The Painted Veil

Review ebook The Painted Veil

Wonderful writing and a good read from Maugham. I had not read him lately so I forgot how good a writer he is.

The basic story is of a beautiful young British woman who has “played the field” too long. She’s now 25 and her plainer, younger sister is engaged. In desperation the main character marries an MD bacteriologist who takes her to Hong Kong where he works as a scientist.

Here’s a wedding proposal for you:

She: “I think I like you very much. You must give me time to get used to you.”
He: “The Wonderful writing and a good read from Maugham. I had not read him lately so I forgot how good a writer he is.

The basic story is of a beautiful young British woman who has “played the field” too long. She’s now 25 and her plainer, younger sister is engaged. In desperation the main character marries an MD bacteriologist who takes her to Hong Kong where he works as a scientist.

Here’s a wedding proposal for you:

She: “I think I like you very much. You must give me time to get used to you.”
He: “Then it’s yes?”
She: “I suppose so.”

He loves her; she finds him repulsive. She has an affair and after he finds out, he announces they are going into rural China where a cholera epidemic is raging. Is he trying to kill her? Himself? Both of them?

If you read this book, be sure to read this poem by Oliver Goldsmith written in 1766, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog. “The dog it was that died” becomes a key line in the story. (It’s on the web.)

Some lines I liked:

Of her husband: “He did not speak because he had nothing to say. But if nobody spoke unless they had something to say, Kitty reflected, with a smile, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.”

Saddest lines in the book, from her husband: “I never expected you to love me, I didn’t see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very loveable. … What most husbands expected as a right I was prepared to receive as a favor.”

She: “Do you think that the soul is immortal?”
He: ”How should I know?”

On her breakup with the man who seduced her: “You really are the most vain and fatuous ass that it’s ever been my bad luck to run across.”

Of a woman’s restless eyes: “They moved from one part of you to another, to other persons in the room, and then back to you; you felt that she was criticizing you, summing you up, watchful meanwhile of all that went on around her, and that the words she spoke had no connection with her thoughts.”

And I think it’s fair to call this the moral of the story — from a nun serving orphans and the dying in the cholera epidemic: “…the only thing that counts is love of duty; when love and duty are one, then grace is in you and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding.”

In the preface the author even gives us some writing tips: “I think that this is the only novel I have written in which I started from a story rather than from a character. It is difficult to explain the relation between character and plot. You cannot very well think of a character in the void; the moment you think of him, you think of him in some situation, doing something…”

I really enjoyed this book.

Still from the 2006 movie version from movies.film-cine.com
Pulp edition by Pocketbooks 1946 from abebooks.co.uk
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