The House of Mirth in Reading with Style

Jul 24, 2011 Paula rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001

Dear Ms. Wharton,

I recently finished your book, The House of Mirth and am once again left disappointed. I so very much want to love your books. Your style of writing is beautiful and real, but the characters, oh the characters! I feel like I get to know them so well, and feel such hope for them, only to be crushed down at the end!

Let us not start with Lily Bart as that would be jumping in rather hastily. First, let's discuss the handsome Lawrence Selden, that book-loving, philosophical lawyer wh Dear Ms. Wharton,

I recently finished your book, The House of Mirth and am once again left disappointed. I so very much want to love your books. Your style of writing is beautiful and real, but the characters, oh the characters! I feel like I get to know them so well, and feel such hope for them, only to be crushed down at the end!

Let us not start with Lily Bart as that would be jumping in rather hastily. First, let's discuss the handsome Lawrence Selden, that book-loving, philosophical lawyer who sees Lily for the woman she is, not the creature society created. From the early stages, I had hopes that LS would be the slightly impoverished hero, who saves Lily from herself and damns society in the process. But, no! How quickly he is turned away, and falls out of love (or so he thinks) just because he sees something and jumps to a rash conclusion. If ol' Larry were half the man I thought he was, he would have believed more in Lily, and denied the rumors thrown at him. When she needed him most, he turned away. At the end, he still doesn't come through in time, and I think it's appropriate that he will live with this regret in his future.

"Society" - how dull, gossipy, boring, and spiteful they all seem! Is that the point you are trying to make? I can't help but wonder if you were once shunned by society in a similar fashion and have determined to exact your revenge through your writing. If that is the case, then can you have just one woman who doesn't care about whether or not she is society's darling, and one gentleman who is actually looking for a monogamous, committed relationship instead of all those spineless dolts who want a mistress and who don't have the hutzpah to stand up their own wives?

Now, Lily. Poor, expensive toy named Lily. Was she just a symbol for the potential in all woman to deny marriages of convenience and hope for actual love. Was she meant to come across as so indecisive and shallow? It seemed that every time things got rough, she went off on a luxury vacation that her friends, whom she often disliked, paid for. She seemed like a bit of a high-priced, if virginal, prostitute, unfortunately. I had such hopes for her but they were ultimately dashed.

There was one remarkable character, however; Gerty Farrish. She was smart, charitable, independent, strong, caring, and good. Of course, since she had neither money nor looks, she was relegated to the role of unmarryable old maid, subject to have her "friend" cry out her miseries while she actually tried to do good in the world.

Now, I know this may all seem a bit harsh, and I may be missing the point, but this is my third book by you, and I have yet to come to a full appreciation of your novels that a writer of your stature deserves. That is not to say I am giving up, merely that I'm watching, very carefully, for that hidden gem, that little bit that makes a reader think of an author with a heightened sense of awe. I think you may have it, and I shall continue looking.

Til then, requiat in pace, Ms. Wharton, until we meet again.

Your devoted, yet skeptical reader,
Paula

P.S. Where was the mirth? ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Chinook rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, america, 500-women, 1-kindle

Lily should be a character one hates and yet she's so sympathetic. I really felt for her, in her thwarted attempts to succeed in society, in her thwarted love, in her sad end. And the bit with the sense of falling asleep with the baby in her arms - that slayed me.

Read in Seoul, July 2005. ...more

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Jan 04, 2021 Penny (Literary Hoarders) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it, audiobook, audible-owned, books-read-in-2020

3.5 stars -- this is good, fairly dry but it's Eleanor Bron's narration that makes this so great in audio. I could listen to her all day long! ...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, kindle, early-20th-century, classics, women, author-wharton-edith

I'm so torn about this book. Wharton, of course, writes beautifully. But, except for a few pages toward the end - and not the ending itself - she did not evoke an emotional response from me. Other than that, I was pretty much disgusted with the content.

Some people have commented that Lily Bart is a memorable character. I hope I do not remember her, for she is the most vain and shallow creature in print. The life she leads is vain and shallow. That was the point, I suppose, but shallowness doesn' ...more

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