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snutedute's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ultimavaleth's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
cogee87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
gabingy's review against another edition
4.0
Me dejaron mal con ese final. Pensé que aún quedaba otro capítulo pero creo que también es de los mejores finales que la autora pudo haberle dado. No me gustan las infidelidades pero vaya que cada momento entre Archer y Ellen me hacía gritar por más, pese a que nunca llegaron muy lejos. No saben cuánto me encantó toparme con un clásico escrito por una mujer que cuestione tan abiertamente a la sociedad y los prejuicios de los roles de género de la época. Me dan muchas ganas de volverlo a leer en algún momento.
Canciones de Taylor Swift que son muy acertados con el libro: High Infidelity e Illicit Affairs; pero me encanta sobretodo que a pesar de la atracción que sentían Ellen y Archer, nunca llegaron a cruzar la línea. Es que eso lo hace tan hopeless romantic y me encanta.
Canciones de Taylor Swift que son muy acertados con el libro: High Infidelity e Illicit Affairs; pero me encanta sobretodo que a pesar de la atracción que sentían Ellen y Archer, nunca llegaron a cruzar la línea. Es que eso lo hace tan hopeless romantic y me encanta.
mansfield_park's review against another edition
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
knitnetic's review against another edition
3.0
Those who know me well may be aware of a long-standing rule of mine: always read the book before you see the movie. It was this very rule that brought about the reading of this book, as a certain friend has been after me for months to watch the Martin Scorsese film based on this book.
I have to say, this book was hard to start. Set in 1870's New York, the book builds a world full of social characters and mores different from any I've ever known - this is, in fact, one of the central themes of the story. In its pages, Wharton tells the story of Newland Archer and May Welland, a young couple who get engaged in the first chapters of the tale. Newland, a young man just out of a disappointing and somewhat scandalous love affair, is sure that the innocent May is just what he needs as a wife. Yet, as he gets to know May better, he begins to wonder if this is in fact true - if, perhaps, the only benefit of her innocence is "that he might exercise his lordly pleasure in smashing it". His acquaintance with May's cousin Ellen, a woman who has just left her wealthy European husband, doesn't help his confusion. Though she is scandalous and free, just what a proper New York gentleman ought to despise, he finds he cannot help but prefer her frank and somewhat cynical view of the world. As he is forced to choose between the woman he loves and the woman to whom he is pledged, Wharton explores the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of New York high society.
Wharton takes on an interesting task in this book - that of telling the unromantic love story between two people the reader cannot help but dislike. Newland, for all he speaks of new ideas, is really a very conservative man in his actions. May, on the other hand, proves that innocence does not preclude one from visciousness, as she summarily cuts Ellen off from a life with Newland. (Scorsese, better known for "Goodfellas", "Gangs of New York", and "The Departed" calls this the most violent movie he's ever directed). It is only Ellen with whom the reader may identify, a woman wronged first by her family, then by her husband, who, in spite of these repeated abuses, refuses to be made a victim.
If Lolita has the best first chapter in literature, The Age of Innocence ties only with A Tale of Two Cities for the best closing chapter - a chapter about which I cannot speak for fear of ruining it. Though I actually read this final chapter first (I had heard it was fantastic) I was unprepared for its power when read at the end of the entire story.
Final Opinion: One of the classics you'll be glad you read.
I have to say, this book was hard to start. Set in 1870's New York, the book builds a world full of social characters and mores different from any I've ever known - this is, in fact, one of the central themes of the story. In its pages, Wharton tells the story of Newland Archer and May Welland, a young couple who get engaged in the first chapters of the tale. Newland, a young man just out of a disappointing and somewhat scandalous love affair, is sure that the innocent May is just what he needs as a wife. Yet, as he gets to know May better, he begins to wonder if this is in fact true - if, perhaps, the only benefit of her innocence is "that he might exercise his lordly pleasure in smashing it". His acquaintance with May's cousin Ellen, a woman who has just left her wealthy European husband, doesn't help his confusion. Though she is scandalous and free, just what a proper New York gentleman ought to despise, he finds he cannot help but prefer her frank and somewhat cynical view of the world. As he is forced to choose between the woman he loves and the woman to whom he is pledged, Wharton explores the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of New York high society.
Wharton takes on an interesting task in this book - that of telling the unromantic love story between two people the reader cannot help but dislike. Newland, for all he speaks of new ideas, is really a very conservative man in his actions. May, on the other hand, proves that innocence does not preclude one from visciousness, as she summarily cuts Ellen off from a life with Newland. (Scorsese, better known for "Goodfellas", "Gangs of New York", and "The Departed" calls this the most violent movie he's ever directed). It is only Ellen with whom the reader may identify, a woman wronged first by her family, then by her husband, who, in spite of these repeated abuses, refuses to be made a victim.
If Lolita has the best first chapter in literature, The Age of Innocence ties only with A Tale of Two Cities for the best closing chapter - a chapter about which I cannot speak for fear of ruining it. Though I actually read this final chapter first (I had heard it was fantastic) I was unprepared for its power when read at the end of the entire story.
Final Opinion: One of the classics you'll be glad you read.
daja57's review against another edition
3.0
This novel was written in 1920 but is set in New York in the 1870s in the upper echelons of society (described as "rich and idle and ornamental"; Ch 11). It is a world of balls and opera evenings, a world of a tight-knit group of rich families, and a world where respectability is everything. Men are allowed to break the rules with impunity providing that the affair is hidden and the scandal is suppressed.
The hero, Newland Archer, has had his fling, an affair with a married lady. Now he is engaged to May, a girl whom he assumes is not only virginal but utterly innocent. But on the night that their engagement is announced he meets May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, who married a Polish nobleman, was mistreated, and fled the marriage. She faces ostracism from the NY social circle because she refuses to go back to her husband. Newland, who harbours vague notions of gender equality, falls in love with Ellen. Will he flout convention and run off with her? Or will he knuckle down to do his duty to his fiancee and his family?
I find it difficult to understand why this novel enabled Wharton to become the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (although the three judges actually awarded the prize to Sinclair Lewis for Main Street but were overturned by the supervising board). Perhaps at the time it was written, The Age of Innocence was a ground-breaking book but I found it little more than a rather conventional romance. There are implied criticisms of the hypocrisy embodied in the double standards allowing men to have (discreet) mistresses and expecting women to be pure, but at the end of the day the book explores the dilemma of the male protagonist and the feelings of and consequences for his would-be paramour are only glimpsed from her reactions to him. It would be interesting to have the book rewritten from Ellen's point of view.
It's and easy read and quite fun. It's well-paced, with major turning points at the 50% and 75% mark; although it rather surprisingly skipped about thirty years to provide a sort of epilogue in the last few chapters. There are some astute observations in it but few of the characters progress beyond the caricature stage. The period is rather clunkily set by referring to the latest novels, poems and artists, and mentioned recent inventions such as the telephone "this new dodge for talking along a wire" (Ch 15) and the "fascinating new game of lawn tennis" (Ch 20)
But fundamentally it's a love vs duty romance.
The hero, Newland Archer, has had his fling, an affair with a married lady. Now he is engaged to May, a girl whom he assumes is not only virginal but utterly innocent. But on the night that their engagement is announced he meets May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, who married a Polish nobleman, was mistreated, and fled the marriage. She faces ostracism from the NY social circle because she refuses to go back to her husband. Newland, who harbours vague notions of gender equality, falls in love with Ellen. Will he flout convention and run off with her? Or will he knuckle down to do his duty to his fiancee and his family?
I find it difficult to understand why this novel enabled Wharton to become the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (although the three judges actually awarded the prize to Sinclair Lewis for Main Street but were overturned by the supervising board). Perhaps at the time it was written, The Age of Innocence was a ground-breaking book but I found it little more than a rather conventional romance. There are implied criticisms of the hypocrisy embodied in the double standards allowing men to have (discreet) mistresses and expecting women to be pure, but at the end of the day the book explores the dilemma of the male protagonist and the feelings of and consequences for his would-be paramour are only glimpsed from her reactions to him. It would be interesting to have the book rewritten from Ellen's point of view.
It's and easy read and quite fun. It's well-paced, with major turning points at the 50% and 75% mark; although it rather surprisingly skipped about thirty years to provide a sort of epilogue in the last few chapters. There are some astute observations in it but few of the characters progress beyond the caricature stage. The period is rather clunkily set by referring to the latest novels, poems and artists, and mentioned recent inventions such as the telephone "this new dodge for talking along a wire" (Ch 15) and the "fascinating new game of lawn tennis" (Ch 20)
But fundamentally it's a love vs duty romance.
cdhotwing's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0