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The Painted Veil

W. Somerset Maugham

Start date: July 1, 2013

Finish date: August 1, 2013

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Book Concierge

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Classics Corner

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What Members Thought

Sep 30, 2008 Ruth rated it really liked it

I read this as an audiobook, right after The Abstinence Teacher and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, both of which were so poorly written I couldn't finish them. Coming into Somerset Maughm's lucid prose was like being let out of a cage. ...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was ok

Shelves: location-china, read2009, furman-link-bookclub

I know this is supposed to be a novel about love, redemption, and growth, but to me it was a case study on how choices for women were severely limited. It really just made me angry, not to mention the racist depiction of every Chinese character. I'd skip it. ...more

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Jun 21, 2013 Mary Ellen rated it it was amazing

I thought this was a great book. When we meet Kitty Fane, she is a shallow, flighty young woman who has had the misfortune of marrying a man who bores her and whom she makes no attempt to understand or engage. Her husband forces her to come with him to a distant city suffering a cholera epidemic after he catches her in an affair. There she begins to come into her own as a woman of depth and conviction. All of the major characters are well drawn, complex human beings. The writing is understated y ...more

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Nov 11, 2007 Sharron rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics-fiction

This book was quick to read, not just because of the length but because the story and writing were so engaging. It follows the life of Kitty, an English woman who marries a physician named Walter. It is a marriage, at least on her part, of convenience and not of love. Walter is stationed in Hong Kong where Kity joins him. Kitty eventually has an affair with an officer who also happens to be married. The affair is discovere by Kitty's husband who retaliates by forcing her to travel with him to a ...more

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Sep 02, 2007 Dottie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own

I love this one -- and though the two are not totally in sync -- love the film as well. Maugham has been on my favorite authors list since I was in my early teens --- and he stays there in a pretty steady spot over time -- I re-read his works on occasion and always enjoy doing so.

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