W. Somerset Maugham first published the Painted Veil in 1925. The work has long been lauded as a nuanced character study and compelling portrayal of human growth. The basic plot line revolves around Kitty, a shallow woman who married for all the wrong reasons. After she ends a failed affair, her husband lays out a severe penance: she must accompany him to inland China where he will work to solve a cholera epidemic. Having left herself few other options, Kitty does so, and the results of this venture are all too human for both husband and wife.
I must admit that overall I found the book tiring and contrived. Perhaps this is because too much time has passed, and my worldview is too different from that of Kitty’s. I can’t imagine getting married young because I felt compelled to do so by society, to a man I never had feelings for, and then having nothing to do in life but endless parties while following my husband around the world. Even beyond the set-up of the story, I found the character development to be a bit unexplained. While risking her life to cholera, Kitty begins work at an orphanage and discovers some kind of deeper meaning of life. However, Maugham doesn’t explore what that meaning is or how precisely we get from orphans to an internal change in Kitty. Without exploring the connection, I saw only an overused trope that helping the less fortunate makes one a better person.
One good thing I will say about the book is that it’s one of the few I’ve read where the woman is the stronger character. Kitty’s husband, Walter, appears rather flat in comparison to his wife. I certainly commend Maugham on this point, even if his portrayal of Kitty’s character seems itself a bit hackneyed at times to a reader nearly 100 years later.
The World Through Books 