad how Walter was willing to overlook all Kitty's negatives and the fact that she didn't like him at all just so he could have the chance to love her. I know this wasn't her fault but I find it sad that she didn't love him, he was so sweet and kind and under-appreciated. The ending (well, the bit just before) is also sad, but necessary in order for Kitty to become the person she does so I can't really complain about it.

I think Kitty's state of mind at the end is an important statement about women at this interesting point in history where women have the vote but very few options in life, the way she realises that it is far more beneficial for everyone - both men and women - if girls aren't simply raised to be weak and mindless wives, but open-minded and independent human beings. Overall, this is a very interesting exploration of people and the relationships between men and women - it definitely won't be the last I read by W. Somerset Maugham.(less)

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May 08, 2012 Catie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Catie by: Tatiana

Shelves: classics, read-in-2012

There’s something so affecting about tragedy created by social mores – tragedy that only exists because it’s born in a certain place and a certain time. While reading this book I just kept thinking, what if? What if women were allowed to seek their own status and power and weren’t completely dependent on that of their husbands? What if girls weren’t isolated but allowed to travel and gain experience or an education? What if marriage were optional? What if divorce were a simple thing? But I guess...more

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Regina I read Of Human Bondage when I was 18 or 19, I think it mentally scarred me. :)

I will look at both of those -- thank you.
Jun 01, 2012 01:35pm

Benjamin Barker «Maugham doesn’t reform her completely and I think she’s all the more sympathetic for that.»
Maugham doesn’t reform her because he was not a science fi...more «Maugham doesn’t reform her completely and I think she’s all the more sympathetic for that.»
Maugham doesn’t reform her because he was not a science fiction writer. That’s his point of view – this woman (even if she understand that her love to Townsend senseless and completely ridiculous) couldn’t fall in love with good man – her husband and only because Walter doesn’t represent the high hierarchy status and don’t look like an alpha-male.
I can clearly see in this novel the struggle in the woman’s mind between her consciousnesses and her nature instincts. One tells her that that monkey-like acting man Townsend – must be her husband/lover (or whatever), the other ( voice of the mind) tells her – your husband is already good enough for you and probably – the best of what you could get.
«What if women were allowed to seek their own status and power and weren’t completely dependent on that of their husbands? What if girls weren’t isolated but allowed to travel and gain experience or an education? What if marriage were optional? What if divorce were a simple thing? But I guess even the possible solutions to these hypotheticals wouldn’t remove all the sadness from this book. What if we weren’t all born with a severely limited worldview? would be a better question, but of course that’s just a permanent part of the human condition.»
That’s just a bla-bla-bla – don’t’ forget you are talking about Maugham’s novel – Kitty is not very smart and obviously doesn’t want to earn the money by herself.
«What if women were allowed to seek their own status and power and weren’t completely dependent on that of their husbands?»
What if the men was able to switch-off the dreadful, exhausting, extremely boring attraction to sex?
Poor Walter would finally become happy with his bacteriology ( as we all with favorite occupation). And wouldn’t feel anything to such as ungrateful creature as Kitty… or Sally…or anybody else with silly name.
That’s the truth – not only woman bored with man. Man also tired from woman. ( Just my subjective personal opinion. Sorry for hostility if you find it here)(less)
Jun 28, 2012 03:49am

Feb 27, 2011 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 2011, nostalgia

There is something infinitely fascinating to me about stories like this - a clever, passionate man falling in love with a pretty but fickle woman who, he knows, will never understand and appreciate his worth, and yet, he can't resist. This is why I have always obsessed over Gone With the Wind and enjoyed reading The Painted Veil once again.

I still can't decide if I like the novel or the latest movie adaptation more.

The movie gives food to my romantic what-could-have-been fantasies.

But I can't n...more

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Jan 03, 2008 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars 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, Walter and K...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)

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Apr 27, 2010 Hannah rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 Hea...more 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 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 30, 2013 Jeannette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, historical-fiction

I was drawn to this book by the beautiful prose. The author uses very descriptive passages to convey a sense of the spiritual journey that the main character is going through. It also evokes the mood and flavor of the exotic locations where the story takes place.

This is a complicated story of love, betrayal, loss and redemption. As most of the books I've read from authors of this period, the ending is not "storybook" happy and it tends to leave me not quite satisfied. The resolution was a bit am...more

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Apr 17, 2009 Martine rated it 4 of 5 stars · 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...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)

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Jul 29, 2007 Bookshop rated it 4 of 5 stars · 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 out to be some millio...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)

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Oct 01, 2008 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

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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Mar 31, 2012 Hend rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, somerset-maugham, british-literature, favorite-novels

beautiful love story.i loved both the novel and the movie....
the great difference between Kitty's shallow soul ,spoiled and selfish and Walter who believe in sacrificial service and volunteers to go work in remote rural village under siege from cholera.
while Walter is madly in love with her...

Kitty married to Walter whom she does not love and she has nothing in common with him...the novel is an emotionally charged journey...the
devastating emotional consequences of infidelity and betrayal...
the r...more

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Apr 24, 2008 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 3 of 5 stars

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 both the film...more

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Jul 18, 2008 Nikki Nielsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 to go...more

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May 28, 2007 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars · 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," "The Razor'...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

I must confess that, though I loved the recent film adaptation of The Painted Veil, I have been circling my copy of the book for a long, long time. Because for years Maugham lived in my box marked 'A Great Author But Not For Me.' Wrong, wrong, wrong!

In the end I picked it up because it was small enough to fit in my handbag to read at lunchtime and short enough that it wouldn't take forever to read. And I fell in love. With lovely, elegant prose; with the clear understanding of the human conditio...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Felisa Rosa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

This book was recently made into a movie and I didn't even consider going to see it. I didn't realize it was based on a book by Maugham, and the storyline sounds depressing: a middle-class English woman cheats on her husband and then has to follow him to a remote plague-ridden Chinese city. But for me, the pleasure of a book by Maugham (one of the good ones anyway) comes not from the storyline, but from the excellent caliber of his writing. His sentences are a pleasure to read. His best books ar...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Cameron rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 concre...more

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Dec 24, 2008 Lucy rated it 4 of 5 stars

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" t...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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Sep 23, 2008 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: british, 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 beauty in his writin...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

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...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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Nov 05, 2007 El rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: early20th-centurylit

Kitty is not an unattractive woman, though with her slightly too long nose is not considered real beauty enough to snag a rich and ambitious man. Feeling pressure by the marriage of her younger sister Kitty agrees to marry Walter Fane, a bacteriologist who is desperately in love with her, despite the fact that she has at best lukewarm feelings for him. Living in Hong Kong with Walter for his work, she has an affair with a politician who is also married to someone else. When Walter finds out he a...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Carmen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007

Gosto de personagens em conflito, não em conflito aberto, mas em conflito interior. À procura do seu eu, do seu lugar, da sua relação com os outros. Gosto, até, de personagens perturbados. Kitty vai-se descobrindo ao longo do livro, pelo meio das voltas que a sua vida vai dando. Vai descobrindo a socialidade, o amor, o desamor, a paixão, o desespero, a vingança. Descobre que afinal ser amada sem amar pode ser tão mau como amar sem ser amada.

“Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Lif...more

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Oct 28, 2009 Annalisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · 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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Jan 26, 2013 Krisz rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people."
description

I loved this movie so much! It is one of my favourites of all time. I cried my eyes out watching it, it broke my heart, but I loved it. It was perfect! But the book..I didn't enjoyed it so much. I don't know what was missing, but it didn't impressed me.
But all in all, this is a wonderful story, a wonderful journey, and it has a special place in my heart.

“Most people, as far as I can see, when they’re in love with someone and t...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Lona rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

لم أجد نصاً معقداً مكتوب بفلسفة عميقة، ولا حدث رئيسي يستوجب الانتظار مئة صفحة لاكتشافه.. بكل بساطة ومن المشهد الأول ندخل الحدث لنعرف أن الرواية بعد ذلك ما هي إلا تداعيات هذا الحدث

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لم أجد نصاً معقداً مكتوب بفلسفة عميقة، ولا حدث رئيسي يستوجب الانتظار مئة صفحة لاكتشافه.. بكل بساطة ومن المشهد الأول ندخل الحدث لنعرف أن الرواية بعد ذلك ما هي إلا تداعيات هذا الحدث

(view spoiler)

كيف تتحول حياتنا لكابوس مؤلم (رغم أنها للناظر كاملة لا ينقصها شيء) نعيشها فقط لتأدية واجبنا بدون أن تكون الرغبة والحب موجودة لتأدية هذا الواجب .. .. وأيضا هذه الرواية تؤكد الفلسفة العبثية لمفهوم الحب

ملاحظة:- ترجمة عنوان الرواية "بالخاطئة" ترجمة بمنتهى "......"، هذا بالإضافة للنسخة الوحيدة للرواية التي وجدتها بعد البحث.. .. نسخة بي دي إف "عبيطة" بكل ما تحمل الكلمة من معنى، نسخة أجمل ما فيها لون أوراقها الأصفر المشوه للأسف (لا أعرف لماذا) بكوكتيل من الألوان بالإضافة أن الناشر (ولا أعرف لماذا أيضاً) عزَّز الرواية ببعض الرسومات "العبيطة" التي لا تمت للصورة التي تكونت في خيالي بصله

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May 14, 2013 Maria Yohn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites

This novel broke my heart in so many different ways. I have to say that I found the lead character, Kitty, to be exasperating, and I alternated between wanting to punch her, to feeling profoundly sorry for her, to wanting to punch her again, to ultimately coming to some understanding of her humanity. That's really what this novel is all about-humanity and all the ugliness, the disappointment and the glimmers of redemption that come with it. I had a very difficult time seeing the world through th...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Saleem Khashan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This book was imposed on me by Firoza few months before her death, I thought I will take it and just added it to the collection and never read it, see I didn’t know neither did she that her death was eminent. When I started I did with the attitude of wanting to throw it to the side if I felt a ting of boredom associated with reading historical period fiction no matter how good it is. But this never happened. Unlike books of the 1920's Mr. Maugham understood the importance of our time and he cut...more This book was imposed on me by Firoza few months before her death, I thought I will take it and just added it to the collection and never read it, see I didn’t know neither did she that her death was eminent. When I started I did with the attitude of wanting to throw it to the side if I felt a ting of boredom associated with reading historical period fiction no matter how good it is. But this never happened. Unlike books of the 1920's Mr. Maugham understood the importance of our time and he cut into action immediately and even pagely (page by page; new English), the action was not beating and shooting. It was not sexual intimacies playing on our lost desires. It was not gore horror; it was emotions layered upon emotions. As much as the characters in his book were confused about the way to handle their priorities he made us more confused about handling our life, you can not but be sympathetic about each character in this book. You are bound to love them dearly with concern and sadness over their life choices and fates. You will hate some of them and wonder why they are not dead 90 years after the book was published.
Maybe it was me reading the book looking for a massage left for me by firoza that gave this book its cool magic. Did she want to tell me she made a mistake marrying her husband? Was the communication between them the major problem? Was he really kind and she failed to love him and was on a journey of self destruction because she pitted her self for the failure of giving love? Did she maybe think she is too good for the life she was forced into by marrying this man? I am confused I met him before her death and he was a nice person, after her death he said "thank you". Thank you? For killing her or for taking care of her.
It is not going to be easy to answer now she is dead @ 51, she didn’t plan her death, it was fate, depression, and doctors that killed her. She got her leg amputated due to diabetes and before having time to grieve her loss a pulmonary embolism stopped her heart. I really loved that woman and felt sorry for her, but she was kinda crazy in a very good hearted way (pretty sure she is in heaven). But what was she trying to say? I still wonder.
The book language is easily flowing, the scenes are full of action on top of other acts, but here come the spoilers so stop reading if you don’t want,,,,
The book takes us through Kitty's life; pretentious upbringing by a leech of person whom happened to mother her. Its england in the colonial era, english had a certain air about it. It shows that marrying a good husband can't be enough. It shows an affair with an affluent and handsome man is not enough. It shows money not enough. It even shows that charity work is not enough. All of them are not enough to bring happiness. Unless we manage to love and accept our selves. But most striking it shows the contrast of being in love, and being loved, and how much leverage each has the situation. It always amused me how someone can be in severe agony of being abandoned by someone who doesn't notice committing an act of abandonment, cause they never felt the same for you. It rang bells in my head and heart that could go both ways. I fricken loved this book its well written and have a plot that keeps renewing it self into a new area of action, or feelings.
I was trying to start reading a new book to avoid watching what my wife is watching on TV, but I couldn’t wait to tell every body about a gym that is 88 years old but fit as any of today's newborns.(less)

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Nov 08, 2012 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I listened to it and it is the beautifully told story of a shallow, self-absorbed woman named Kitty, who I didn't much like at first but ended up having much more respect for than I thought I would. I enjoyed her journey through self discovery and seeing how she grew from the mistakes she made. I found the story very realistic and it drove home the fact that you can't control who your heart loves no matter how bad that person might be for you or how good, for that...more

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May 07, 2013 Martyn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, fiction, travel, movie-was-better-for-a-change

You know, I've got to take a star off because this book really stewed in my brain for the last few days and now I'm angry.

Endings can make or break a book, and this one was one of the broken variety. The author managed to avoid the lame Austen-like finish, but only after a distinct flirtation with it. He then narrowly missed the depressive Waugh finale that would have been infinitely better in a literary sense but equally would have been, well, depressive. Only then did the author point the nove...more

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May 23, 2012 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is another beautiful but tragic novel that was so powerful in places that I had to set the book down, stare out the window and ponder the situation. The story involves an unhappily married couple, Kitty and Walter, and how Walter seeks his unusual revenge when he learns his wife had an affair. He gives Kitty a choice: either travel with him to a remote Chinese village to deal with a cholera epidemic (Walter is a bacteriologist) or he'll file for divorce. Kitty realizes that her husband is h...more

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The 1700-1939 Boo...: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (Ch.54-80)	9	30	May 30, 2012 02:01pm
The 1700-1939 Boo...: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (Ch. 27-53)	4	14	May 30, 2012 07:46am
The 1700-1939 Boo...: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (Ch.1-26)	12	35	May 30, 2012 07:34am
"The dog it was that died"	3	124	Jul 11, 2011 10:42pm

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