Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
The House of Mirth tells the story of Lilly Bart, a young woman from an impoverished upper-class New York family, possessing great beauty but slender means. Lilly needs to play the social game to perfection if she's to attain the economical stability she lacks via marriage, with her beauty as vehicle. But our heroine will blunder again and again in the eyes of a hypocritical and ruthlessly judgemental society, basically because she refuses to compromise who she is in favour of who she's supposed to be to gain social acceptance. The novel is the story of a downfall. Not a pathetic one, as in Sister Carrie, but one of a dignified heroine sinking in her own law. It's a sad but magnificently told story. Wharton makes Lilly at times irritating, but redeemed by her honesty in a world of liars and manipulators.
Edith Wharton’s classic novel of manners casts a sardonic eye at social status and the games it plays through the eyes of a complex and indecisive beauty, Lily Bart. Caught between her desire for authenticity and her stronger urge to stay in the center of an elite circle and marry rich within it, Lily employs her wit and self-sustaining charm to climb to the top, though she picks up some bad habits along the way. Wharton’s characters are not often on the sympathetic side, although the stipulations of the era, especially for a young woman, create interesting dynamics. Despite frustrating decision-making and manipulative behaviors by certain members of the cast, the dialog remains quick and clever. If Edith Wharton was the original Gossip Girl, then Lawrence Selden is her Lonely Boy. The antagonizing on-again, off-again exchanges between Lily and Selden are in turn hopeful and doomed; Selden stays on the outskirts of society looking in and yet can’t help but follow Lily closer to its center, while Lily wants to find him there at the same time she turns to look for someone better in her luxury-minded eyes. Wharton teases at gossip and parties only to put these social engagements in their place with a grander perspective of turn-of-the-century upper crust New York, showing the great effort of climbing to the top, and far greater ease of slipping back down to the bottom. Inspired in part by Wharton’s own privileged upbringing, Lily comes of age with a fear of “dinginess” due to her father’s bankruptcy and her mother’s vain attempts of recovery. Unfortunately, luck is not on Lily’s side, and The House of Mirth draws out the ways in which our societies and our own private destinies can ultimately define us.
I enjoyed this book enormously. A classic as defined by its ability to translate to modern day. Loved this book.
It is said the Wharton is the Anti-Austen, and from reading this book I completely agree. Not everything ends in rainbows and weddings, and this book is an excellent commentary on how the quest for pleasure can cause one to be blind to the more important things in life, and eventually self-destruct. The literature was beautifully written, and though the actual story may have gone a little slowly, that is characteristic of the style of the time-period: deal with it.
Quite predictable but I can see why it was controversial in the era in which it was written. I applaud Edith Wharton for that.
It was a while ago that I read this, but I don't remember being particularly struck by it. I wouldn't mind giving it another read though in the near future.
I was definitely not in the mood for this book at this time.
this is my favorite new york book. not something gritty and modern, but this hoity-toity, brilliant story set near washington square park (and france) before it got all seedy.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes