The Painted Veil

De: W. Somerset Maugham

Narrado por: Kate Reading

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, this beautifully written character study is an affirmation of the human capacity to grow, change, and forgive.

The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but shallow young Kitty Fane, who marries for money rather than love. When her husband, a quiet doctor, discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to a remote region of China ravaged by a cholera epidemic. There, stripped of the British society of her youth and overwhelmed by the desolation around her, Kitty’s conscience begins to awaken.

As she takes up work with children at a convent and experiences some of the burden her husband has taken on, she and her husband begin to rediscover each other in a new light. When her husband is tragically killed, Kitty is forced to return to England to raise her unborn child. Though it is too late for her marriage, she has learned humility, independence, and at last, how to love.

(P)2006 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Kate Reading does a phenomenal portrayal of Kitty…[and] creates the aura of a full-cast production, switching effortlessly between characters…Reading is a performance pro. Winner of the AudiioFile Earphones Award.”

(AudioFile)

“Though her story is set in the 1920s, Kitty Fane could easily be an image-obsessed Instagrammer, kicked offline and forced to face reality. There’s something endlessly recognizable in her evolution, brilliantly captured by Kate Reading.”

(Audible.com (audio review))

“Reading conveys the feeling of a stuffy tea party set among smug guests. Kitty is at once self-absorbed and reflective, while Walter is both restrained and simmering.”

(Booklist (audio review))

“[Reading’s] intelligent, expressive performance makes her characters of either gender most convincing. She fully captures the irony that defines Kitty.”

(Kliatt (audio review))

“The Painted Veil, with its sadness, its moral tension, its irony and compassion, its building evocations of lust and terror and remorse, is a work of art.”

(The Spectator (London))

“The portrait of Kitty Fane is one of Maugham’s finest fictional achievements.”

(Selina Hastings, author of The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham)

Devastating Beauty

The beginning chapters of this book had me expecting a far different type of story than this turned out to be. The metamorphosis of complex characters who can--and sometimes do--make important steps in life was told with such candor and sensitivity that I find myself quite astonished about how it was done. The book was in no sense difficult to understand, yet its messages are quite rigorous and profound. I would highly recommned this novel, author, and excellent reader to anyone who (like myself) hopes someday to think and grow up into an insightful and gracious soul.

1925 to Now . . . Some Things Never Change

Vain, selfish, puffed up . . . and unable to see beyond the end of her own nose, Kitty Garstan, is pretty and has drawn the attention of plenty of eligible young men . . . but having turned them all down, and now at age 25 and about to pass into spinsterhood according to her mother, she feels pressed to accept the proposal of young bacteriologist, Walter Fane . . . he has fallen quite madly in love with her . . . though his shy, backward ways amuse her . . becoming wife to Dr. Fane at his post in Hong Kong seems a fitting station to Kitty . . . so it is that she accepts Walter's proposal . . . society life as the life of a bacteriologist is not what Kitty had hoped . . . and she soon begins an adulterous affair with the Colonel Charles Townsend, the Assistant Governor of Hong Kong . . . an older fellow, who, like Kitty, suffered much from an over inflated opinion of himself . . . thinking herself to be in love for the first time in her life, Kitty overlooks the obvious . . . i.e., the fact that Charles is happily married, that he spends WAY too much time preening in front of the mirror, and that his WIFE is the one with the brains in the family . . . and suave Charles feeds Kitty's ego, like candy to a baby . . . with all the "I love you's" and "I will never let you down"s until one could upchuck at the sheer idiocy of it . . . and low and behold, poor naive Walter . . . who has loved his wife with a never ending love, expecting nothing in return . . . well, he isn't the country bumpkin one would have imagined . . .(I do hate that the author did not delve further into Walter's own emotions from this point further, other than to show his bitterness . . . I am going to watch the movie, as other reviewers have noted that the conclusion is different) . . . from the time that Walter confronts Kitty with her cheating and their move to China, the story changes greatly . . . and so do Walter and Kitty . . . the relationship of Kitty with the nuns and children, the work of Walter with the Chinese dying of cholera, the story of Waddington and the Manchu Princess were all wonderful . . . but as Kitty grows and finally realizes the worthlessness of Charles, his shallowness, her own foolishness, and begins to see the kindness of her own husband, she is yet to truly VALUE it . . . to LOVE him . . . to understand the GIFT of him . . . the ending is a hard one . . . brutal . . . but leaves hope for Kitty to yet learn and grow with her father and her child.

Wonderful!

A wonderful story with excellent narration. This is the first classic novel I have listened to via audible. I so enjoyed the characters and the thoughts of the novel.

Surprisingly deep and thoughtful...

A breathtakingly beautiful look into the depravity of the human condition. Wretched and shallow Kitty takes us on an enlightening journey thru her narcissistic world and beyond.

Brilliant journey into the psyche of superficial

Wonderful classic for demonstrating transformation into a person of character. so worth listening to. Bravo.