The Painted Veil

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His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays. I have to say that Walter had a special place in my heart. I love stories with darker themes and am drawn to anti-heroes. There was something so sinister and calculating about Walter that really drew me to him. Kitty was right to be afraid of her husband, even as she knew that he loved her. Walter was kind of a scary guy. First published in 1925, this documents the sad and short marriage of Kitty and Walter and how Kitty’s affair with Charles Townsend changed all of their lives dramatically. Mrs. Garstin is dismayed to realize that her only hope of achieving success is through her husband, and she pushes him relentlessly to success. She also strives to make advantageous connections by inviting important people to their home for dinner, but her tendency to cut corners in the effort to save the most money possible proves at odds with her political ambitions. Her husband never advances very far in his career. The two Garstin daughters have little affection for their father, seeing him primarily as a source of income. Kitty can not respect his love for her. Infatuation has always come easily for her. She has smoldering eyes and a lithe figure that drives men to distraction. ”What was it in the human heart that made you despise a man because he loved you?” That has been a question that has been asked for hundreds of years, if not thousands. What I have ascertained from the minefield of women that I’ve known is that a woman must not like herself very much to despise a man who loves her. It is sad that she considers him to be a fool to marry such a woman as she.

Kitty Fane moved to Hong Kong with her husband, Walter. An incredibly intelligent man, Walter is also socially awkward. He loves Kitty, but is rather unapproachable and aloof. Eventually, Walter grew on me, but he isn't the type of "warm-fuzzy" character that you bond with immediately. From the start, it is made very clear that he is head-over-heels in love with his wife. Kitty visits with her father, a quiet man who is adjusting to a life where Kitty’s domineering mother does not badger him. He plans to take a legal post in the Bahamas, and Kitty begs to go with him. For the first time in her life, Kitty has an honest conversation with her father, and establishes a relationship with him. Kitty plans to raise her unborn daughter as a strong, independent woman.I listened to the audiobook narrated by Joanna Ward, alias Kate Reading. Don’t read the paper book. Don’t listen to an audiobook narrated by another; Reading’s narration is so magnificently well done. Perfect - perfect speed, excellent clarity and exceptionally well interpreted intonations that reflect the respective characters’ personalities. Kitty Fane is a beautiful, vain, upper-class British woman unhappily married to Walter Fane, a bacteriologist working in Hong Kong. She is conducting an affair with Charles Townsend, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, and the two are in her room when the knobs to her door mysteriously turn from the outside. Prior to departing for China, he asks her: " How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode." And eventually, her character grew and her soul was transformed as she found a higher calling in nursing children and admiration for her well-respected if unlovable husband. Pregnant, she told him she didn’t know if it was his or her lover’s but it mattered not, because the husband got written out at this point in a touching deathbed scene.

The more time she spent in the village, the more Kitty came to see the error of her ways. For the first time, Kitty grew to appreciate her husband and even admire him. Though she never really fell in love with him, she finally felt shame and remorse for her actions.Certo, si può interpretare la cosa come forma di vendetta diretta a fare di Kitty una nuova Pia de’ Tolomei. Ma io preferisco la prima ipotesi. Steady on, old girl," Charlie said. "A chap says a lot of things he doesn't mean with his trousers down. You go off with Walter; cholera isn't so bad as long as you don't get it. Must bolt!"