The House of Mirth

by Edith Wharton

book data

6,634 ratings, 3.97 average rating, 681 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		34%
4		36%
3		21%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

January 1st 2006 (first published 1905) by Virago Press

binding

Paperback, 352 pages

characters

Lily Bart

isbn

1844082938 (isbn13: 9781844082933)

description

First published in 1905, The House of Mirth shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social, and economic restraint...more

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11/26/07

Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0451527569)

bookshelves: favorites

Lily Bart, the protagonist of Edith Wharton's stunning first novel, is introduced to the reader as a young woman traveling within high society. While her blood and wealth may place her on the fringe of that society, her "pale" beauty (as it is continuously characterized throughout the novel) elevates her within its ranks. Lily is marriage material. And within Manhattan's high society at the turn of the century, women are meant to marry; and in order to marry women are meant to maintain...more Lily Bart, the protagonist of Edith Wharton's stunning first novel, is introduced to the reader as a young woman traveling within high society. While her blood and wealth may place her on the fringe of that society, her "pale" beauty (as it is continuously characterized throughout the novel) elevates her within its ranks. Lily is marriage material. And within Manhattan's high society at the turn of the century, women are meant to marry; and in order to marry women are meant to maintain a reputation of "pale" innocence (indeed, they must).

Lily rarely questions these two fundamental rules that bind her, save on rare occasion in conversation with Lawrence Selden, the man it seems she would marry if the choice were hers, and who stands far enough outside Lily's circle to critique it from an apparent distance. Selden, however, presents Lily with several problems. First, Selden himself is hardly able to separate himself from the rules of Manhattan society, even if he so desired to or so imagined the independence of his perspective. Second, Selden serves as preacher, counselor, and sounding post to Lily with respect to the pitfalls of high society, but while Selden's efforts to take high society off its pedestal strike a chord with Lily, and indeed echo many of her own thoughts, Selden never presents Lily with a viable alternative to the only circle (and the only set of rules) she knows.

The final problem that first emerges from the relationship between Lily Bart and Lawrence Selden is the crux of the novel and the launching point for several pieces of insight Wharton compellingly places within the American cultural dialog. Lily couldn't marry Selden if the choice were hers. (And, perhaps ironically, she likely would not, in any case, as Selden lacks the most essential thing men in high society bring to a marriage -- money.)

Like any fully painted character in a great work of fiction, Lily Bart is a woman of substantial intellectual and emotional force. Indeed, given the extent the reader is aware of the goings on inside Lily Bart's head, it can be surprising to step back and remember the novel's narrated in the third person.

Lily, viewed in isolation, is more than situated to grab control of her life if that control were hers to grab. But because she does not live in isolation, control is not hers. Her will is usurped at almost every turn by the societal forces around her; which among other things make her will all but moot. While an argument could be made that Lily has a knack for making choices that reflect upon her poorly, she is defined nonetheless far more by the perceptions of those around her than by any sense of self she seeks to, or by happenstance does, affirmatively present to the world. And in light of the rules that bind her, her reputation -- never in her hands -- spirals downward as the novel progresses, most often via external rather than internal forces. Absent her reputation intact, that Lily is meant to marry becomes meaningless. Her purpose and place within Manhattan's high society slip from her hands as, trying at least to retain her dignity, she chooses not to act on her own behalf when the opportunities are before her and otherwise, and perhaps always, lacks the choice to act on her own behalf as a byproduct of her social milieu.

The House of Mirth is remarkably tragic. At times, it feels as though too much is going wrong for Lily Bart a little too often. But the totality of the narrative, and Wharton's prose, combat what may be the novel's single shortcoming. Wharton's novel surfaces from many contexts. Two are telling, or at least were to me upon reading The House of Mirth. First, Lily Bart retains her outer beauty throughout the greater part of the novel, despite her internal struggle to maintain a grip in the face of near free fall. Her inner world, as she feels it, and as others perceive it, becomes dark as her "pale" beauty persists. Sadly, her inner life is all but wholly divorced from her outer reality. Thus, in Lily Bart's unfortunate transformation within the novel the saliency of maintaining superficial appearances is brought to the thematic forefront. A theme present in both The House of Mirth and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray -- cast differently, but not without similarities. Second, The House of Mirth shines a bright light of reality upon Transcendentalism. At minimum, Wharton illustrates that self-determination and self-reliance are one thing when you're living in a cabin in the woods, growing beans, and contemplating existence during solitary sojourns around Walden Pond, but quite another in the company of others -- particularly a circle of others fixated upon a set of mores or, more strictly, rules. Reaching further, perhaps, Wharton exposes a stark line between the wherewithal of men and women in American society to "go Thoreau". In other words, The House of Mirth may temper Transcendentalism by portraying the profound influence of the company one keeps on reaching into oneself and, beneath that, the harsh reality of being a woman within that company.

The House of Mirth is one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century.(less)

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12/29/07

Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0486420493)

bookshelves: best-books-ever

This book has inspired my next tattoo. That is some fine literature. (And I am sure that if Edith Wharton were alive today, she would appreciate the tribute.)

I have this theory that the mark of great literature is that no matter how many times you read it, you can always plausibly hope, as a reader, that things might turn out differently in the end. Not that the actual ending is wrong; it's just that the character of Lily Bart is so alive for me, I seriously believe she might make a ...more

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08/16/07

Ashley rated it:

I started this book earlier in the year, but couldn't really get into it. As it turns out, the book gets really interesting at about the exact same place I stopped reading before. I'd recommend this book for all of the "Jane Austen Haters" out there (and I keep stumbling onto them for some reason), because the ending would probably please you. It's not as pretty as it would be if Austen wrote this. I've heard this book described as a brilliant commentary on upper class society, but...more I started this book earlier in the year, but couldn't really get into it. As it turns out, the book gets really interesting at about the exact same place I stopped reading before. I'd recommend this book for all of the "Jane Austen Haters" out there (and I keep stumbling onto them for some reason), because the ending would probably please you. It's not as pretty as it would be if Austen wrote this. I've heard this book described as a brilliant commentary on upper class society, but because of the negative press that many upper class or just wealthy socialites receive (and quite deservedly so) today, that wasn't really what struck me about this novel. Yes, that commentary was certainly present, but for me, this novel was more about struggling to find what you truly want amidst the pressures of life and society. And I think we can all relate to that feeling of being pulled from many directions. In that sense, this book has impacted me more deeply than many I've read lately.

Lily Bart is a young socialite whose future hangs in the balance: at 29, many of her younger acquaintances are already married and established. Her financial well-being is dependent upon an aunt with whom she has a distant relationship. Her beauty and her charm appear to be enough to secure her a wealthy marriage, but every time Lily sets her sights upon a gentleman, she does something to hinder the proposal from happening. This is the physical manifestation of Lily's dilemma. Part of her wants to marry for wealth and comfort, and another part of her realizes that she will never be satisfied with such a marriage and lifestyle.

Maybe I'm a little dense (or I'm the product of too much Austen), but I would've expected this dilemma to continue and for Lily to maintain her social position, while ultimately deciding which of the two lifestyles (material wealth or intellectual stimulation) is best for her. But that's not what happens. We watch Lily plunge down the social ranks until she finally ends up as a working-class woman. This occurs because of some of her own actions, but also because of a lack of action on her part: when rumors are spread about her, she does nothing to defend herself. Complicating the matter is the fact that defending herself would require her to stoop to the level of those who slandered her. But every time she considers this path of action, her relationship with Selden, an attorney who has chosen intellect over wealth, keeps her in check.

I think I'll stop there, because I don't want to ruin the ending of this book for anyone. But it's definitely worth the read, even if some of the descriptions are a little tedious. Wharton creates a character that the audience can connect to, which I especially appreciate after reading a couple of novels that lacked this.(less)

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03/29/08

Maggie rated it:

I need to clarify here. Did I love it? No. Would I read it again. Probably. Would I recommend it to others? Probably. Did I recognize that it was beautifully written? Of course. The nuances of every thought, every move were so beautifully told. Do I realize the important part the book played in advancing the lives of women. Well yes. I guess I just wasn't fully engaged in the book. It didn't take me away. I just kept thinking "Oh you stupid woman." I also just may have i...more

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02/16/08

Martine rated it:

bookshelves: early-twentieth-century, film, modern-fiction, north-american, psychological-drama

Read in September, 2000

recommends it for: people who like good, insightful parlour drama

I love books about people who perish for staying true to their principles, regardless of what these principles are. I also love books which make me wonder what I would have done in the hero/heroine's situation -- whether I would have given in to temptation or let my better self prevail. So I love Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, which delivers on both counts, and then some.

The House of Mirth chronicles the rise and fall of Lily Bart, a stunningly beautiful late-nineteenth-century ...more I love books about people who perish for staying true to their principles, regardless of what these principles are. I also love books which make me wonder what I would have done in the hero/heroine's situation -- whether I would have given in to temptation or let my better self prevail. So I love Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, which delivers on both counts, and then some.

The House of Mirth chronicles the rise and fall of Lily Bart, a stunningly beautiful late-nineteenth-century socialite whose fortune sadly doesn't match her looks. Raised to believe beauty and fun are all that matters in life, Lily has trouble reconciling herself to her reduced circumstances. She realises she has to marry a rich man to keep up her current lifestyle, and doesn't lack for wealthy admirers, but each time she comes close to making a good match, she sabotages her prospects. Partly this is because she is unconsciously in love with a man who sadly has no great fortune to put at her disposal; and partly it's because despite her increasingly urgent need of money, she is too snobbish and refined to bring herself to marry a man who offends her aesthetic and social sensibilities. So far, so Jane Austen, but Wharton wouldn't be Wharton if she didn't add some venom to the story, and some tragedy, too. Rather a lot of tragedy, actually.

The House of Mirth can be read on several levels. First of all, it's a parlour drama in the grand style of Jane Austen and Henry James (but more modern than either). Secondly, it's a love story -- a very tragic one indeed. Mostly, though, it's a critique of a society that creates women like Lily -- a society in which well-bred women are not taught to be independent, but rather to be just charming and beautiful enough to ensnare a wealthy man whose fortune they can then squander without any moral compunction. It's a critique of a hypocritical society in which married women (and men) can do as they please, but unmarried girls like Lily Bart have to be very careful indeed. Lily's Gilded-Age New York is a society in transition -- a society in which old manners and morals are increasingly being replaced by money and conspicuous consumption. On the outset, Lily seems to be part of a fast, shallow and profligate modern crowd, but as the story unfolds, the reader discovers she is not quite so corrupted as she seems. She still has some Old New York values left in her: naïveté, loyalty, chastity, discretion, and most of all, dignity. Needless to say, modern society being what it is, these old-fashioned values prove to be her undoing. Even when she is dealt a card with which she could turn a distinctly disadvantageous situation to her favour, Lily refuses to use it, choosing instead to suffer in silence and penury. Whether this is because using her trump card would place her on a par with the morally bankrupt people who make up her set or because she is too weak and exhausted to put up a fight is anyone's guess, but it makes for interesting speculation. And for introspection, for one inevitably ends up wondering how one would have behaved in Lily's position. Provided one would ever have found oneself in such a position in the first place, for unless I'm very much mistaken, most sensible women would have married Selden a few chapters into the book and dispensed with the rest of Lily's adventures. But that wouldn't have left Wharton with much of a story, would it?

Wharton's first novel suffers from a minor overdose of melodrama and may be a bit too heavy on descriptions of parties and social events for those of us who don't particularly care about such things, but in all other regards it's a triumph. As a depiction of an era and of changing upper-class society, it's as powerful as anything Wharton ever wrote, although the social satire isn't as scathing as it is in The Custom of the Country. As a portrayal of a tragic heroine, it is quite simply superb. For all her blindness and ineffectiveness, Lily is an excellent protagonist -- witty, socially astute, an asset to any assembly. If she has a spectacular talent for making bad decisions, it only serves to make her more likeable. For that is the amazing thing about The House of Mirth -- the reader never quite loses his sympathy for Lily, despite her obvious flaws. Wharton may satirise the society that has produced Lily, but she never goes so far as to satirise Lily herself, which makes her fate all the more tragic.

The House of Mirth may not be Wharton’s best novel (I think I prefer both The Age of Innocence and The Custom of the Country), but like all her work, it's eminently readable -- beautifully written and full of acute social and psychological insights (particularly into Lily's position). If it's only for people who like flawed heroines and tragic endings, so be it.
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04/22/08

Laura rated it:

bookshelves: classic

Read in January, 1996

So depressing I had to read two Nancy Drew mysteries afterward to cheer up. This is Edith Wharton’s other masterpiece, a Gilded Age tragedy of the beautiful and charming Lily Bart, who is trained only to be an ornamental wife — a big problem if you care who you marry and you’re dependent on relatives for money. Although essentially honorable, Lily does have her share of weaknesses and more than her share of bad luck. Assisting her inevitable downward trajectory is a society full of opportu...more

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08/18/07

michael spencer harmon rated it:

(review of isbn 0553213202)

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: those appreciative of reality; history; the independent, maturing, or American female mind.

9/26: An introduction and a few pages in, and already one should knows whether they will love it or hate it; I am of the former. What wit!

9/27: Indeed, sarcasm begins with Edith. Hilarious! It makes one wonder how many people actually read her work thinking she was somehow in favor of this lifestyle - which just supposes to make the reader's laughter more frequent.

10/1: Wharton obviously spent a lot of time paying attention to symbolism, character development and how to u...more

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01/23/09

Jenn rated it:

(review of isbn 0460873970)

Read in February, 2009

I absolutely loved this book. I remember really enjoying Ethan Frome in High School, and, while I haven't read The Age of Innocence, I love the film, which gives such wonderful life to Wharton's words. When I started reading The House of Mirth, I kept hearing the narration in the voice of the Narrator from the Age of Innocence film. Then I began to realize how different this novel was. While the Age of Innocence shows how stifling the social aspects of upper crust New York society can be, t...more

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10/09/08

Tyler rated it:

(review of isbn 0486420493)

bookshelves: 20th-century

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Tyler by: Top 100 reading list
recommends it for: All; Literature Fans

Superbly written naturalism. The words fit together in sentences like gemstones in a jewelry setting.

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09/09/08

Amelia rated it:

Read in October, 2008

There were elements of this book I enjoyed, but I really couldn't force myself to get into it. For all that Lily Bart was a somewhat interesting character, I couldn't force myself to care overly much about her-- until maybe the last 3 chapters (and those last three chapters are probably why I'm not rating this as two stars). Also, the plot seemed to just go in a circle through the entire novel-- Things are about to go well for Lily. Lily finds a way to sabotage things for herself. UST with S...more

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08/23/08

Kim rated it:

Read in October, 2008

recommends it for: Leslie, Brittany

This book stunned me. I had no idea that Edith Wharton was so brilliant. I remember reading Ethan Frome in high school and thinking it was just way too depressing. I love reading authors as an adult and finding their prose luminous and wise...it makes you realize how little you knew as a teenager. Maybe we shouldn't even read classics in high school...I digress.
The thing that struck me about Wharton is her ability to dissect the female mind with a cold and objective accuracy. She has an al...more This book stunned me. I had no idea that Edith Wharton was so brilliant. I remember reading Ethan Frome in high school and thinking it was just way too depressing. I love reading authors as an adult and finding their prose luminous and wise...it makes you realize how little you knew as a teenager. Maybe we shouldn't even read classics in high school...I digress.
The thing that struck me about Wharton is her ability to dissect the female mind with a cold and objective accuracy. She has an almost masculine ability to separate herself from feminine motivations and to point out the cruelty and self-absorption of the character of Lily Bart. She seems to put Lily in a petri dish and pick her apart; Lily's ambition for wealth, her instinct for self-preservation, her inability to see the needs of the people around her, all are magnified for the reader. However, Wharton is also able to temper this examination with a compassion for Lily's vulnerable parts; we are able to hurt with her, to know her painful struggle to express love, we know all too well this inability ourselves, and so we must forgive her this weakness.
***Spoiler Alert***
The second thing I took from this book was a sense of something lovely and tragic that takes place between a man and woman. There seems to be a timeless lesson at work: no man and woman in relationship can ever surmount the ultimate barriers that keep them from true understanding. Lily and Selden seem poised to unite repeatedly in this novel, but they always fail, they never love each other at the same moment, they never understand the other's motivations fully.
The editor of my edition suggests that there is an indictment of Selden's unwillingness to save Lily as she is poised over the chasm of ruin. Wharton had her own dissappointments with the men in her life and seemed to have written this frustration into the character of Selden. I beg to differ on this point, because Lily seems to take her fair share of the responsibility for the failure of their relationship. In the end, she chooses not to press herself on Selden again, because she knows the moment is past, he can never surmount his pride again after all the pain and rejection she has dealt him.
This is the one spot where I feel Wharton fails: the last couple of pages show an overweening need for resolution. But this resolution is not to be had. Wharton tries to force on us a sense that love triumphs through death, and that Selden is at peace, that he can finally speak the word of love he was seeking. But there is no such thing as love after death; Lily is gone, and there is no satisfaction, no peace... and so in my opinion, there is no union, which is part of what defines love.

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08/20/08

Misfit rated it:

bookshelves: 19c-lit

Read in January, 2007

"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth" Ecclesiastes 7:4 KJV. Hence begins the story of Lily Bart, raised from birth with no other purpose in life than to be a beautiful ornament to society. Lily is left with little money of her own and must rely on family and friends until she can make an advantageous marriage. Unfortunately, she makes some poor choices in life which diminish her social status, which eventually leads her to ...more

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07/30/08

Jee Koh rated it:

(review of isbn 0140187294)

Read in August, 2008

Undecided

It's hard to feel any sympathy for, or identification with, Lily Bart. Moving among the nouveau riches of New York City, she aspires to marry someone wealthy. In her better moments, she wishes to transmute the money into something finer in life, to create beauty. But, more often, she wants the money in order to lead a life of ease, to escape from her horror of shabbiness. Unfortunately, Lily seems to own the knack of sabotaging her own well-laid marital schemes. Her eventual...more Undecided

It's hard to feel any sympathy for, or identification with, Lily Bart. Moving among the nouveau riches of New York City, she aspires to marry someone wealthy. In her better moments, she wishes to transmute the money into something finer in life, to create beauty. But, more often, she wants the money in order to lead a life of ease, to escape from her horror of shabbiness. Unfortunately, Lily seems to own the knack of sabotaging her own well-laid marital schemes. Her eventual friend Mrs. Fisher describes her well, in terms which explain Wharton's project in this novel. "Sometimes," Mrs. Fisher says, "I think it's just flightiness--and sometimes I think it's because, at heart, she despises the things she's trying for. And it's the difficulty of deciding that makes her such an interesting study."

Lily's difficulty in deciding should give rich tragic material, but the novel seems undecided whether to be a tragedy or a satire, and so its view of Lily is wavering, and its judgment uncertain. It's never clear to Lily, and to the reader, what the alternative to the vanities of society is, besides some abstract ideals of beauty and taste. Her limitation appears to be not only her society's, but also, damagingly, the novel's own.

The novel tries to embody the alternative in the person of Selden. However, this romantic hero, despite his learning and taste, is a limited creation. For someone praised for his ironic detachment from materialistic and frivolous society, he spends a lot of time, in the novel, in that society. We don't see him in any other contexts, not in his legal profession, not in some like-minded company, with the exception of genuine but dull Gerty Farish. His attitude towards the social circle of the Van Osburghs, the Trenors, and the Dorsets is, at best, ambivalent.

"I don't underrate the decorative side of life. It seems to me the sense of splendour has justified itself by what it has produced. The worst of it is that so much human nature is used up in the process. If we're all the raw stuff of the cosmic effects, one would rather be the fire that tempers a sword than the fish that dyes a purple cloak. And a society like ours wastes such good material in producing its little patch of purple! Look at a boy like Ned Silverton--he's really too good to be used to refurbish anybody's social shabbiness. There's a lad just setting out to discover the universe. Isn't it a pity he should end by finding it in Mrs. Fisher's drawing room?"

As a critique of that society, surely Selden's judgment is overly forgiving and near-sighted. Despite its use of manufacturing and economic terms (produced, used up, process, raw stuff, wastes, good material), it does not see the actual workers who temper the sword or dye the cloak. Its sympathy lies, instead, with a silly, sentimental upper-class boy like Ned Silverton, whose worst possible fate is ending up in a well-appointed drawing room. And despite its talk of fire and sword, the man himself is not particularly energetic nor active in pursing his goals in life; what those goals may be we are not told, but we are told who his favorite author is.

His limitation shows up again in his view of Lily. A marvelous scene in the novel is the tableau vivants put up as part of a lavish entertainment. Lily appears in the last tableau, as Reynolds's "Mrs Lloyd," a choice which shows off her natural beauty, and her natural taste.

The noble buouyancy of her attitude, its suggestion of soaring grace, revealed the touch of poetry in her beauty that Selden always felt in her presence, yet lost the sense of when he was not with her. Its expression was now so vivid that for the first time he seemed to see before him the real Lily Bart, divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part.

The passage is not intended to be satirical, but serious. But how can we take seriously Selden's judgment that the artistically arranged Lily is the real Lily Bart, that, enmeshed in the expenditure of the tableau vivants, she is "divested of the trivialities of her little world"? More subtly, how can Selden, the perceptive man, not suspect that beauty has its evil aspect as well as its good?

The limitation of the romantic hero, and thus of the alternative offered to Lily Bart, marks one limit of the novel's moral vision. Another marker is the depiction of the Jewish social climber, Rosedale. Much of his unflattering depiction may be laid at the door of the society to which he is so eager to gain entrance to. But some of it shades too easily, too indistinguishably, into the narrative voice, and leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth. (less)

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04/30/08

Anna rated it:

bookshelves: novels

Read in May, 2008

I had the great delight of hosting a friend over the weekend. We knew each other throughout college, lived down the hall from one another, and constantly figured in the other's socializing--but somehow, the two of us never grew close. That's what happens when you move within a circle of mutual friends for years.

Well, by Sunday, we agreed that our friendship had grown startlingly stronger. And I'll wager that this happiness is, in part, due to Edith Wharton.

I've had a copy...more I had the great delight of hosting a friend over the weekend. We knew each other throughout college, lived down the hall from one another, and constantly figured in the other's socializing--but somehow, the two of us never grew close. That's what happens when you move within a circle of mutual friends for years.

Well, by Sunday, we agreed that our friendship had grown startlingly stronger. And I'll wager that this happiness is, in part, due to Edith Wharton.

I've had a copy of The House of Mirth on my shelves for years. I had picked it up on the cheap, certain I wanted to read it eventually, but 'eventually' never came to be now. So there it sat.

On Saturday afternoon, as Friend and I lazed around, he took it from my shelf and began reading. I was reading something else, and so we lazed--vocally. Friend piped up with thoughts on the life of Miss Lily Bart, or asking about a word that neither of us knew, that demanded look-up. And it didn't take long before us two twenty-somethings laid out our Saturday night plans in the city: Go to a bookstore, find another copy of The House of Mirth, and read it together til closing at 11 p.m.

I tell you, it was fraught; this is a great book that I viscerally responded to. So engrossing is the tale of Lily Bart and New York society at turn of the twentieth century, we ended up bringing that second copy home and continuing to read til 3 a.m (there was a short spaghetti break). And beyond pausing to puzzle about word definitions, we exchanged passionate analyses about Lily's plight--and drew personal connections. It was Wharton's novel that provided the triggers for Friend and I to share our own stories; Lily's life suffocated by social rituals, the rule of money, the business side of love, appearances and family led us to start talking about how our own lives are affected by the same. So, while the reading went on for a startling eightish hours, the conversation went well into dawn.

And so, not only am I grateful for a novel that's captured my attention (thoughts on the opinionated narrator, scene pacing, and how the reader is instructed to position herself another time), but I'm grateful that spending my Saturday evening reading opened out a deeper friendship.

Oh, Edith, will your gifts never cease?(less)

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03/12/08

Debbie rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, read-more-than-once

Read in January, 2002

A great book! And one of the most beautifully written in my opinion. Every sentence Edith Wharton pen's is poetry-some of the analogies and metaphores she uses just floor me! I think I have half of the book underlined/highlighted.
Set amongst the affluent society of the New York upper-class during the turn-of-the-century, she tells the story of Lily Bart; A young woman of 29 set on marrying a rich husband. Lily is in a constant battle with herself, torn between the luxurious lifestyle of...more

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11/11/07

sera rated it:

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: everyone

I was inspired to pick up this book when a 50 year old female director that I worked with in NYC did not know who Edith Wharton was. Mind you, this woman is rolling in dough, top of her respective game. I guess I thought that people who make it in NYC, especially in that age group, have a clue about art and the world. Boy, was I totally wrong.

The irony of the situation is that this book is all about NYC high society in the 1800's. Sure enough, the people that inhabit the world ...more

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08/19/07

Alexa Apallas rated it:

It's amazing how contemporary this book still feels today. Lily Bart, a privileged young woman, finds herself dependent on the kindness of friends once her family fortune is ruined. She longs for independence, but her social position and her desire to maintain the lifestyle she once knew keep her from living life on her own terms. Her desperate need to remain in society, combined with her distaste for some of its strictures, eventually leads to her downfall.

Although today's women ca...more

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08/18/07

Eric rated it:

bookshelves: peteredout

I completely soured on this by the end of Book I and start of Book II. I really don't want to finish it, but I might when in a better mood. The melodrama of Gus Trenor's attempt on Lily's virtue and of Lily's flight to Gerty really disgusted me; that's not the Wharton I like, the lofty and relentless social anatomist who wrote 'The Age of Innocence.' It was horrible to see Wharton's cool, classic prose break down into the exclamation marks and fervid dashes of a romance novel. In addition to the...more

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05/24/07

Sara Hacker rated it:

(review of isbn 0393959015)

Read in January, 2003

"The cleverest girl may miscalculate where her own interests are concerned, may yield too much at one moment and withdraw too far at the next: it takes a mother's unerring vigilance and forsight to land her daughters safely in the arms of wealth and suitability."

I read this book in college for a senior seminar class. Then I read it again at age 28. With the second reading, I had different view of the book because I was the same age as the main character, Lily Bart. Poo...more

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01/18/09

Margaret Ellis rated it:

(review of isbn 0030110459)

I read Ethan Frome about a year ago, and loved it. This was similar in a lot of ways. I really enjoy the way Wharton deconstructs the behavior and thoughts of her characters in the absence of much actual action. The House of Mirth gets deducted points for it's incredibly sappy ending.It makes me think I should give Henry James another shot. I tossed a short story collection of James after The Turn of The Screw failed to be even slightly creepy to me. But hey, I'm older, wiser, and for some reaso...more

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"He knelt by the bed and bent over her, draining their last moment to its lees; and in the silence there passed between them the word which made all clear." More quotes...