While discussing books recently, one of my friends highly recommended Somerset Maugham’s ‘The Painted Veil‘. I haven’t read a Maugham book in years and I wanted to read ‘The Painted Veil‘ when the movie came out, but couldn’t at that time. Now after my friend gushed about it, I thought I will read it now.
The story told in the book goes like this. Kitty is married to Walter, a bacteriologist, who is stationed in Hong Kong. They are very different – Walter is the bookish, nerdy type who likes being left alone while Kitty is the social butterfly and likes being with people. Before long Kitty starts having an affair with Charlie, who is the one of the top ranked diplomats there, and is like Walter’s boss. But one day Walter discovers this. Kitty knows he knows. And there is a deathly silence at home. Before long, Walter tells Kitty that he has to go deep inside mainland China to help out, as there is a cholera epidemic there. He hopes Kitty will come with him. When she refuses, he tells her that he knows about her affair and if she doesn’t come with him he will file a case against Charlie. Kitty says that it doesn’t matter and she wants a divorce as she and Charlie are planning to get married. Walter says that he will agree to the divorce if Charlie’s wife agrees to the divorce with Charlie and Charlie promises to marry Kitty within a week of the divorce. Kitty thinks that should be easy. But when she talks to Charlie, she realizes that that is not what Charlie wants. All the sweet nothings he had whispered in her ear were just that – nothings. Now Kitty is caught between the devil and the deep sea – Charlie has abandoned her and Walter is punishing her. She opts for the punishment and goes with Walter to the place deep inside China. And there she meets some fascinating people has some interesting experiences and she undergoes a deep awakening which hasn’t happened to her before. You should read the book to find out what happens to her.
I liked ‘The Painted Veil’ very much. Kitty Fane was not a very likeable character in the beginning, but to be fair to her, in the era she lived, it was hard for a woman to do what she wanted, and Kitty did what she had to, to find love and happiness. She made me think of Scarlett O’Hara, Emma Bovary and Kristin Lavransdatter. I liked the transformation Kitty undergoes in the second part of the book – it is beautifully depicted and we can’t resist falling in love with her. She is still imperfect and flawed as evidenced towards the end of the book, but she knows that now, and it is hard not to love her. In one place she says –
“I think you do me an injustice. It’s not fair to blame me because I was silly and frivolous and vulgar. I was brought up like that. All the girls I know are like that…It’s like reproaching someone who has no ear for music because he’s bored at a symphony concert. Is it fair to blame me because you ascribed to me qualities that I hadn’t got? I never tried to deceive you by pretending I was anything I wasn’t. I was just pretty and gay. You don’t ask for a pearl necklace or a sable coat at a booth in a fair; you ask for a tin trumpet and a toy balloon.”
Such powerful, thought-provoking lines.
I loved many of the other characters too – Walter and the Mother Superior, Sister St Joseph and Waddington who come in the second part of the book. Even Charlie, who is not exactly likeable, has his part to play.
I was expecting a Victorian type happy ending – Kitty and her husband will get back together and live happily ever after – but that was not to be. The actual ending is complex. I won’t tell you what it is – you should read the book to find out. The blurb says that the book was published to a storm of protest and it is not hard to see why. It was published in 1925, and it feels very contemporary today, with respect to the themes it addresses and the way it describes the relationship between women and men. If something feels contemporary today, it must have been in the banned books list or close to that during its time ๐ Maugham was famous for talking to people, taking detailed notes and fictionalizing actual events and developing them into a novel. He seems to have done that here too and that might be another reason for the storm of protest. Maugham himself says in the preface to the book that he and the publishers were sued when the story was first published and they had to settle and change some of the names to keep the story in print. I wonder what happened to the real world Kitty Fane – I hope she found happiness.
I have read four Maugham novels before – Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Six Pence, The Razor’s Edge and Cakes and Ale. The Painted Veil is my fifth one. I loved all of them. That is 5-0 for Maugham. He must be doing something right.
If you love Maugham’s work and you haven’t read this one, you should. If you have never read a Maugham book or even heard of him, but you don’t mind dipping your toes into the water, you can start with ‘The Painted Veil‘.
Here are some of my favourite passages to give you a feel of the book.
“Beauty is also a gift of God, one of the most rare and precious, and we should be thankful if we are happy enough to possess it and thankful, if we are not, that other possess it for our pleasure.”
“I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.”
“But the river, though it flowed so slowly, had still a sense of movement and it gave one a melancholy feeling of the transitoriness of things. Everything passed, and what trace of its passage remained? It seemed to Kitty that they were all, the human race, like the drops of water in the river and they flowed on, each so close to the other and yet so far apart, a nameless flood, to the sea. When all things lasted so short a time and nothing mattered very much, it seemed pitiful that men, attaching an absurd importance to trivial objects, should make themselves and one another so unhappy.”
Have you read ‘The Painted Veil‘? What do you think about it?
A wonderfully evocative book
Glad you liked it too, Stu ๐
He is one my favourite writers
Nice to know that, Stu! Mine too!
I read this many years ago and really enjoyed it at the time. Oddly enough though, I never went on to try any of his other works, something to remedy at some point. Lovely quotes, Vishy, the last one in particular.
Glad you liked it too, Jacqui! Hope you enjoy other Maugham books too. That last quote is beautiful, isn’t it?
I still haven’t read anything by Maugham. I’ll probably start with Of Human Bondage or some of his short stories, but you never know.
I liked Kitty’s reasoning in the first quote. ๐
That is nice reasoning isn’t it? ๐ I liked it too.
Hope you get to read Of Human Bondage and like it, Jonathan! It is wonderful! I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it whenever you get to read it.
I loved reading this review because it reminded me of the pleasure of reading the book. I think that Maugham was a most astute observer of people.
PS The film was stunning!
Thank you, Lisa! Glad you liked the book. I can’t wait to watch the movie!
Love this author but haven’t read “The Painted Veil” so will have to rectify that soon. My favorite of his books was “Of Human Bondage”. I’ll never forget that book. Thanks for the reminder that I missed this one. Wonderful review.
Glad you liked ‘Of Human Bondage’, Marjorie! Such a beautiful book, isn’t it? It is the first Maugham book I read and still my most favourite of his. Hope you get to read ‘The Painted Veil’ and like it. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. Happy reading!
I saw the movie first and adored the movie. Then I read the book. I was disappointed by the ending of the book. I wanted the movie ending. It is such a beautiful movie
So nice to know that the movie is wonderful, Resh! Interesting to know that the movie has a different ending. I so want to watch the movie now!
It’s been too long since I’ve read any Maugham. I’ve read The Magician, the Moon and Six Pence and many of his short stories. The others you mention are on my piles but not this one. I watched the movie and liked it a lot. I always want to read more if him and then forget to. Thanks for a great review.
Thank you, Caroline! Nice to know that you have read The Magician and The Moon and Six Pence! I haven’t read The Magician – hope to read it sometime. Nice to know that you liked the movie version of The Painted Veil. I can’t wait to watch it!
There seems to be a similar refrain from me…”I read it ages ago…”. Actually I haven’t read this title but read “Of Human Bondage” either in college or shortly after. I loved the line that you quoted “Itโs not fair to blame me because I was silly and frivolous and vulgar. I was brought up like that. All the girls I know are like thatโฆ” I think that was true for a number of young women in my generation…left over from the prior generation when expectations for young women were quite different. My mother was furious with me that I had not achieved a “Mrs.” degree within months of my graduation from college. The point of going to school then was to find a husband and get married soon after. My goals after that were frivolous, but I will say that I had a lot of fun in those days. At that time I had no desire to subject myself to the toil of academic life again. Fortuitously my fortunes changed, and I ended up in grad school during my middle years. My mother was not happy about that either, as if I had failed and had no other choice! It is humorous in some ways! Interesting to think that a discussion about Maugham and his books brought those memories back.
I do feel quite happy to read your reviews and know that you are enjoying some classic literature!
Nice to know that you have read Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, Heidi. It was the Maugham book that I read and still my most favourite of his, though I have liked every book of his that I have read till now. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences and how you could relate to that passage from the book. It is interesting that many times our life and the way we think depends on the times we live in. It made me think a lot. Thank you for sharing.
I liked his Theatre a lot. Itโs about an actress and how acting becomes such an integral part of her that her non-theatre life also seems put on and about how her son reacts to this.
Its nice to know another Maugham fan. I love his style. I like the Painted Veil as a book but didn’t forsee liking the movie just as much. There are differences, especially the ending and I liked both; but then, who can express emotions on screen the way Maugham expresses them in words?
[…] The Painted Veil by W.Somerset Maugham – about a woman who has an affair and its aftermath. Maugham is […]
[…] novel ‘The Painted Veil‘ ever since it came out. (My review of the novel is here.) Somerset Maugham is one of my favourite writers and I am a huge fan of his books. I have never […]