Very aware of her beauty, Kitty was a young woman accustomed to men fawning over her. She turned down many marriage proposals, looking for the most advantageous one. After several years, a 25 year old Kitty was still unmarried when her younger sister became engaged. In a panic, Kitty accepts a proposal from Walter, a bacteriologist, about to leave for Hong Kong. In spite of hardly knowing each other, the couple married and moved to Hong Kong shortly after. After a few years of marriage, Kitty starts having an affair which Walter discovers. As punishment for her infidelity, Kitty is forced to accompany Walter as he goes into the center of the Chinese cholera epidemic to help as a doctor. Neither of them expect to survive, so it is a sort of suicide. While there, Kitty matures and realizes what is important.
I enjoyed the book but didn't like the ending. It seems like things started going down hill after Walter dies. Kitty is a difficult person to sympathize with. She started out as an overindulged youth and then turns into a heartless wife. There were times, after finding out about the affair, when she says that Walter is evil. Even after realizing she was duped by her lover, she thinks that Walter wants to kill her by taking her into the cholera epidemic. In reality he saved her reputation. She didn't make amends with him until he was on his death bed. Even though she was awful to him, I was secretly hoping that Kitty would fall in love with Walter and things would work out.
1 comment:
I had the same reaction. Now you need to watch the movie. It was so well acted and you'll like the ending better.
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