Rating: 
Summary: "As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue."
Review: "The Painted Veil" by W. Somerset Maugham is the story of a young British woman, Kitty Fane. Kitty is one of two daughters--the older, prettier one. Kitty's father is an unambitious solicitor, and her mother--Mrs Garstin--is a "a hard, cruel, managing, ambitious, parsimonious, and stupid woman." Mrs Garstin pins all of her thwarted and frustrated ambitions on the hope that Kitty will marry well. Kitty, who has a rather inflated idea of herself, spurns all suitors until her younger sister's engagement. Under the threat of being "left on the shelf," Kitty accepts a marriage proposal from a very serious, intent, intelligent, young bacteriologist, Walter Fane. Kitty isn't really interested in Walter as a person or as a husband--he isn't her type at all, and a year or so previously, she wouldn't have considered him good enough. But gentle Walter "loved her so passionately that he was prepared to accept any humiliation if sometimes she would let him love her." Due to social pressures combined with the fact that Walter is leaving for Hong Kong, Kitty agrees to a swift wedding and sails off to her new life.
In Hong Kong, Kitty very quickly succumbs to the oily attentions of an older, polished, married British official. Kitty isn't a bad person, but she is empty-headed and shallow, and she underestimates her husband's reaction to discovering her affair. Kitty doesn't really know Walter, and she certainly doesn't understand him. Walter's role--in Kitty's mind--is exactly that of her father--the role of a doormat who pays for things. Walter is devastated by the discovery of Kitty's affair and immediately volunteers as the doctor in a Cholera epidemic at Mei-tan-fu, but even this seemingly spontaneous and suicidal act is well-planned by Walter. In forcing Kitty to accompany him, Walter exposes Kitty's lover for the vain, self-centered womanizer he really is, and Kitty is forced to examine her life and the choices she has made. In the middle of a Cholera epidemic--living in the house of a dead missionary, Kitty faces her shallow and selfish existence. I love W. Somerset Maugham--he labeled himself as a second rate writer. I think this is an unfortunate and undeserved categorization, for as a writer he is a master with the creation of unforgettable characters and quite unmerciless when it comes to revealing the absolute unpleasantness of human motivation. As a writer, Maugham is fading from view, and that is a dreadful shame. This lesser-known Maugham novel is exquisite--displacedhuman
Rating: 
Summary: Annotation
Review: "More than 100 years after the publication of W. Somerset Maugham's first novel, Replica Books brings this world renowned author back into print. Revised at least twice to eliminate references to people living in Hong Kong, W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil portrays the weakness of the human condition with candor and sympathy. Every reader can connect on some level with protagonist Kitty who makes such a valiant effort to overcome her weaknesses, we find oursleves routing for her despite her failures. The Painted Veil is a story of love, desperation, revenge and forgiveness that will hold you spellbound until the very last page. Remember your favorite book, the one that captured your heart and has stuck with you for life? Replica Classics brings some of yesterday's favorite novels back to life.
Rating:
Summary: "As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue."
Review: "The Painted Veil" by W. Somerset Maugham is the story of a young British woman, Kitty Fane. Kitty is one of two daughters--the older, prettier one. Kitty's father is an unambitious solicitor, and her mother--Mrs Garstin--is a "a hard, cruel, managing, ambitious, parsimonious, and stupid woman." Mrs Garstin pins all of her thwarted and frustrated ambitions on the hope that Kitty will marry well. Kitty, who has a rather inflated idea of herself, spurns all suitors until her younger sister's engagement. Under the threat of being "left on the shelf," Kitty accepts a marriage proposal from a very serious, intent, intelligent, young bacteriologist, Walter Fane. Kitty isn't really interested in Walter as a person or as a husband--he isn't her type at all, and a year or so previously, she wouldn't have considered him good enough. But gentle Walter "loved her so passionately that he was prepared to accept any humiliation if sometimes she would let him love her." Due to social pressures combined with the fact that Walter is leaving for Hong Kong, Kitty agrees to a swift wedding and sails off to her new life.
In Hong Kong, Kitty very quickly succumbs to the oily attentions of an older, polished, married British official. Kitty isn't a bad person, but she is empty-headed and shallow, and she underestimates her husband's reaction to discovering her affair. Kitty doesn't really know Walter, and she certainly doesn't understand him. Walter's role--in Kitty's mind--is exactly that of her father--the role of a doormat who pays for things. Walter is devastated by the discovery of Kitty's affair and immediately volunteers as the doctor in a Cholera epidemic at Mei-tan-fu, but even this seemingly spontaneous and suicidal act is well-planned by Walter. In forcing Kitty to accompany him, Walter exposes Kitty's lover for the vain, self-centered womanizer he really is, and Kitty is forced to examine her life and the choices she has made. In the middle of a Cholera epidemic--living in the house of a dead missionary, Kitty faces her shallow and selfish existence. I love W. Somerset Maugham--he labeled himself as a second rate writer. I think this is an unfortunate and undeserved categorization, for as a writer he is a master with the creation of unforgettable characters and quite unmerciless when it comes to revealing the absolute unpleasantness of human motivation. As a writer, Maugham is fading from view, and that is a dreadful shame. This lesser-known Maugham novel is exquisite--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Gripping immediacy of the characters
Review: The Painted Veil is a delight to read, a sometimes cruel but more often sympathetic description of the weakness of the human condition. The characters are well-delineated and the sympathy they elicit is almost heart-wrenching. It's all there, fear, desperation, revenge, petty spite but love and forgiveness too. Maughams almost ethereal perception of human emotions stripped of their masks is disconcerting but nonetheless deeply, deeply moving.
Rating:
Summary: The Mystique Of Maugham
Review: An unusual read, I was engrossed after the first page! And as avid readers, we know what a delight it is to find a book that can enchant us in the first chapter and hold our interest until the end, and even beyond. The story follows a married British couple,Walter and Kitty Fane. Walter Fane is a bacteriologist that is working for the British government while stationed in Hong Kong. Kitty, a young and bored wife, soon succumbs to her passions with another man. Charles, another British government official. This affair comes to an end when they suspect Walter has found out about their liaisons. This is where the real excitement begins, and maybe the first form of "biological punishment" witnessed in a classic novel. What does this mean? Buy the book, and I promise that you will not be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: I cannot add much what haven't been said before...
Review: I agree wholeheartedly with the review of "misplaced human".
What I particularly liked was that the novel took such a different angle on the rather old theme of the shallow, beautiful and flighty socialite who marries a man who is far superior to her emotionally and intellectually and who stubbornly loves her toward the bitter end-despite her unworthiness. The adulterous heroine usually sees the errors of her ways and the worth of her husband very late, sometimes even too late. One the surface the book has all those plot elements-but if you look closely it is not that at all. The motivations and the hidden agenda of the characters-good and bad-are quite cleverly and subversively exposed by Maugham. None of the protagonists is what he or she seemed to be at first (with the possible exception of Kitty's "oily" lover).
Kitty's husband is not the romantic, thwarted lover as one first pities him-in one of the key scenes of the novel shallow Kitty of all people is the perceptive and shrewd one in the relationship who has to explain intellectual Walter what his supposedly romantic love for her is truly about.
The book might not be for everyone but one thing it is not at all (unlike one reviewer here pointed out)-a novel with one-dimensional characters. I have hardly ever seen more multi-layered characters in a book written in that time period which usually just pleasantly malign women like Kitty and put the men on a pedestal who marry them. After all who we choose to love says something about our character, too and Maugham was one of the rare authors perceptive enough to detect that!
Rating:
Summary: The Great Lost Hong Kong Novel!
Review: I agree with the many reviewers here who enjoy this as a gripping literary read. But it is also the first of three fine novels about Hong Kong - along with Timothy Mo's The Monkey King and Paul Theroux's Kowloon Tong, this book for me contained insights into certain Hong Kong personalities I encountered during my residence there in the 90's. In the case of the Painted Veil, a novel from the 1920's (!), certain actions and attitudes of western expatriates were still visible in my day (before and after the end of British rule). A little bit of playing at being "gentlemen" by people who could not afford the pose back home. This book, like Mo's and Theroux's, caused no end of upset in certain quarters of Hong Kong when released. Though it was not banned in China, like Kowloon Tong, in Hong Kong "writs were served!" (Parts of Hong Kong can react a little bit like a small town when its described by someone who's left it for better things - the other parts read these books with pleasure.) The detached reader need not worry about any of this - it's a great read. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!
Review: Maugham is one of my favourite authors, and The Painted Veil is one of his best books. I ended up so involoved with all the characters' lives that I couldn't put it down. A real page turner, this one. As usual with Maugham, this book has a lot to say about the human condition and has little tidbits of philosophy and deep thoughts throughout. The movie version is also excellent, but nowhere near as good as the book.
Rating:
Summary: Another Maugham's excellent work on human conditions
Review: Maugham's keen perception of human frailty and complex courage had always been his trade mark. This book is no exception. Many of us will ientify with the struggles of the characters in the story. It'll make you think, and it may give you peace.
Rating:
Summary: Another Maugham's excellent work on human conditions
Review: Maugham's keen perception of human frailty and complex courage had always been his trade mark. This book is no exception. Many of us will ientify with the struggles of the characters in the story. It'll make you think, and it may give you peace.
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