The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
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The Valley of Decision
The Valley of Decision
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Week 6: The Valley of Decision
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Lori wrote: "What did you think of the endings for our characters?" Well, the ending was one of the more interesting aspects of the book. Not a happily ever after, although I guess I never anticipated that would happen. Not surprised that Fulvia was the one to bite the dust as it was appropriate for Odo to flee the mobs of citizens whose rights he had once championed and for Gamba to accommodate his well-intentioned boss...
Lori wrote: "The book's premise was ultimately Odo's search for his own identity. What was Odo’s identity,.."
Odo ends as an on-the-run member of the royal class which I think reflects Wharton's intent in her ending - that members of the ruling/upper-class may rebel somewhat to the values of their class, but revert to those values when push comes to shove.
My problem was some confusion in how Odo got there. He was ready to sign the constitution until Fulvia, influenced by the Duchess cautioned him against it. At that time, it sounded like both sides didn't want him signing it, as the radical element appeared to want to get the rights themselves and not just be granted them by a divine ruler.
For Odo, it seemed like he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. To me his reversion to the "old values" was not because of a great belief in these values but just a belief in inertia after becoming disillusioned by the unexpected response from the radical forces. But the whole of Odo's motivations is unclear to me, especially I may be seeing things that weren't Wharton's intent.
Lori wrote: "Did you enjoy the book overall?"
No, not that much. However, the ending section was definitely better than the first half. It moved fluidly and had some interesting, if ambiguous, events.
Lori wrote: "If you’ve read other books by Wharton, how do they compare?"
This will rank at the bottom with other 3 star Whartons. As I also gave both her 2nd novel, The House of Mirth and earlier written (1890s) novella Bunner Sisters 3 stars, I definitely have a tendency to prefer her more mature work.
Mod
I did have one prediction from early on that turned out to be false. When Gamba named himself Brutus, knowing that Odo would eventually be in a position of power, my thought was "uh oh." And then later in the book, when he became a closer confidant, but with a lot of bitterness, I fully expected an actual "Brutus" moment in which he might end up killing Odo or otherwise orchestrating his downfall. But he actually did everything he could to get Odo to do the right thing (i.e., what the workers wanted) and allowed him to escape when he did not.
I'm on the University of Chicago Press mailing list, and they provide a free ebook most months. Usually, it's not something that interests me enough to break into my too-large reading queue, but I might have to read the one they just offered today: The Frankenstein of 1790 and Other Lost Chapters from Revolutionary France. I like the history of this period but find it confusing.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/...
Thinking back on the book as a whole, I can’t help but observe that it was peopled by a large cast of one-dimensional characters. A reader who tried to track all of them would need a cast list, but not to worry, all but a few were forgettable. The only character who developed—who materially changed—was Odo. We got to know him as a fictional person, and were privy to his thoughts, feelings, and aspirations. Yet when Fulvia died Odo lost his way. She was, so to say, the wind beneath his sails; without her … he was adrift. As I noted in my post last week, Fulvia represented Odo’s better nature, the personification of the the man he wanted to be. With her gone, his efforts to relieve the exploited ended and he left the running of the state to Trescorre, Fulvia's antithesis. And then, finally, he abandons the Dukedom.Odo was a complex character: born to the nobility but raised by peasants, intellectual, hedonistic (sort of), idealistic, pragmatic in some ways, perceptive, impressionable, a lover (sort of), a depressive. Going back to the title of the novel, it seems to me that Odo made only one independent decision—only one decision not prompted by others—and that was the decision at the end to accept his noble birth and to join his fellows in battle against the French invaders and the ideas they carried.
In my opinion the book as a whole didn’t hold together very well. It struck me as a mishmash of different types of novels. It began as a pastoral novel describing the beauties of nature, of county life and country people. Then it abruptly shifted gears and became a royal court novel with self-involved and frivolous characters, intrigues and suspicions, capriciousness, and superstition. Alongside this ran a novel of ideas beginning with the Academy of the Honey-Bees thru Odo’s final decision. Then comes the Venetian novel of decadence which Wharton lingered on longer rather too long (although I expect it sold books.) And then we find inserted at random a fragment from an English traveller’s diary, a jarring break in narrative flow. Mercifully the novel became more coherent in the second half of Book 3 thru Book 4, which are the better parts of the narrative. This being Edith Wharton I feel I should assign a high Goodreads rating to the novel. However, the book has the earmarks of a newer writer trying on different styles and types of novel. The descriptions are beautiful, but the characters are underdeveloped and the story line confused for much of the book. A good editor with a sharp red pencil would have helped. This being so, the most I can manage is 2 stars.
Since my post yesterday, I've had second thoughts. I was, I think, too harsh. What I called different types of novel could be just as well, and perhaps more properly, be described as episodes. I still think the novel doesn't hold together very well, and my overall opinion has not changed.Disagreements welcome.
Mod
Lori and Gary, you have summarized the problems with this novel much more eloquently than I could have. I will definitely read more Wharton, but this story was a slog. In her eagerness to give the reader insight into Italian history, she forgot that the lives and emotions of her characters are what make the story.
Nice discussion. I'm posting my review which I wrote back on June 28th. I mention the date because some of the sections of my review sound like ideas I lifted from the recent discussion posts in this thread. While I didn't, as I kind of allude to in the review, some of what Gary said in previous discussions did influence my assessment of this book.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Overall it was ....
A sub-par book by an above-par author (and personal favorite) AND
A sub-par book with an above-par discussion.
So an above-par experience overall.
Thank you, Lori. On to the Verne, where I am currently at the center of the Journey to the Center.
The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910
Books mentioned in this topic
The House of Mirth (other topics)Bunner Sisters (other topics)
What did you think of the endings for our characters?
The book's premise was ultimately Odo's search for his own identity. What was Odo’s identity, ultimately? Did he choose the way you thought he would or wanted him to?
Did you enjoy the book overall?
If you’ve read other books by Wharton, how do they compare?
(Check out the Wikipedia page for Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars for an overview of the context Odo was in near the end here.)