Book 69: Finished.

"There is only one way to win hearts and that is to make oneself like unto those of whom one would be loved," (179).

I don't know if I can write my final thoughts on a book that has so deeply moved my emotions. I shall try, but I am not making any promises that this post won't be fully of gushing fan-girldom, or mild spoilers (nothing that will ruin the book for you, but I will say a few key plot points that happen within the first 100 pages).

I left off in my first post by saying that after Walter discovered Kitty's affair, he accepted a position working in the middle of the cholera epidemic to treat the illness' victims. Kitty had been an opportunity to go and talk to her lover, Charles. If he agreed to divorce his own wife and take care of her, Walter would let her go. If not, Kitty had to leave with Walter and go into the heart of the epidemic.

It isn't a surprise to the reader when Charles outright rejects her. What more would you really expect from a man who is already married and holds a high government position? I think I would have been shocked had he said, "Yes, Kitty, I will divorce my wife and marry you." I think we all know that if you are silly and stupid enough to have an affair with a married man, he will never leave his wife for you. Why would he? So I knew that Kitty would be traveling with her husband, who now seems to despise her, into the heart of the epidemic.

And you can imagine how much it hurts when, once there, they Fanes befriend another man in town, who knows Charles and his adultrous ways. And while I certainly didn't live Kitty and her unfaithfulness to Walter, it stung me when their new friend Waddington and Kitty have the following conversation about Charles:

"'She doesn't take his flirtations very seriously?'

'Oh, no, she knows they don't go very far. She says she'd like to be able to make friends of the poor little things who fall to Charlie; but they're always so common. She says it's really not very flattering to her that the women who fall in love with her husband are so uncommonly second-rate,'" (101-102).

Ouch, right? To think that this man loved you and would care for you, but to hear an opinion about yourself like that? Ouch.

At first I didn't feel sorry for Kitty. She brought this pain on herself and her husband. By having an affair and being unfaithful, didn't she deserve some kind of pain? But as the novel progresses, and the realities of the epidemic hit Kitty, she begins to grow up. Probably for the first time in her life, she begins to realize that she did wrong. She begins to see that Walter is a good man, too good for her.

"Waddington too thought highly of Walter. She alone had been blind to his merit. Why? Because he loved her and she did not love him. What was it in the human heart that made you despise a man because he loved you?" (125).

Kitty continues to change. Alone, with no one but Walter, she turns to a local convent to find peace in work. She tries to help those around her, and in turn, begins to change herself. The reader can see her struggles to understand what she did, the pain she caused herself and Walter, and we begin to hope for the ending we want. We want peace and happiness for both of them, don't we? We want Kitty to see that she had a great and glorious man in front of her the entire time, and that he is entirely deserving of her love.

"'You know, my dear child, that one cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul,'" (138).

I don't want to give away what happens, or the transformation that takes place in Kitty. But I was deeply moved by what happens, and in the manner of Maugham's writing. It is beautiful. If you want to read something that will truly move you down to your core, look no further than this.

"'Remember that it is nothing to do your duty, that is demanded of you and is no more meritorious than to wash your hands when they are dirty; the only thing that counts is the love of duty; when love and duty are one, then grace is in you and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding,'" (206).

Book 69: First Impressions.

I forced myself to stop reading this novel long enough to write about my first impressions. If I hadn't stopped, I knew I would forget to mention how wonderful this novel is at a first glance.

I already know that I am in love with Maugham's writing. I cannot even begin to explain how beautiful it is. Every word, every sentence creates such glorious imagery and emotion that I want to cherish every page I turn. It is simply wonderful.

Before even beginning the novel, I made sure to read the preface. There I found this little passage I want to share with you,

"I think 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; so that the character and at least his principal action seem to be the result of a simultaneous act of the imagination. But in this case the characters were chosen to fit the story I gradually evolved; they were constructed from persons I had long known in different circumstances," (5-6).

Since I write a little on my own, I love to see how these authors craft their stories. I think that is one questions that all writers are asked: Where do you get your ideas? And I don't think there ever is a full answer to that question. Sometimes stories just happen, other times they are forced, and there are more times when a person pops into your head and says, tell my story.

But I think that in this case, it means a lot that the story came first, because this is a powerful kind of story, and one that is so incredibly moving. It opens on a scene with Kitty Fane and her lover, hiding in a room as the doorknob is twisted and turned in attempts to open it. When the moment passes, Kitty is certain that it was her husband checking on her. Her lover thinks she is overreacting and soon leaves.

The problems and history begin there. When Kitty was a little younger, she always had men around her, courting and loving her. She was never in a hurry to marry, but when her younger sister fell in love and landed quite a catch, Kitty felt the urge to marry as well (and before her sister). That is when she settles for Walter Fane, a man who is very much in love with her, but not a perfect match. Where Kitty is flighty and social, Walter is much more serious and intellectual.

They move away to Hong Kong for Walter's work, and that is when the affair starts. So determined not to see any of the good in Walter, Kitty find little faults that bother her. She dwells on them and soon falls for Charles Townsend, a higher up in the colonial government.

It is the fact of Kitty's swelling on Walter's inevitable faults that has really impacted me. My mother always told me growing up when I was dating, and as things got serious with Matt, that you cannot change a person to be who you want them to be. Their little faults and habits will always be there. You must learn to accept them or move on. This passage (long) really captures that. Here Walter is confronting Kitty,

"'I had no illusions about you,' he said. 'I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed. But I loved you. I knew that your aims and ideals were vulgar and commonplace. But I loved you. I knew that you were second-rate. But I loved you. It's comic when I think how hard I tried to be amused by the things that amused you and how anxious I was to hide from you that I wasn't ignorant and vulgar and scandal-mongering and stupid. I knew how frightened you were of intelligence and I did everything I could to make you think me as big a fool as the rest of the men you know. I knew that you'd only married me for convenience. I love you so much, I didn't care. Most people, as far as I can see, when they're in love with someone and the love isn't returned feel that they have a grievance. They grow angry and bitter. I wasn't like that. I never expected you to love me, I didn't see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very lovable. I was thankful to be allowed to love you and I was enraptured when not and then I thought you were pleased with me or when I noticed in your eyes a gleam of good-humored affection. I tried not to bore you with my love; I knew I couldn't afford to of that and I was always on the lookout for the first sign that you were impatient with my affection. What most husbands expect as a right I was prepared to receive as a favor," (66).

This passage just got me when I was reading and I had to stop and breathe before moving on. I don't know how Walter could be with a woman who clearly doesn't love him, but still love her as much as he does. I could never be in a relationship like that, and I am so glad that my own marriage is filled with a lot of love and communication. But you have to respect Walter for trying as hard as he can to accept Kitty, with her faults, and sacrificing pieces of himself to make it work.

Because isn't that what you do for someone you love? You sacrifice things for their happiness to make it come first? I think so. And Walter knows that. But Kitty is so young and selfish that she doesn't know that.

So when a few pages later her own heart is broken by the equally selfish Charles Townsend, I don't feel for her. I don't even feel for her when Walter packs her things and takes her into the heart of the cholera epidemic in China. Perhaps now she will realize that you cannot be selfish in a relationship or is doomed from the beginning. Of course I don't know what will happen, but I have an idea.

And with that, I need to go finish.

Book 69: The Painted Veil and Book Stats.

Title: The Painted Veil

Author: W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

First Published: 1925

My Edition: Vintage International (Seen at left)

Pages: 246

Other Works Include: The Magician (1908), Of Human Bondage (1915), The Razor's Edge (1944)

I had to replace one of the titles on my book list, since I had a repeat. James Joyce's "The Dead" is a short story found in The Dubliners, so there was no reason to have it on my list twice. Since I had nothing by Maugham on my list, I asked Amanda at The Zen Leaf for her recommendation on which Maugham title to add. I had never read anything by him before and since she has reviewed quite a few of his titles, I figured she would know where to begin.

She suggested The Painted Veil as a great place to start instead of the more well-known Of Human Bondage, so on to the list it went! When I went to go get a copy, I read the "blurb" and knew I needed to read it right away. There is something about this novel that is calling to me. I love the main character's name, Kitty Fane, and the setting in Hong Kong. I am expecting great things from a book that is "...a beautifully written affirmation of the human capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive."

Have you read anything by Maugham? What did you think?

Book 4: Author Criticisms.

I like knowing how authors view the work of other authors. I think what they have to say about another’s work reflects on their own. I also find it humorous to see whether I agree or disagree with what they have to say about books and plays that I consider to be my favorites.

In my edition of Pride and Prejudice, there are a number of quotes in the back from other authors about her work (this is a fun addition to the Barnes and Noble Classics Editions, of which I own many and really like). Austen is obviously well-known and her work is loved. So in addition to the praise, I also wanted to post some of the more…scandalous things that other authors had to say about her work. Many of these authors are on my list and whether I have read their work or not, their words will be on my mind when I finally get around to their pieces.

Enjoy.

Lady Byron:

"I have finished the Novel called Pride and Prejudice, which I think a very superior work. It depends not on any of the common resources of novel writers, no drownings, no conflagrations, nor runaway horses, nor lap-dogs and parrots, nor chambermaids and milliners, nor rencontres [duels] and disguises. I really think it is the most probable I have ever read. It is not a crying book, but the interest is very strong, especially for Mr. Darcy. The characters which are not amiable are diverting, and all of them are consistently supported."

Charlotte Bronte:

“Anything like warmth or enthusiasm, anything energetic, poignant, heartfelt, is utterly out of place in commending these works: all such demonstrations the authoress would have met with a well-bred sneer, would have calmly scorned as outré or extravagant. She does her business of delineating the surface of the lives of genteel English people curiously well. There is a Chinese fidelity, a miniature delicacy, in the painting. She ruffles her reader by nothing vehement, disturbs him with nothing profound. The passions are perfectly unknown to her: she rejects even a speaking acquaintance with that stormy sisterhood ... What sees keenly, speaks aptly, moves flexibly, it suits her to study: but what throbs fast and full, though hidden, what the blood rushes through, what is the unseen seat of life and the sentient target of death--this Miss Austen ignores....Jane Austen was a complete and most sensible lady, but a very incomplete and rather insensible (not senseless woman), if this is heresy--I cannot help it.”

Walter Allen:

“More can be learnt from Miss Austen about the nature of the novel than from most any other writer.”

Sir Walter Scott:

“Also read again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen's very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!”

Anthony Trollope:

“"Miss Austen was surely a great novelist. What she did, she did perfectly. Her work, as far as it goes, is faultless. She wrote of the times in which she lived, of the class of people with which she associated, and in the language which was usual to her as an educated lady. Of romance, -- what we generally mean when we speak of romance -- she had no tinge. Heroes and heroines with wonderful adventures there are none in her novels. Of great criminals and hidden crimes she tells us nothing. But she places us in a circle of gentlemen and ladies, and charms us while she tells us with an unconscious accuracy how men should act to women, and women act to men. It is not that her people are all good; -- and, certainly, they are not all wise. The faults of some are the anvils on which the virtues of others are hammered till they are bright as steel. In the comedy of folly I know no novelist who has beaten her. The letters of Mr. Collins, a clergyman in Pride and Prejudice, would move laughter in a low-church archbishop."

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's novels at so high a rate, which seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, imprisoned in their wretched conventions of English society, without genius, wit, or knowledge of the world. Never was life so pinched and narrow. ... All that interests in any character [is this]: has he (or she) the money to marry with? ... Suicide is more respectable."

E.M. Forster (who wrote A Room with a View which I just finished and loved):

“I am a Jane Austenite, and therefore slightly imbecile about Jane Austen. My fatuous expression, and airs of personal immunity — how ill they sit on the face, say, of a Stevensonian! But Jane Austen is so different. She is my favorite author! I read and reread, the mouth open and the mind closed. Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers.”

Mark Twain (who has many things to say about many authors—remind me to mention his hatred of Cooper when I get to it):

“To me his prose is unreadable -- like Jane Austin's [sic]. No there is a difference. I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.”

“I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”

And my favorite, from W. Somerset Maugham:

“Nothing very much happens in her books, and yet, when you come to the bottom of a page, you eagerly turn it to learn what will happen next. Nothing very much does and again you eagerly turn the page. The novelist who has the power to achieve this has the most precious gift a novelist can possess."