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May 31, 2011

Paul rated it:

Yes indeedy, what could be more jejune than another early 20th century novelist choosing as her subject the problematic relations between the sexes amongst the idle rich? D H Lawrence and Henry James do the same, the first like a big dog gnawing at a bone and finding something it mistakes for God in the marrow, and the latter in his infinite cheeseparings putting the whole thing into the form of a three-dimensional chess game played by sardonic French subatomic particle physicists who you suspec More...

36 comments like (31 people liked it)

Sep 17, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

I saw the film years ago. My mother and I were the only people in the theater laughing. The man behind us turned to his wife and in a loud-but-passive-aggressive-I-wish-you'd-shut-up-voice said, "Is this funny?"

Yes.

Edith Wharton is a lot funnier than people think. It's that intelligent, subtle, dart-like humor that I am so pleased with. This passage, rivals Jane Austen's opening of Pride and Prejudice for combining a witty criticism of her society's absurdis More...

14 comments like (45 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Part of why I love The Age of Innocence so much is for the very reason my students hate it--the subtlety of action in a society constrained by its own ridiculous rules and mores. In Old New York, conformity is key and the upper-crust go about a life of ritual that has no substance or meaning. Both men and women are victims in this world as both are denied economic, intellectual, or creative outlets. All the world's a stage in Wharton's New York and everyone wears a mask of society's creation. More...

2 comments like (15 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2011

Shovelmonkey1 rated it:

Before writing this review I decided to find out a bit more about Edith Wharton. Turns out that she is actually a lot more interesting than some of her books. If you turn to the Wikipedia page (not exactly hardcore research, I know but I'm not in a position to march off to the library and start wading through Wharton's presumably numerous biographies) you'll be faced with a picture of a timid and pretty dour looking lady with two disagreeable looking Paris-Hilton porta-dogs plonked on her knee. More...

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2008

Dini rated it:

This beautifully-written classic tells the story of people trapped in the "eternal triangle of love". Edith Wharton skillfully details the lifestyle, customs and manners of upper-class New York society in the 1870s, in which every family seems to be related one way or another.

Newland Archer, who is engaged to the innocent, conservative May Welland, falls in love with her exotic Europeanized cousin Ellen Olenska. He is torn between following his impulse to be with Ellen, who More...

30 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2008

Matthew rated it:

This is a gorgeous book with some great characters and a special ambience that I haven't experienced in any other novel. Edith Wharton takes the reader deep inside the strange little world of upper-class late 19th century New York, detailing the manners, the attitudes, the rules, the institutionalized hypocrisy, the spectacular beauty and superficiality, and most of all, the lies that everyone must tell themselves and those around them to survive in a tightly regimented culture that has just ba More...

0 comments like (17 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Darcy rated it:

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0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2009

Kathryn rated it:

Excellent! A thoughtful, beautiful, aching and acute investigation of the societal expectations of the elite in 1870s "Old" New York and how they mold one's life without ever allowing one to live his/her own life. Though some of the themes may seem a little "tired" by now, one must remember how fresh and startling this story was when it was first published. And Wharton's style is wonderful. I find it especially interesting that Wharton has chosen a male for her main chara More...

7 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2008

Sera rated it:

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7 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2007

Ruth rated it:

She's got Henry James beat hands down.

R

9 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2011

David rated it:

I hate to do it, but I'm gonna have to pull the "guy" card here: this book was quintessential women's fiction and it bored me. I'm sure plenty of male readers do like Edith Wharton, and it's not like I only read dudely fiction. I find Jane Austen marvelously witty, and while I did not like Wuthering Heights, it at least had dynamic characters and a twisted enough plot to hold my attention. But The Age of Innocence is all wistful self-examination that never goes very deep, and a lot of More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2008

Alison rated it:

"...His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever going to happen."

The Age that Wharton so painstakingly details in her Pulitzer Prize winning novel (she was the first female recipient) is far from innocent. Rather, it is a world where innocence is feined...where old, rich, tight-knit families make and enforce the rules and rigid standards are in place regardi More...

17 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2008

Edan rated it:

At first this novel overwhelmed me with its descriptions of New York society and its oppressive social rules, and the narration felt too on the nose (I get it, I get it: Archer is feeling closed in by these cultural rituals, and he's not passionately in love with his fiancee. I get it!). But this tedium waned once the story got rolling, or it became more nuanced and thus entertaining, and Edith Wharton's prose is enviable the whole way through. Her descriptions of ballrooms and what people are w More...

9 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2007

Katie rated it:

Maybe this book got five stars from me because it has sentimental value - my mother enjoyed the movie enough to buy the tape, which was an extravagance for her, and I grew up watching it over and over again and really enjoying it. Amazingly, I never read the book until quite recently. I had only ever read Ethan Frome by Wharton before, which is certainly a good book, but also sort of an after-school special. (KIDS: DON'T ADULTERATE AND TOBAGGON.) I passionately loved Age, though. Wharton's chara More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Anne rated it:

I'm a sucker for Wharton's books. To me, she is Jane Austen's antithesis. She shows the ugly and sad side to society living. Long-suffering characters are not redeemed and reunited in her world. If you haven't read a Wharton novel: start here. It's the perfect introduction to the teeming world of late 19th century NY society. Your name matters. The names of your closest friends and associates matters. Where you spend your summers matters. Where you lodge when you are in the city matters. More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 28, 2008

Lena rated it:

This elegant novel tells the tale of Newland Archer, a well-bred, well-heeled member of 1870's New York society. At the book's opening, he has just become engaged to May Welland, who he considers an ideal match for a man of his station. Unfortunately, Archer's idealized plans for the future are quickly interrupted by the arrival of May's cousin, the disgraced but charming Countess Olenska.

At first, Archer finds the Countess' willingness to disrupt the ridged conventions upon which More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Eleanor rated it:

I started this, and thought I was going to hate it. Then the book ended up in my bag on a trip into the mountains a week and a half ago, and I spent a couple hours in the hottub with it and a Negro Modelo. Now I must finish. I think it's going to turn out like an American Jane Eyre -- the sexual tension is making me crazy; everyone's so proper that I'm 200 pages in and there's only been ONE KISS between the protagonist and the woman he loves (who is not, as it happens, his wife). Now I have to f More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 30, 2011

S. rated it:

Once again an underwhelming Pulitzer Prize winner. I would have given up but "The Age of Innocence" is one of my father’s favorites, so I stuck it out, hoping for an ironic twist or natural catastrophe or messy and embarrassing suicide.

Lacking intellectual pursuits, weird sexual inclinations and/or worthy and urgent causes, the idle rich are a dull lot, and the calamity of this book is that to the last page Newland Archer’s life goes on as tediously as ever.

Abo More...

13 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2010

Susie rated it:

I loved, loved, loved this book. The writing is splendid, and holds a resonance that long rings in your ears. I wanted to pick out several of the lines and paste them into this review, but there is so many of them, a person just has to read it for themselves.

Written in the early 1900's, the book speaks of "Old New York society" and its very many rigid rules. Newland Archer, our main character, is the embodiment of these rules when the story first begins, and you hate the sm More...

7 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2009

Leslie rated it:

I am not a novel reader; in general I prefer non-fiction especially biographies. However, the National Library Assoc had noticed that the reading of novels was in decline in our country, and has sponsored the reading of Age Of Innocence and discussion groups,and other activities to stimulate this once again. To this end, our island library was giving free copies of this book, along with a study guide, had a speaker come and lead a reading group, and presented the film. I can only be in favor of More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it:

I'm not sure I have sufficient vocabulary to fully express myself about this book. Prior to this afternoon, I would have told you that Stegner's Angle of Repose is my all time favorite book. No more. Wharton's Pulitzer prize-winner is told from the viewpoint of wealthy Newland Archer. It is a love story, but not pure and simple, as nothing in life is truly pure and simple. Even as a reader, we don't always get what we want in life.

So what is "The Age of Innocence"?

More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2009

Maya rated it:

I just finished. The writing is amazing and I loved the unreliable narratorness of Newland. I really felt no envy for his privilege. I really liked the depiction of May, a nice but dull person, and Wharton's explanations of why women ended up Mays were not heavy handed.
I felt like Madame Olenska was a bit of a blind spot. I couldn't see what was so attractive about her. She didn't seem to have any interests. The most fascinating thing about her was her husband.
This was also re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2008

Amanda rated it:

This novel is one of my, or perhaps it is, my favorite novels ever. The plot just captures your heart and trapts it until you are done reading every last page. This is a great book for those interested in New York society during the ninteenth century. The Age of Innocence is a sensational portrait of desire and infidelity in old New York. With vivid imagery, Edith Wharton portrays a modern society time of ballroom dances, gaslit streets, formal dresses, and scandal. Newland Archer’s world seems More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 04, 2008

Robert rated it:

The Age of Innocence was not on my reading list until Emily (my wife) recommended it after reading it for her book club. I didn't know what to expect and was a little apprehensive, but ended up really enjoying it.

Never have I read a book in which every word was relevant, forcing me into the habit of reading very carefully. I find most books lacking explanation in vital places and overflowing with unnecessary explanation in others. Edith Wharton's intelligent writing provided lit More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2011

Catherine rated it:

A tale about the social constraints of high society in late 19th century New York. I came into this looking for an interesting and light read to pass the time but delightedly concluded that it was so much more. As someone who is fascinated by this era in American history, I enjoyed both the historical context and the vividly engaging plot. To sum up this plot, at the forefront is a conforming (or so he thinks) high society young man, Newland Archer, and his tension between the traditionally acce More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2008

Adrienne rated it:

Edith Wharton's writing is so beautiful. So many times I found myself re-reading lines just to wonder to myself how someone can put words together like she does.

I loved this book because of the emotional quandaries I found MYSELF in when trying to decide how to react to the characters. Wharton does a remarkable job of eliciting sympathy from the reader for all three of the main characters, and since they can't all have what they want, therein lies the emotional conflict for the r More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 21, 2008

David rated it:

This book is my favorite Edith Wharton novel. This book was so well written I couldnt even take it. I read this one for an AP Lit class and we analyzed each and every fiber from the book's binding. No book better than this once has come out of Wharton's hands. The ending is so passionate I can't even bear it. The movie was something else, too. Daniel Day Lewis as Newland Archer? Fuck yes.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 17, 2008

Duc is currently reading it

The way Wharton introduces Ellen Olenska is unique. It is a lesson in introducing characters. Ellen is fabulous and lovely and could stop a train with her looks, but Wharton doesn't really devote pages and pages on boring descriptions of her looks. Though she really knows how to make an entrance, Ellen's presence is fleeting. We hear more about her through other people's speculations. Dinner parties are arranged to discuss the ramifications of where she's going to live or who receives her More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 03, 2008

Angel rated it:

Here is what I wrote in my journal at the time I read it:

>>Once I started it, I plodded through it to the end. I had to read it in graduate school. I must say that I found the ending to be a poignant one. I initially resisted the novel because it appeared to be a "teacup tragedy." And the image of the tea cups along with the formal dinners and the social gatherings seem to confirm this. Yet I found Edith Wharton to be more readable than Henry James [I had to read Jam More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Amie rated it:

What a fun book. I have to admit that I was frustrated through most of this book. This was like some Twilight Zone episode. The main character, Newland, was trapped in his own thoughts and ideas and bound by social rules. I enjoyed reading about early New York and the social network of the time period. I also enjoyed Newland's thoughts about women and the injustices society put on them, ie. a man can cheat but it was a woman's fault. The end of the book left me turning the page hoping for mo More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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