The Age of Innocence in Never too Late to Read Classics

May 13, 2020 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-fiction, proofreading, e-books, free-literature, read-2020, fiction-20th-century, gutenberg

Free download available at Project Gutenberg

I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

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

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 06, 2017 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, classics, pulitzer

4.5 stars.

Edith Wharton told the tale of a love triangle which is not a story that would normally entertain me. I am not a fan of romance novels. But this book is such a lovely story that pushes its protagonist to make choices that are difficult -- and choices that are very real. Newland Archer is not a typical protagonist. He is more flawed, and therefore more real. He is often hypocritical, sometimes sexist and almost always weak-willed. I like that about him, because humans aren't perfect. We ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

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.

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 03, 2025 Kate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-romance, historical-fiction, 19th-century-literature

"What Can You Expect of a Girl Who was Allowed to Wear Black Satin at Her coming Out Ball?

"Into the exquisite drawing-rooms of New York society in the 1870s returns Ellen Olenska. Mysterious, European, she is an object of rumour and speculation and, unusually in these select circles, the word 'divorce' is whispered about her marriage to a rich Polish Count. To Newland Archer, tenderly in love with May Welland, Ellen's charming presence is a temptation and something to be resisted -- if he can.

"O ...more

Like · see review

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

Like · see review