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hcamel24's review against another edition
3.0
Started out very fast and exciting and by the end I was just tired of this lady. She ended up annoying me more than she probably should have. I really enjoyed I would say the first 75% but the last I was just done with her.
beritt's review
4.0
3.5 stars, rounding up to four.
While I’ve read many books set at the beginning of the 20th century, I’ve read few that take place in places other than Europe or the U.S. For that reason alone, The Painted Veil was an interesting, fun read.
Kitty Fane is a vain, shallow woman who marries only because she doesn’t want her younger sister to get married before her. Needless to say, it’s not a happy union.
Her husband, a bacteriologist (which I pictured to be a kind of epidemiologist avant la lettre) is appointed to a position in Hong Kong. Kitty is excited, but her enthusiasm quickly wanes when she realizes British ideas of class are totally scrambled in Hong Kong: she and her husband are of little consequence. Nonetheless, they make a life for themselves there.
All of this happens in the first third of the book, and I must say it initially left me a little indifferent — Kitty is so shallow and cares so little for anyone but herself, that it was difficult to care for her.
It says a lot about Maugham’s writing, then, that I started to like her more and more as the novel continued.
The story really takes off when Walter asks (forces!) Kitty to accompany him to the mainland city of Mei-tan-fu, where a cholera epidemic rages. Walter, trained as a doctor, feels he can be of help. At the same time, tough, Kitty can’t help but feel he's taken this step to punish her for her affair, which he has recently discovered.
In Mei-tan-fu, under the shadow of the epidemic, Kitty is forced to rethink literally everything about her life.
What I loved about this book is that this could so easily be a facile redemption story, and yet it’s not. I won’t say too much so I don’t ruin the plot, but I will say this: Kitty is such a realistic character. She becomes more and more human as the story goes on…her character has a real, complex arc. It’s subtle and convincing.
The Painted Veil was published in 1925, so I suppose I should not have been surprised by the intense Orientalism present here. And yet, I was. It was truly jarring to read how Kitty thinks of Chinese people. Twice, she goes so far as to suggest they “don’t look quite human.”
Good Lord.
Can you imagine?
If you ever find yourself wondering how colonialism could have become a thing, the answer is right there: non-western people were literally thought of as inhuman. Crazy. Notably, we never hear from any Chinese person in the book, ever. Only Waddington’s wife (who, awfully, is referred to as “the Manchu”) and Colonel Yu speak, but their words come to us only in translation. One never hears from them directly.
I’ll leave that as a critical note.
I believe there’s still value in this novel as a whole — not just for the insight it offers into colonial attitudes, but also for Kitty’s story and the straightforward yet apt metaphors Maugham uses to describe emotional states. To end with one:
“I don’t understand anything. Life is so strange. I feel like someone who’s lived all his life by a duckpond and suddenly is shown the sea. It makes me a little breathless and yet it fills me with elation. I don’t want to die, I want to live” (130).
All in all, another good book by W. Somerset Maugham!
While I’ve read many books set at the beginning of the 20th century, I’ve read few that take place in places other than Europe or the U.S. For that reason alone, The Painted Veil was an interesting, fun read.
Kitty Fane is a vain, shallow woman who marries only because she doesn’t want her younger sister to get married before her. Needless to say, it’s not a happy union.
Her husband, a bacteriologist (which I pictured to be a kind of epidemiologist avant la lettre) is appointed to a position in Hong Kong. Kitty is excited, but her enthusiasm quickly wanes when she realizes British ideas of class are totally scrambled in Hong Kong: she and her husband are of little consequence. Nonetheless, they make a life for themselves there.
All of this happens in the first third of the book, and I must say it initially left me a little indifferent — Kitty is so shallow and cares so little for anyone but herself, that it was difficult to care for her.
It says a lot about Maugham’s writing, then, that I started to like her more and more as the novel continued.
The story really takes off when Walter asks (forces!) Kitty to accompany him to the mainland city of Mei-tan-fu, where a cholera epidemic rages. Walter, trained as a doctor, feels he can be of help. At the same time, tough, Kitty can’t help but feel he's taken this step to punish her for her affair, which he has recently discovered.
In Mei-tan-fu, under the shadow of the epidemic, Kitty is forced to rethink literally everything about her life.
What I loved about this book is that this could so easily be a facile redemption story, and yet it’s not. I won’t say too much so I don’t ruin the plot, but I will say this: Kitty is such a realistic character. She becomes more and more human as the story goes on…her character has a real, complex arc. It’s subtle and convincing.
The Painted Veil was published in 1925, so I suppose I should not have been surprised by the intense Orientalism present here. And yet, I was. It was truly jarring to read how Kitty thinks of Chinese people. Twice, she goes so far as to suggest they “don’t look quite human.”
Good Lord.
Can you imagine?
If you ever find yourself wondering how colonialism could have become a thing, the answer is right there: non-western people were literally thought of as inhuman. Crazy. Notably, we never hear from any Chinese person in the book, ever. Only Waddington’s wife (who, awfully, is referred to as “the Manchu”) and Colonel Yu speak, but their words come to us only in translation. One never hears from them directly.
I’ll leave that as a critical note.
I believe there’s still value in this novel as a whole — not just for the insight it offers into colonial attitudes, but also for Kitty’s story and the straightforward yet apt metaphors Maugham uses to describe emotional states. To end with one:
“I don’t understand anything. Life is so strange. I feel like someone who’s lived all his life by a duckpond and suddenly is shown the sea. It makes me a little breathless and yet it fills me with elation. I don’t want to die, I want to live” (130).
All in all, another good book by W. Somerset Maugham!
littlemightyone's review
5.0
Maugham is one of my all-time faves.
So clearly describes feelings and situations, the feel of fabrics, the mood, the way the water is, everything. I feel like I've been there and when I close the book at the end I feel like I really was there. This review is not very good but I felt compelled to say something. Sorry about that.
So clearly describes feelings and situations, the feel of fabrics, the mood, the way the water is, everything. I feel like I've been there and when I close the book at the end I feel like I really was there. This review is not very good but I felt compelled to say something. Sorry about that.
heidisworsttimeline's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like her
Loved 'Of Human Bondage' so gave this a chance. Could not care less about the main character. Extremely shallow, no growth.
Loved 'Of Human Bondage' so gave this a chance. Could not care less about the main character. Extremely shallow, no growth.
laurabvan's review
3.0
Ok so i watched the movie before I read the book, and I have to say I liked the movie more than the book!!! Which never happens! I just think the movie had a "happier" ending. I won't give it away to those who have not read it, but I like the ending to the movie better than the book.
lvbopeep's review
5.0
I loved this book but I had to take one star away for the ending. And then I had to give it back again when it occurred to me that the ending with Townsend was necessary to show Kitty how truly low she had gone. Before she returned to Hong Kong, although she regretted her actions and wanted to be a better person, she still felt the act of infidelity, in the scheme of things, was insignificant. I hated that she allowed herself to be talked into staying with the Townsends, and then for Charlie to take advantage of her again, but it did give her a clearer view of how weak and shallow she was. I wonder, if Walter had lived, if she would have had the same response to Charlie- having the purpose of making it up to Walter may have made her strong enough to resist him. With his death, she commits herself to caring for her father, who she also did not love but believes that the act of care will create love in both of them. I'm sorry she didn't love Walter at the end, although he seemed to have a serious case of the creepies (even Waddington wasn't a fan) but also found it interesting that the nuns were devoted to him- not just for what he did, but for himself. I thought that Kitty's feeling that they were apart from her was telling in comparison to how the nuns felt about Walter- he also was sacrificing himself to a greater cause (in their eyes, they would have no way of knowing he was homicidal/suicidal LOL). Great book, beautiful writing and thought-provoking.
tonep's review
2.0
I know it's written in a different time, but it's hard to get past the whole "women are hysterical and silly and weak, and that's perfectly normal" -tone of the book. It got a bit boring.
katseye116's review
A beautiful, lyrical novel, shocking in its ability to face bald truths about human nature. Highly recommended.
j3lyfyshgal's review
3.0
Sounded really amazing. the writing was good, but I felt a little let down with the story line ultimately....
cpope9's review
4.0
Absolutely fantastic. This may end up earning a fifth star upon rereads. Much of the plot reads similar to a spark notes version of Anna Karenina but with a very different intensity, type and presentation of philosophy. But absolutely worth the time if you’re into slower-burning character explorations in a historical setting.