From the Bookshelf of MCLS Reading Challenge…

The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

Finish date: January 13, 2018

Discussion leader: Claire Talbot

Why we're reading this: Loved this book! read by Claire Talbot
[close] Loved this book! read by Claire Talbot

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Jan 13, 2018 Claire Talbot rated it it was amazing

Shelves: claire-talbot-s-2018-challenge, as-the-page-turns, books-i-still-think-about

I think sometimes it is important to revisit the classics just to compare them to our life and communication and writing styles today. My first impression - how our vocabulary has languished over the past 100 or so years! It took me awhile to acclimate to the wordiness of the novel, but I loved the story of Archer and his love, the Countess Oleska. Reading the book has piqued my interest in learning more about "old New York" and the social customs and mores of the 1870's. I can understand how Ed ...more

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Sep 16, 2013 Bridget rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020

The last time I read this was when I was in 11th grade. I had an inspiring English teacher that year-Mrs. Ruch-and she suggested I read it. I remember liking it enough that I did my AP thesis on Edith Wharton the following year.

So when someone suggested we read it for one of my book clubs, I was eager to revisit it. I FLEW through it this time. Some people in our book club didn't enjoy how very specific and detailed Wharton was about fashionable NYC society during the 1870's (some felt that it b The last time I read this was when I was in 11th grade. I had an inspiring English teacher that year-Mrs. Ruch-and she suggested I read it. I remember liking it enough that I did my AP thesis on Edith Wharton the following year.

So when someone suggested we read it for one of my book clubs, I was eager to revisit it. I FLEW through it this time. Some people in our book club didn't enjoy how very specific and detailed Wharton was about fashionable NYC society during the 1870's (some felt that it bogged down the writing and made it almost impossible not to skim certain sections), but I enjoyed that aspect. I felt like I was in very sure hands, that the world she was describing was authentic. I think all of us felt some respect for the characters and how complex they were. None of the main characters were cliche, nobody was "good" or "bad" but wonderfully human, including Newland, a man who wants to challenge the rules of society, but realizes, for bad AND for good, that he is very much a product of the society that made him. I think we got the sense that all of them were trying to do the best that they knew within the confines of a very structured society. We also compared this book to Anna Karenina in their treatment of women and the relationships between men and women. I felt this book was a bit more clear-eyed and mature in those aspects, while allowing that Anna Karenina was much broader in scope and had more philosophical and spiritual observations in it.

While The Custom of the Country may be my favorite Edith Wharton book to date, The Age of Innocence has one of my favorite proto-feminist characters in Ellen Olenska.

Memorable Lines:

Newland: "I want-I want somehow to get away with you into a world where words like that-categories like that-won't exist. Where we shall be simply two human beings who love each other, who are the whole of life to each other; and nothing else on earth will matter."
She [Ellen] drew a deep sigh that ended in another laugh. 'Oh, my dear-where is that country? Have you ever been there?' she asked; and as he remained sullenly dumb she went on: 'I know so many who've tried to find it; and believe me, they all got out by mistake at wayside stations: at places like Boulogne, or Pisa, or Monte Carlo-and it wasn't at all different from the old world they'd left, but only rather smaller and dingier and more promiscuous." (Pg. 290)

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