The Age of Innocence in Never too Late to Read Classics

Aug 14, 2017 Chrissie rated it did not like it

Shelves: usa, audible-uk, hf, classics, 2017-read, returned, love, disliked

I am dumping this after listening to half. I cannot bear it another minute longer. My displeasure is with the book. I have no criticism whatsoever with how the audiobook was read. David Horovitch reads the audiobook very well.

Edith Wharton does accurately depict upper class NYC society of the 1870s. I will even go so far as to say her depiction is astute. We are delivered "The Gilded Age" in miniature. It was Mark Twain who coined the phrase in the 1920s saying that the last decades of the 19th I am dumping this after listening to half. I cannot bear it another minute longer. My displeasure is with the book. I have no criticism whatsoever with how the audiobook was read. David Horovitch reads the audiobook very well.

Edith Wharton does accurately depict upper class NYC society of the 1870s. I will even go so far as to say her depiction is astute. We are delivered "The Gilded Age" in miniature. It was Mark Twain who coined the phrase in the 1920s saying that the last decades of the 19th century had been a period that glittered on the surface but was corrupt underneath. And sad. Life is no longer to be lived joyously but restricted by senseless social mores. So, I am not criticizing Wharton's depiction, I am merely voicing my opinion that the book in its total accuracy is a book without zest. Love is without passion, boring and insipid.

Newland Archer is to marry Mary Welland. She is pretty and it is a perfect society match. Or is it? When you are head over heels in love do you need to convince yourself that what you are feeling is love? In comes Mary's cousin, Ellen Olenska, separated from her husband the bad Count Olenski. Do you hear my mocking tone? Good! The story is predictable from the start. On dumping the book, I (view spoiler)

If I am going to be given a love story I want passion.

At the start, I was hoping that Ellen´s scorn and disregard for convention might possibly save the story. No, she wasn’t enough. Wharton's message is for me only a veiled critique rather than an outright condemnation. Look at the title - Age of Innocence! The book was the author’s twelfth novel, written after the First World War when she was in her fifties. Wharton’s nostalgia, love of and for times past, robs the book of vigor.

In that I have given the two books I have read by Edith Wharton, this and Ethan Frome, both one star, ~~I will not be reading more by this author~~. I have gone on and read more. Summer I have given four stars, The House of Mirth three and her short story Xingu three too. ...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, librivox, e-books, fiction-20th-century, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, book-and-movie, read-2008

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by the famous American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine Pictorial Review.

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Feb 01, 2017 Rachel rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, phoebe-reads-a-mystery

Perhaps my introverted nature is the reason that I so enjoy books where people are polite on the surface but all full of emotions underneath. I also like stories where peoples desires are constantly being repressed by societal constraints. I read Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth and loved it even though the end is incredibly depressing. The Age on Innocence has similar themes but without the dark ending.

Newland Archer is a young gentleman from one of the best families in New York society in t ...more

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Jul 01, 2009 Natalie rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics

I have had this book on my shelf of to read books for years and I finally tackled it. I was told by several it was boring but I found it fascinating. It was interesting but frustrating to watch the characters so bound by society rules. And the end made me angry. I enjoyed Ellen because she was the only character who seemed to be able to fit in society and yet not be bound by it as much. There is not much action, it is a book about what people think and how they act.

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Dec 27, 2015 Charlotte Clementine rated it liked it · review of another edition

At the beginning of the story you witness Newland opening his eyes and realizing how hypocritical and oppressive Old New York society is, especially to women, and, naively, you root for him to break the mold. And that's precisely what this story is about, the struggle between what you feel is right and natural and the ideas that have been ingrained in you since childhood.

I was disappointed by several parts of the plot, that I won't discuss here, and by the rhythm of the novel, which I found desp ...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Ellen Librarian rated it liked it

I enjoyed this book quite a bit but I would have loved it if the characters
had felt more three dimensional rather than like stick figures there to demonstrate the author's social commentary. ...more

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