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3.5 stars
Edith Wharton shows us the world of the upper class in 1870's New York. This elite group had very rigid rules of behavior, social rituals, fashion, and entertaining. There is an element of hypocrisy that existed in some of its members behind their conservative moral exterior.
Newland Archer, a wealthy young lawyer, is engaged to May, an innocent young woman who follows society's moral code. But Newland is very attracted to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has separated from her ...more
Edith Wharton shows us the world of the upper class in 1870's New York. This elite group had very rigid rules of behavior, social rituals, fashion, and entertaining. There is an element of hypocrisy that existed in some of its members behind their conservative moral exterior.
Newland Archer, a wealthy young lawyer, is engaged to May, an innocent young woman who follows society's moral code. But Newland is very attracted to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has separated from her ...more
I read this book back in 2010 and rated it 2 stars. I don't know with what brain I was reading it or what was going on at the time, but I totally missed how wonderful the story was and how well written it was. Most of the novel takes place among the upper class in New York City in the 1870s. It is an opulent world, but it is a closed society ruled by strict adherence to a moral code of conduct. It is a society which is difficult to get into but easy to fall out of. Wharton wrote so beautifully o
...more
Just as Newland Archer is about to announce his engagement to May Welland in 1870s high society New York, her cousin Ellen returns from an unhappy marriage to a Polish Count and Newland promptly falls in love with Ellen.
The situation could be straight out of Tolstoy but the path that the characters take is very different. Wharton stresses the difference between social mores of the 1870s and the early 20th century when she was writing, but from today's perspective the contrast between America and ...more
The situation could be straight out of Tolstoy but the path that the characters take is very different. Wharton stresses the difference between social mores of the 1870s and the early 20th century when she was writing, but from today's perspective the contrast between America and ...more
Aug 08, 2011
Mira
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
Shelves:
up-coming-reads,
american-literature
Mar 01, 2012
Hannah
marked it as to-read
Jan 08, 2014
Caleigh
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
to-read-in-the-near-future
