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29th out of 354 books
—
606 voters
The Buccaneers
Nan and Jinny St George have both wealth and beauty in generous supply. In the New York society of the 1870s, however, only those with old money can achieve the status of the elite, and it is here that the sisters seem doomed to failure.
Nan's new governess, Laura Testvalley, herself an outsider, takes pity on their plight and launches them instead on the unsuspecting Briti...more
Nan's new governess, Laura Testvalley, herself an outsider, takes pity on their plight and launches them instead on the unsuspecting Briti...more
Paperback, 406 pages
Published
October 1st 1994
by Penguin Books
(first published 1938)
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I've fallen in love, readers!
It took me about 12 hours from start to finish to read the last of Wharton's novels, left unfinished for decades and then completed in Wharton's style by scholar Marion Mainwaring. As I mentioned earlier, I've watched the PBS series three times now and there's something about it that gets to me. Perhaps because it's sexier and funnier and looser than what one would expect from the era, and because [SPOILER ALERT:] its ending which actually arises from Wharton's notes...more
It took me about 12 hours from start to finish to read the last of Wharton's novels, left unfinished for decades and then completed in Wharton's style by scholar Marion Mainwaring. As I mentioned earlier, I've watched the PBS series three times now and there's something about it that gets to me. Perhaps because it's sexier and funnier and looser than what one would expect from the era, and because [SPOILER ALERT:] its ending which actually arises from Wharton's notes...more
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Although this novel is unfinished and Wharton would have done a lot of revision, there is still a lot of her wonderful prose and it is very interesting to see her looking back at the 1870s from the 1930s, which in places allow her to be sexually franker than she could in her earlier works. The novel centres on a group of young American women who marry British men and struggle to fit into British high society, and there are some powerfully-drawn characters, including the heroine, Annabel ("Nan"),...more
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it to be a very fast read. I was interested in it because I watched the BBC dramatization - which was heavily Americanized & modernized as it turns out. My chief exposure to Edith Wharton was the very short and quite depressing "Ethan Frome." I found that to be written in quite an impenetrable style and was turned off of her for years - until I saw the film and came across a copy of the book in a used bookstore.
The way she writes in "The Buccaneer...more
The way she writes in "The Buccaneer...more
The synopsis for this 1938 edition for The Buccaneers (appearing above) is completely wrong! Who wrote that?! No swashbuckling pirates, here! Edith Wharton's "novel" was published as a lightly edited, incomplete manuscript in the year following her death. It was sure to have been her masterpiece!
The "Buccaneers" are 5 nouveau riche American girls who, steered by an English-Italian (cousin to artist/poet D.G. Rosetti) governess, "invade" the Bristish peerage in the 'seventies (1870's).
While later...more
The "Buccaneers" are 5 nouveau riche American girls who, steered by an English-Italian (cousin to artist/poet D.G. Rosetti) governess, "invade" the Bristish peerage in the 'seventies (1870's).
While later...more
Although this novel was left unfinished at Wharton's death, it was completed in the 1990's by Wharton scholar Marion Mainwaring and the result is a surprisingly smooth read. Obviously, the result is not exactly what Wharton would have written but it is nonetheless a compelling story with much of the original draft manuscript (reportedly about 75% of the published text) straight from Miss Wharton. The other quarter of the book written with the aid of Wharton's notes and a synopsis she left behind...more
I found out about this because of the TV miniseries and since I love Edith Wharton I was excited to find out about another book--only to learn that she never finished it. But this particular editing is finished by another writer who appears to have done a good job at using Wharton's original outline (and patterns of departure) to complete the last third of the novel. I think I'll go back and read just Wharton's version (if I can find it. It was printed as "Fast and Loose and The Buccaneers" or s...more
Lots of fun and often overlooked, this chronicles the marriage prospects of four daughters of nouveau riche Americans who hope to land cash-poor English aristocrats. After all, new fortunes can’t buy entrance to New York society, but the doors have to swing wide open if the families can boast a duke for an in-law. But can a titled marriage bring happiness? Of course not (at least not always), but the individual journeys make for great reading.
American Royalty would not except the novo Reich St Gorges and Elmsworths. So they had to travel to England to see if they could find an alternative to the American royalty they sought acceptance to society through.
England offered an new society for Virginia, Nan, Lizzie and Conchita to blossom and grow. It also offered them an expectable place to find husbands. All the girls enter into marriages that turn them into the societal socialites that they sought to be in American. However, these marr...more
England offered an new society for Virginia, Nan, Lizzie and Conchita to blossom and grow. It also offered them an expectable place to find husbands. All the girls enter into marriages that turn them into the societal socialites that they sought to be in American. However, these marr...more
Technically I didn't finish this -- that is, I read until Wharton's manuscript ended. I debated reading the added on ending, and decided not too. I read the synopsis Wharton left and it sounds like a happy ending, so I am satisfied. I first heard of this thanks to Netflix -- the show kept popping up in my que. And they were right -- I absolutely loved this, to the point where I'm not sure I'd want to watch an adaption. Granted, it was almost 200 pages before I started to *really* enjoy it, and s...more
The Buccaneers is Edith Wharton's last novel, originally published as an unfinished work, but ultimately finished by Marion Mainwaring (a Wharton scholar who has a Whartonesque name). Mainwaring's end doesn't exactly feel tacked on, but it does feel different; apparently there is another ending out there (at least according to Wikipedia) and I'd like compare. The novel still feels a bit disjointed and unfinished. There is definitely a skeleton, with some bits of muscle and sinews, and even occas...more
Having been badly scarred by the abrupt lack-of-conclusion in Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, I knew I needed to read the version of The Buccaneers with an added ending. I was familiar with the story, having seen the BBC/WGBH miniseries, and looked forward to reading it.
Wharton's style is much lighter than her other works, but with serious issues at stake. In these stories, marriage is not the happy ending on the last page - it is only the beginning. She follows several wealthy young American wo...more
Wharton's style is much lighter than her other works, but with serious issues at stake. In these stories, marriage is not the happy ending on the last page - it is only the beginning. She follows several wealthy young American wo...more
"دزدان دریایی"* کنایه از اشغال آمریکا توسط اشرافیت جاه طلب انگلیسی ست. قصه در آستانه ی ظهور طبقه ی "نوکیسه"*ی بورژوا در فتح دنیای اشرافیت زمین دار، اتفاق می افتد. چهار دختر از خانواده های ثروتمند آمریکایی- کارخانه دار، سرمایه دار- برای "فصل لندن" به انگلستان آمده اند، و هر کدام در شکار جوانی انگلیسی از طبقات بالای اجتماعی- اشرافیت - به نوعی "دزدان دریایی" تازه اند که این بار از آن سوی اقیانوس، برای فتح قاره ی کهنه آمده اند. شادابی و سرزندگی دختران آمریکایی اما، در آغوش سرد اشرافیت انگلیسی، یکی ب...more
Edith Wharton left this novel unfinished at her death, and Marion Mainwaring finished it decades later. I was sailing on toward a 4-5 star rating until I reached that unfortunate transition. Wharton's beginning was wonderful, full of lively descriptions not only of the characters and their thought processes, but also of period elements that make books so enlightening. Mainwaring is a Wharton scholar, from my understanding, and while I'm glad she made it possible for this gem to be published more...more
As is quite often the case, Wharton's later work doesn't quite measure up to her earlier masterpieces, such as Ethan Frome, which is what I would recommend to anyone new to this writer, and being her last (unfinished) novel it lacks the polish of her other books. Marion Mainwaring has done a pretty good job of completing it though.
Wharton has fun exposing the petty snobberies of New York society as well as the pointless traditions of the British class system, as when the Dowager Duchess of Tint...more
Wharton has fun exposing the petty snobberies of New York society as well as the pointless traditions of the British class system, as when the Dowager Duchess of Tint...more
This was a book club read, and I was excited because it falls into my more recent 19th century England genre fetish/obsession!
This book was written mostly by Edith Wharton but she died before finishing it in the 1930s. She left behind a pretty clear outline so someone else finished it for her--an Edith Wharton biographer! (her name escapes me) It was seamless and you would never know that it was written by two people. During the first half of the book, I kept thinking, "snooty, snooty, snotty wo...more
This book was written mostly by Edith Wharton but she died before finishing it in the 1930s. She left behind a pretty clear outline so someone else finished it for her--an Edith Wharton biographer! (her name escapes me) It was seamless and you would never know that it was written by two people. During the first half of the book, I kept thinking, "snooty, snooty, snotty wo...more
Ce roman riche et foisonnant reprend le thème très prisé par Henry James de la rencontre entre la nouvelle Amérique et la vieille Europe. Cette opposition est encore renforcée par le choix de personnages féminins pour les Américains et de personnages presque exclusivement masculins pour les Anglais. Edith Wharton ne s’intéresse d’ailleurs que peu aux hommes dans ce récit, excepté les Thwarte, père et fils, confidents et amis respectifs de Miss Testvalley et d’Annabelle. Le roman se divise en qua...more
Edith Wharton is one of my favorite authors and The Buccaneers is one of the few of her novels I had never read. It is the story of five American heiresses in the later part of the 19th century who move to London to catch aristocratic husbands. It is a typical Wharton tale of social mores, cultural clashes and delicately fraught relationships. It was a nice follow up to Downton Abbey with more emphasis on American ways, and I loved it.
Wharton’s style is exquisite ( Henry James without the long...more
Wharton’s style is exquisite ( Henry James without the long...more
Sep 08, 2012
Ellen B.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Ellen by:
Hairpin Bookclub
Less echoingly sad than The Age of Innocence, which is my... most thorough experience with Edith Wharton, having been read for an American Literature course in college and less sad than my vague memories of Ethan Frome, but it doesn't really change my impression of her work as "beautifully written books about rich people being sad."
The part that I had the most difficultly with in this book were the sudden, unannounced time jumps. The chapter changes and it's two years later and oh, these charact...more
The part that I had the most difficultly with in this book were the sudden, unannounced time jumps. The chapter changes and it's two years later and oh, these charact...more
Based on what I know of Wharton's personal life this story is true to her personal life and experiences. And I can't help feeling sorry for her. She writes like this is the way life is and that it is the same way everywhere and cannot be helped or changed. I understand that times were different then and to some degree I can identify with some of the social moires (some of the rules of entering proper society have not changed all that much) However, I think she is was wrong to make us think that...more
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Quite an interesting story. I didn't know very much about this time period, and the relationship between America & England. Granted, I still don't, but it was an intriguing read. I'm still confused as to why Miss Testvalley & Sir Thwarte couldn't get together in the end - their story felt incomplete, his reactions not supported enough. He's so quick to anger, but then simmers down and actually thinks, that it seemed plausible he'd do the same in this case, but the book ends w/ him just b...more
Edith Wharton died before she finished this book, and this edition is finished by Wharton scholar Marion Mainwaring. I can't even imagine undertaking such a project. What I love about Wharton is her elegant, easy build-ups and drawbacks from the action. The prose is so pretty that you forget that it's also chock full of details, important character development, and foreshadowing. I think Mainwaring did a good job, but it's just not the same. It's pretty obvious where Wharton drops off and Mainwa...more
Did Edith Wharton really intend to write a happy ending to this novel's marriage plot? If so, it was unlike her, and she passed away with a third of the book unfinished. The novel's title,The Buccaneers, refers to young, rich American women who upset Victorian social conventions and conquered the English nobility (Downton Abbey, the prequel)with their beauty and sex-appeal. The ultimate heroine is a woman strong enough to simply walk away from all the spoils she's won. True love does come at the...more
• Mlle Alice, pouvez-vous nous raconter votre rencontre avec Les Boucanières?
"J'avais décidé de découvrir Edith Wharton dont j'entendais souvent parler et j'avais d'ailleurs d'ores et déjà intégré Chez les Heureux du Monde à ma PAL, mais lorsque j'ai vu celui-ci, je l'ai trouvé beau et je me suis dit que pour se faire un avis sur un auteur, mieux valait lire deux de ses oeuvres qu'une seule!"
• Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Cinq jeunes américaines à la recherche de maris et bou...more
"J'avais décidé de découvrir Edith Wharton dont j'entendais souvent parler et j'avais d'ailleurs d'ores et déjà intégré Chez les Heureux du Monde à ma PAL, mais lorsque j'ai vu celui-ci, je l'ai trouvé beau et je me suis dit que pour se faire un avis sur un auteur, mieux valait lire deux de ses oeuvres qu'une seule!"
• Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Cinq jeunes américaines à la recherche de maris et bou...more
I admit to being shocked. An Edith Wharton I LIKE? Impossible.
After The House of Mirth, I was sure I'd never read any more E.W. at all. I LOATHED it. So I made sure this one had a happy ending before I bothered starting it. And, what do you know, I'm enjoying it.
The people are so much more real. They're all different, not just cut-outs of the selfish, greedy, malicious, blah blah blah that Wharton wrote about in Mirth. I like Nan, too - I can't get used to her as Annabel.
I hate that she marries...more
After The House of Mirth, I was sure I'd never read any more E.W. at all. I LOATHED it. So I made sure this one had a happy ending before I bothered starting it. And, what do you know, I'm enjoying it.
The people are so much more real. They're all different, not just cut-outs of the selfish, greedy, malicious, blah blah blah that Wharton wrote about in Mirth. I like Nan, too - I can't get used to her as Annabel.
I hate that she marries...more
This isn't where I'd start if I were new to Wharton because it's a book that was three-fifths complete at the end of her life. The remainder was written to comply with Wharton's synopsis: in the version I read, the final two parts were written by Angela Mackworth-Young based on a BBC dramatisation of the 1990s. It't not a seamless transition from one author to the other, and there are plenty of stereotypical high-spirited American girls and emotionally-stunted English aristocrats. Nonetheless, i...more
I liked/disliked this book. (Is that even possible?) Recommended to me by other Downton Abby fans to offer some insight into the period when "those Americans" come over to that side of the pond and married into the aristocracy, I found "The Buccaneers" at the library and gave it a shot.
Although I liked the characters, I had a hard time getting into the book. Too much detail into things that didn't matter and not enough detail for things that did. Huge plot turners were skipped over but ending a...more
Although I liked the characters, I had a hard time getting into the book. Too much detail into things that didn't matter and not enough detail for things that did. Huge plot turners were skipped over but ending a...more
Oh how tragically romantic. Classic Edith Wharton.
Favorite lines:
"...the greatest mistake is to think that we ever know why we do things...I suppose the nearest we can ever come to it is by getting what old people call 'experience'. But by the time we've got that we're no longer the persons who did the things we no longer understand. The trouble is, I suppose, that we change every moment; and the things we did stay." (page 199--Nan)
"...sent him back to his distaste for marrying a woman who wante...more
Favorite lines:
"...the greatest mistake is to think that we ever know why we do things...I suppose the nearest we can ever come to it is by getting what old people call 'experience'. But by the time we've got that we're no longer the persons who did the things we no longer understand. The trouble is, I suppose, that we change every moment; and the things we did stay." (page 199--Nan)
"...sent him back to his distaste for marrying a woman who wante...more
I've never really tolerated Edith Wharton..the women always seemed to "pine" a bit too much in Age of Innocence, but I picked up The Buccaneers in the spirit of learning more about Downton Abbey period history, and loved it. This is the story of Nan and her sister taking England after being ignored by New York society because of their "new money." They are wildly successful thanks to the guidance of their nanny. They marry dukes and earls and discover the needs of the men, the large estates, and...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Librari...: Hi could you please merge this? | 8 | 31 | Nov 30, 2012 01:14am | |
| The Hairpin: Book Club: The Buccaneers | 6 | 34 | Sep 16, 2012 09:25am | |
| starting to read this | 1 | 15 | May 09, 2007 03:22pm |
Edith Newbold Jones was born into such wealth and privilege that her family inspired the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses." The youngest of three children, Edith spent her early years touring Europe with her parents and, upon the family's return to the United States, enjoyed a privileged childhood in New York and Newport, Rhode Island. Edith's creativity and talent soon became obvious: By the a...more
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“She lay for a long time listening to the mysterious sounds given forth by old houses at night, the undefinable creakings, rustlings, and sighings, which would have frightened Virginia had she remained awake, but which sounded to Nan like the long murmur of the past breaking on the shores of a sleeping world.”
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“And for a long while they stood side by side without speaking, each seeing the other in every line of the landscape.”
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4 people liked it
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