This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!

Thank you Natalie! :)

Personally, I really couldn't find anything to like about Kitty, and I really didn't think she changed all that much by the end of the novel: yes, she did grow up a bit, but I still don't think she became a 'good' person. To be even more honest, I found that I despised her because she is the exact sort of person that I hate: shallow, stupid, commonplace, second-rate, not at all serious about anything, selfish, vain, and someone who takes advantage of others. While I do feel that she did start to recognize Walter's value, it really bothered me that even then she couldn't love someone who was such a wonderful man and such a kind human being; she was so unappreciative of true value and only appreciated the cheap and the vulgar. It seems like that still happens a lot today: people who are introverted and intelligent but shy, sensitive, and self-conscious are unappreciated despite their worth and yet people who are outgoing, shallow, charming, don't take anything seriously, and don't have a great deal of intelligence are the kind of people that are considered more desirable because they fit into society better, which I think is really sad. Also, it really bothered me that Kitty never took enough responsibility for her own actions and that she always found someone else to blame for the way that she was (e.g., her mother, or even Walter, when she blames him at the beginning of the book, saying it's his fault he didn't have the things to make her love him). Kitty had a horrible mother, but that doesn't give her an excuse for being so cruel to someone who cared so deeply for her: she had absolutely no excuse for the way she treated Walter. Wanting to get married before Doris and be socially acceptable is no excuse for breaking a man's heart; if she didn't love him, she should have just said no and either gone back to one of her old boyfriends or else suck up her pride and be happy for her sister's good fortune. It's not like there were no spinsters during that time: of course I understand that it wasn't as acceptable to be permanently single as it is today, but it's not as though NO ONE ever chose not to marry; it really bothered me that Kitty let what was "traditional" and "acceptable" and "respectable" be the deciding factor in her decisions and thus caused her to break someone else's heart in the process. I see Kitty as being a copy of her mother; the way that Kitty mistreats Walter is just like the way that Mrs. Garstin mistreats Kitty's father, which is kind of funny to me considering how much she dislikes her mother. Plus, they're both socially-minded and don't really care how they treat other people, which also bothered me.

And at the end, when Kitty still doesn't feel any emotion for Walter after everything that he goes through and instead feels relief and peace despite all of the trouble and suffering that she causes him...that was what really did it for me: if she had at least has some sort of warm feeling toward him maybe I would've at least ended up neutral toward her, but despite what she herself says about having changed, she still seems like a low-class spoiled brat to me (although I will concede that I appreciate the way she treats her father, the way she leaves things with Walter supercedes that for me).

I did love the book though---anything that brings out such strong emotions is, to me, a sign of a great work--and I actually went out and bought my own copy three days after I checked it out from the library; it was just that good.

Kitty is a hard character to like, your right about that. But that was the point. Maugham based the characters on a couple he knew and he was pointing out some of the couple's worse attributes. In the end though Walter didn't like Kitty anymore than she liked him. It was very sad and bitter.

It is such a great novel, though. So well written and it really does pull all of your emotion out as a reader. I don't blame you for buying a copy. This is one I'll be keeping around.

Well,I've just finished reading the book after seeing the movie a month ago. It was Edward Norton's seductive acting that drew me into the story and then the honesty of the humanity of the story held me. I read the book in two days. I would have tried for a one day read because I loved it that much. The atmosphere of the novel was intoxicating. Maugham is a favorite novelist of mine. Kitty's character is woven with the delicacy of spider's web. Although we were to view Walter only objectively, I felt I saw behind his veil and could see his goodness, which Kitty was able to see finally. I felt like she was on the verge of falling in love with him and yes, I very much wanted to because I had fallen in love with him. I think she did change completely at the end of the novel and I think she was able to see the gentle greatness in her father because she saw it in Walter. Though because Kitty's father wasn't an established character earlier in the story I found the story took a turn from the 'real' story when it ended with her patched relationship with her father. But then again if this is a story about Kitty, which it is, then this was her journey. It's just that Walter (Edward Norton) was so sensitive and sexual and smart and noble, you wanted Kitty to love him. Maybe I'm saying this because I want it this way, but I think Kitty did come to love Walter; love is not just one thing. And I believe when her daughter grew old enough to hear such stories Kitty told her all about her dear, dear father Walter.
I can see how Kitty was not her own person but her mother's daughter, but she did climb out of it. I thought it a little contrived that her mother died on Kitty's voyage back. But Maugham is a great story teller and you did feel like you were reading a great story. Thanks for posting your review Katie. I enjoyed Natalie's too, though I think I have more sympathy for Kitty, though only because she changed. If she hadn't changed I would have had no time for her.