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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
This was such a unique and heartbreaking story. Set in late 1800s New York, this pulitzer prize-winning novel by Wharton had me in TEARS. I simultaneously wanted to keep reading and throw the whole book away.
Lily's story was a window into the impossible life of high society women in the Gilded Age. This early feminist work touched me in ways I was not expecting. I loved her, and I hated her, but mostly, I was angry for her.
This is the first book I have read by Wharton, but I am so excited to dig into the rest.
Lily's story was a window into the impossible life of high society women in the Gilded Age. This early feminist work touched me in ways I was not expecting. I loved her, and I hated her, but mostly, I was angry for her.
This is the first book I have read by Wharton, but I am so excited to dig into the rest.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to this audio book. I tend to resort to audio book for books which I want to tick off my list but which I think are going to be a hard read. Books which I think are above my understanding, my reading capabilities, older books, classics. Books which would probably be studied on English Literature courses, and having never studied English lit past GCSE, books which I feel I might not ‘get’ that I would miss too much metaphor and symbolism and as an uncritical reader just enjoying the face value of the words on the page. So while I can’t be sure that I ‘got’ every message in this book, I can say I enjoyed it much more than I was ever expecting to, or rather that it moved me and I related to it in ways that I never thought possible for a time and setting so far removed from my own life. The closing chapters are heartbreaking, even though I started to sense the direction in which Lily Bart’s life might be going, I still welled up when the end came. Poor, poor Lily Bart! Live your lives people, tell your loved ones they are loved, you never know when it will be too late.
There is nothing mirthful about Lily Bart’s fall from grace. Tragic and exquisitely written, this novel illuminates the hypocrisies of the upper class through the lens of fatal pride. I didn’t fully get into this book until the second act, but what an unforgettable act it turned out to be. A very sad but cautionary tale.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A young women in New York’s high society at the beginning of the 20th century, in dire need of marriage in order to secure her precarious position. This book brilliantly shows how shifting society structures can alter one‘s life circumstances, how people once considered close friends can become nothing more than fleeting images of the past, and how one’s morals and opinions can be fundamentally changed by time and material circumstances.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful writing in a very tragic tale. The way this high society is rotten is impressive and Lily not being able to be as rotten as the others but not having the courage to fully abandon that life of luxury is ultimately her downfall.
What a sad and tragic ending.
What a sad and tragic ending.
A well written, powerful story. Wharton uses a moral superhero to highlight the ugly ways a woman must stay afloat in high-society in the early 1900's. My one issue with the novel - Lily Bart is too good to be real - but that is probably Wharton's point, no real woman could survive the environment without compromising her values and/or morality.
Would highly recommend to readers of all genres.
Would highly recommend to readers of all genres.