The Painted Veil

by W. Somerset Maugham

Book Overview

First serialized in 1924 and published as a complete novel in 1925, "The Painted Veil" is the powerful novel of transgression and redemption by popular and prolific British author W. Somerset Maugham.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307277771
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

The language was very well written but terrible book.

The characters were mostly vile and unlikeable especially that Kitty. And at the end the father daughter kiss on the lips. What is that for? Just overall a terrible read although the writing style is great.

Good story. Great writing.

"The Painted Veil" is the beautifully told story of one self-absorbed woman and what it takes for her to discover joy in loving others. Every novel should have at least one character who changes and grows even half as much as this heroine. (Scene spoiler alert: My favorite scene is the last, when Kitty realizes she's always taken her father for granted, imagines how he must be feeling, and begins - finally - to treat him as a unique individual who has wants and needs separate from hers. When she can finally do this, their love is realized.) I just saw the 2006 motion picture, and actually enjoyed it more than the book. The screenwriter enriched Somerset Maugham's classic in several ways: Kitty's husband Walter is given more depth such that his growth over the course of the story matches Kitty's. Also enriched is the backdrop. Not only is the Chinese town where much of the story takes place suffering a Cholera epidemic, but the Chinese Nationals are rising up against the British. This plot enhancement cranks up the tension of the story, and allows Walter's character to develop in a more complicated and ultimately satisfying way. I highly recommend you read the book, then see the movie. You won't be disappointed!

Lessons on life

I wanted to read this book before seeing the movie, and I must say that I enjoyed it immensely. Having read most of Maugham's short stories but none of his novels, I was taken aback by the sweep and passion of this book, its strong moral center, and above all its sensitivity to feeling. Other readers have called this a feminist work, and so in a halting way it is, in that Kitty Fane, its central character, is a woman and Maugham looks unusually deeply into her soul. But at the beginning of the book she is almost the polar opposite of feminist, having been brought up by her ambitious middle-class mother to be pretty and vapid and catch a good husband. It is only after she has passed through the climax of the story that she begins to see that there can be better goals in life for a woman. My surprise at the depth of Maugham's portrayal of Kitty is in contrast to what I have always seen as the emotional reticence of his male characters, who are portrayed rather in terms of action than of feeling; I see this as a by-product of the author's homosexuality in an era when this had to be kept hidden. Kitty's husband, Walter Fane, a young government doctor and bacteriologist in Hong Kong, though presumably heterosexual, is almost a caricature of this repressed type. Although he obviously has feelings, he is almost incapable of giving voice to them, and neither he nor Kitty can effectively communicate with one another. It is hardly surprising that Kitty should fall into an affair with a married colonial official who is all easy charm. Even when Walter discovers their liaison (masterfully evoked in the opening pages of the book), he remains cold and inscrutable; his response is to volunteer for service in a cholera-ravaged city in the Chinese interior and to take Kitty with him. As I say, I have not yet seen the movie, only the trailer.* But I was struck by how perfectly Edward Norton captures the cold correctness of Maugham's doctor; I am only surprised that this should have become a star role, since in the novel Maugham keeps Walter very much in the shadows. My other impression from the trailer, the expansive beauty of the Chinese landscape, is also strongly evoked in the book, though I suspect that the movie paints the horrors of the cholera epidemic on a larger canvas and makes more of the background of civil war, which is barely hinted at by Maugham. Instead, once the Fanes reach their destination, the novel takes on a more intimate quality, which slightly disappointed me by playing down the ever-present danger that surrounds them. But the trade-off is that the emphasis can shift to Kitty's tentative spiritual journey. Maugham's title comes from the first line of an unfinished sonnet by Shelley, "Lift not the painted veil which those who live call Life," which implies a metaphysical intent. Here Maugham moves into territory that would later be claimed by Graham Greene; Kitty volunteers at an orphanage run by French nuns, and her first real lessons on

Life's Most Important Lessons

In the Painted Veil we are drawn into the story of two ill-matched spouses - Kitty and Walter Fane. Kitty, who is somewhat pretty, flighty, and shallow has married the serious bacteriologist Walter Fane out of desperation and relocated to Hong Kong. While there, she has imagined herself to fall desperately in love with the Colonial Secretary, Charlie Townsend. When Walter discovers the affair, he presents an ultimatum and Kitty finds herself short on options. Walter decides to accept a position as a doctor in a remote location where a cholera epidemic is killing off large numbers of the population, and he insists Kitty go with him. Will Kitty survive? Or will she meet her demise? The tale that unfolds is a triumph of the human spirit in so many ways. The book goes beyond whether one lives or dies and leaves the message that life's important lesson is in the way one treats those who are nearest. Life is to be lived to the fullest, but not at the expense of mistreating others. Although I felt the characters were a bit predictable and not overly deep, I felt W Somerset Maugham drives home his message clearly in an easy to read, engaging manner. This book does not go into a whole lot of detail, but it gives enough detail to enable the reader to flush out what they need to make the full picture fresh in their minds. I am always amazed when a male author can so capture the feelings and emotions of a woman (or vice versa, but I really can't speak to that!), and W Somerset Maugham has really done a fine job of that in this book! I could truly relate to the emotions Kitty Fane was going through - indeed, I felt as though I would have felt the same under the same circumstances!

The Joys of Entering the Realm of W. Somerset Maugham

Few writers of the past century could evoke a sense of mystery and atmosphere like W. Somerset Maugham. And while almost all readers are familiar with his major works (Of Human Bondage, Up at the Villa, The Razor's Edge, Cakes and Ale etc, the film versions of these having added to that international knowledge), few have had the pleasure of reading the rather private but equally satisfying 'feminist work', THE PAINTED VEIL. Now with the announcement that this novel, too, is soon to be released as a motion picture, hopefully many will read the book before, remembering how mesmerizingly well how Maugham can spin a tale. As with all of Maugham's novels, the stridency of class plays a role in this work. In a disturbing opening chapter Maugham places us in the room where Kitty is in the midst of seduction by Charlie Townsend and the adulterous couple shudder at the noise that would indicate that Kitty's bacteriologist husband Walter Kane may be spying on them. The intrigue is set and then the novel retraces the territory that placed the couple en flagrante in the middle of the incipient scandal that will alter the lives of all concerned. Kitty, the elder daughter of a fussy couple in London who had 'shamed' Kitty into finding a husband when Kitty's younger, unattractive sister is engaged, hurriedly marries the shy but solid Walter Kane who is about to be shipped off to Hong Kong. Once into Hong Kong Kitty's sensually hungry eye is met by the handsome but married with three children Colonial Secretary Charlie Townsend and they begin a torrid affair. When Walter discovers his wife's adultery he threatens to divorce her (thereby making public the scandal that would ruin Charlie's career) if she doesn't accompany him to Mei-tan-fu, China where a cholera epidemic is destroying the town. The situation finds Kitty struggling with her disdain for Walter whom she never has loved and eventual loathing for Charlie who proves to be the cad he is by putting his career and marriage over the 'silly thought' of running away with Kitty! Distraught, Kitty joins Walter on the trek to Mei-tan-fu where she gradually adjusts to the situation with the help of the consul Waddington who encourages her to fill her hours with helping the nuns care for the sick and the orphaned children. Kitty's life begins to change as she sees the manner in which Walter is focused on mankind, enhanced by the admiration he gains from the nuns. She discovers she is pregnant (whether by Walter or Charlie she does not know) but soon all attention shifts when Walter succumbs to cholera and Kitty, wanting to stay with the nuns who have helped her see that life does have meaning), returns to Hong Kong, has one last distasteful experience with Charlie whose wife has become the solid friend Kitty has always needed, and sets off for England. Once in Europe she receives a telegram that her mother has died and she returns to London to be with her sister and her distant father. Circumstances

beautiful

The novel has an old-fashioned feel for the first few pages, and then it takes off. The writing and structure are crisp and modern - surprising when you consider how many decades ago Maugham was writing. A moving story; highly recommended.