From my diary when I was 22 (in 2000): 
 "This is about a pretty, superficial girl who turns down many suitors who aren't 'good enough,' until her younger sister gets engaged. Then she marries the next guy who proposes. Etc...She ends up having an affair and when her husband, who loves her madly, finds out, he orders her to accompany him to a cholera-infested city in China. He's a doctor. Originally he takes her there for revenge, but realizes he really doesn't want her to die. The point of the story is about the girl: she had the scare of her life. She really thought she was going to die. But she doesn't. She changes from superficial to noble. She realizes that her affair meant nothing to her lover, and when she works at an orphanage with nuns she becomes compassionate and strong." 
 2008: I first read this book when I was twenty-two and I remember feeling happy for Kitty when she is "free" from her marriage. Reading it again at thirty, I am ashamed that I had felt nothing for the poor husband. Poor guy! Makes me wonder if I was vain like Kitty. But I also loved how she came to realize how vain she was and tried to change. I saw the movie this year which is beautiful (Ed Norton and Naomi Watts). I liked it even more than the book. 
 After reading it again at 30 I wrote: 
 An English society girl, feeling the pressure to be married, weds a stiff scientist who takes her to China, where she has an affair with a British colonist. When the husband finds out, he forces her to go with him to a cholera-infested village in need of medical help. At first she hates him for it, but then she starts to see him in a new light (hey, he's brave and he's helping all these people). She also sees a different side of life from the hardships of the village, and helping at the orphanage. For the first time, she has a desire to be a good person and have a meaningful life. This book is about redemption, failing, and forgiveness.