Claudia Putnam's Reviews > The Age of Innocence

I'm sure I have nothing to add to the reviews that have gone before me on this one. What a wuss you are, Newland Archer, and I'm sure the author shares my sentiments. Sadly, I don't think New York society changed all that much, though perhaps the markers for snobbery did, a little. So the wave of optimism at the end was a bit premature, I thought. Then again, the Crash was still on the horizon. You kind of take some pleasure in imagining the complete downfall of many of these families; if only such misfortune wouldn't affect the rest of the world and all the regular people as well. It is kind of sad to realize how whatever invisible means of support is propping these families up is actually good for ordinary people at some level (this is not at all the subject of the book, just my musings, in light of the Great Depression that will follow about a decade later...), that capitalism, though it produces this yuckery, is somehow working overall, or is better than not having the markets working. Is there something in between?