Listened to the abridged audiobook... can only imagine how many pages I would have skipped if I was reading it. The long descriptions of her gardens, the passages in untranslated French, the relationships among the Paris haute monde who I never heard of... there were many times I know I zoned out. I did enjoy, however, the analysis of her books, which I haven't read in a long time and long to go back to, although I can't because of the endless schoolwork. I was disappointed by Wharton's snobbishness, her haughty attitude to her publishers, her superiority over the Americans she chose to no longer live with. I don't begrudge her the choice to be an expatriot, to embrace all things French, and to live her life the way she wanted to live it. But in this biography, at any rate, she came across as terribly arrogant. I don't read novels because I like the author as a person, though, at least not as a general rule, so I don't think this insight into Wharton's character will make me less of a fan. It seems like the wittiest people tend to be insufferable on a personal level.