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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I love Edith Wharton for the way that she pulls me inside characters and makes me recognize myself there. She's great. This books is a classic and likely worth reading. However, it wasn't much fun to read. It was depressing and suffocating. I'd go with Age of Innocence to enjoy her style without having to go through this again.
”It was this moment of love, this fleeting victory over themselves, which had kept them from atrophy and extinction; which, in her, had reached out to him in every struggle against the influence of her surroundings, and in him, had kept alive the faith that now drew him penitent and reconciled to her side.”
It took me a while to get through this but man was this not a superb journey. Edith Wharton writes with the eloquence of someone to which language bows down, and the portrayal of the dark side of life in the high society of that time couldn’t have achieved a better form than the one which it assumed through her eyes and the character of Lily Bart. Considering that she was somewhat of an outsider who always managed to fit in with the rich and influential due to an extravagant taste and ambitious personality, it was all the more intense and involving to see how the trials of ladder-climbing and the judgement of other people managed, little by little, to take away from her happiness up to a point of no return. The dichotomy between solace and angst that represented her relationship with Selden was also a pretty strong aspect, and contained some of the best writing in the story as a whole. All in all, I don’t think that, before I picked this up, I’d seen such a bone-deep sad characterization of a female character from a classic novel in such a setting since Anna Karenina. Both are books you don’t easily forget.
It took me a while to get through this but man was this not a superb journey. Edith Wharton writes with the eloquence of someone to which language bows down, and the portrayal of the dark side of life in the high society of that time couldn’t have achieved a better form than the one which it assumed through her eyes and the character of Lily Bart. Considering that she was somewhat of an outsider who always managed to fit in with the rich and influential due to an extravagant taste and ambitious personality, it was all the more intense and involving to see how the trials of ladder-climbing and the judgement of other people managed, little by little, to take away from her happiness up to a point of no return. The dichotomy between solace and angst that represented her relationship with Selden was also a pretty strong aspect, and contained some of the best writing in the story as a whole. All in all, I don’t think that, before I picked this up, I’d seen such a bone-deep sad characterization of a female character from a classic novel in such a setting since Anna Karenina. Both are books you don’t easily forget.
dark
emotional
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To be perfectly honest I got busy with other things and then it was due at the library so I had to return it. But I will get around to reading it sooner or later
emotional
slow-paced
Beautiful, but too many dry spots to say it was page turner. Biggest plus is Lily's character arc, though it seemed to all happen in the last 4 chapters and her unwillingness to part with any information was insufferable. I've never been one for stories theme-ing on fate, but I still found this story tragically enthralling and has a good execution to meditate (or brood) on. Makes you realize we all need someone or something to keep us grounded.
Me encanto este libro de Edith Wharton, es que era justo lo que esperaba de la edad de la inocencia y que no me dio en ese libro. En este podemos ver más crudamente el cómo se juzgaba a las mujeres, la necesidad que tenían de casarse rápido y hacer buenos contactos, de cómo una simple palabra aunque fuera mentira podía destruir todo lo que eras y más aún si no contabas con dinero. La protagonista tan fuerte de opiniones, decidida pero a la vez tan delicada y frágil. Una sociedad te puede destruir solamente con su indiferencia. Solo puedo decir que al terminarlo me quedé como el meme de Moe cuando lee el libro a La Niña.
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
new favorite
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes