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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A marriage of convenience between friends and drama ensuing is definitely not a new premise, but I loved Wharton’s handling of the situation and how both characters, Nick and Susy, viewed it—as an extended holiday, a way to enjoy each other’s company and sponge off their friends under the guise of a “honeymoon.” When they realise they’re catching feelings, it’s in an organic, natural way that affects both of them slightly differently. But it’s not just internal conflict, there’s pretty major external societal pressures arising that force them to make tough decisions and re-evaluate their relationship. And the crux of it arises from how differently they both approach the same issue—in a way the conflict serves to illuminate their characters, to the reader and to themselves.
Both Nick and Susy were likeable and relatable—they both get chapters from their perspectives and their respective inner monologues help elucidate the thought processes behind their actions, their justifications, and their views on the other. And the thoughts didn’t partake of that romantic trope of just being continuous beating the dead horse of angst and self-doubt that would be easily resolved through normal interaction: they actually felt like real thought patterns that people have, including questions of morality and their places in society. Nick is struggling to be a writer, dealing with extended periods of apathy and low motivation, and Susy is very decided about what she wants and doesn’t want for her life, trusting to her own ingenuity to get her there. Both of their tendencies in those directions get them in trouble in regard to their own relationship and lead them further and further apart, into the arms of someone else—
And here’s where I really applaud Wharton for how intense she made the story. Susy and Nick both have alternative options that they consider—other people with the wealth and power to make their lives comfortable and secure, who are also decent people. Often, romance stories take the route of making the other prospect completely disqualify themselves by some egregious mistake or character flaw, rather than actually making them solid competition for their counterpart. If the guy is considering another woman, she turns out to be a designing vixen, unfaithful vamp, or shrinking violent. If the woman is considering another guy, he turns out to be a domineering disciplinarian, a slimy businessman, or a serial wife-murderer. What happens then is that their competition doesn’t actually have to have a personality, let alone a well-developed and admirable character, in order to be the obvious choice in the end.
But in this book, Susy has a great friendship with her second choice, always regards him in the same way, and he always treats her well. He changes a little, but so does she, and it is in the natural way—nothing dramatic like a skeleton leaping out of the closet of the old family estate. And Nick’s second choice is also an interesting and likeable character—she is not pretty, but distinguished and intelligent, and her character is so practical and blunt that you can’t help but respect her for her clear-eyed realism. In fact, how she and Nick are left when the novel ends is one of the slight feelings of dissatisfaction I have—it is presumed everything will be explained. It’s so much more compelling that you can see how Nick and Susy might reasonably make the choice to go for someone else. Throughout my reading of it, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a light social, romantic comedy and that there was no Tess of the D’Urbervilles-ian tragedy possible. But it was tense. And the ending, while boasting a few romance clichés, was delivered in such a unique, unexpected, heartwarmingly hilarious and realistic way that I was too busy being subtly amused to fault-find.
And the writing! swoon I gave up lingering on every beautiful turn of phrase and atmospheric description. Simply reading through it for enjoyment once makes me want to go back and read it again just to appreciate the writing. But it’s not straight “deep purple prose”. Wharton keeps the pace up by summarizing extended periods of time in which life goes on as established and nothing new or momentous occurs. The key to this is life goes on as established—you have to establish what’s going on first, and Wharton does it beautifully. The moments of description establish setting and mood efficiently for the plot. Additionally, they prevented any character from being a blank. Honestly, I’m jealous of how quickly she manages to give a character, even the most minor character, vivid descriptions that ensure you don’t forget who they are, even if they never reappear except by verbal reference. As a small example, one character is described as “a drifting interrogation,” looking for a purpose, in contrast with someone who fulfilled herself; and, for physical description, as being sunk in a black divan “like a wan Nereid in a midnight sea.” It’s beautiful and you instantly get a feel for this woman as a character.
This was such an enjoyable read, and I’m already looking forward to reading it again.
Both Nick and Susy were likeable and relatable—they both get chapters from their perspectives and their respective inner monologues help elucidate the thought processes behind their actions, their justifications, and their views on the other. And the thoughts didn’t partake of that romantic trope of just being continuous beating the dead horse of angst and self-doubt that would be easily resolved through normal interaction: they actually felt like real thought patterns that people have, including questions of morality and their places in society. Nick is struggling to be a writer, dealing with extended periods of apathy and low motivation, and Susy is very decided about what she wants and doesn’t want for her life, trusting to her own ingenuity to get her there. Both of their tendencies in those directions get them in trouble in regard to their own relationship and lead them further and further apart, into the arms of someone else—
And here’s where I really applaud Wharton for how intense she made the story. Susy and Nick both have alternative options that they consider—other people with the wealth and power to make their lives comfortable and secure, who are also decent people. Often, romance stories take the route of making the other prospect completely disqualify themselves by some egregious mistake or character flaw, rather than actually making them solid competition for their counterpart. If the guy is considering another woman, she turns out to be a designing vixen, unfaithful vamp, or shrinking violent. If the woman is considering another guy, he turns out to be a domineering disciplinarian, a slimy businessman, or a serial wife-murderer. What happens then is that their competition doesn’t actually have to have a personality, let alone a well-developed and admirable character, in order to be the obvious choice in the end.
But in this book, Susy has a great friendship with her second choice, always regards him in the same way, and he always treats her well. He changes a little, but so does she, and it is in the natural way—nothing dramatic like a skeleton leaping out of the closet of the old family estate. And Nick’s second choice is also an interesting and likeable character—she is not pretty, but distinguished and intelligent, and her character is so practical and blunt that you can’t help but respect her for her clear-eyed realism. In fact, how she and Nick are left when the novel ends is one of the slight feelings of dissatisfaction I have—it is presumed everything will be explained. It’s so much more compelling that you can see how Nick and Susy might reasonably make the choice to go for someone else. Throughout my reading of it, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a light social, romantic comedy and that there was no Tess of the D’Urbervilles-ian tragedy possible. But it was tense. And the ending, while boasting a few romance clichés, was delivered in such a unique, unexpected, heartwarmingly hilarious and realistic way that I was too busy being subtly amused to fault-find.
And the writing! swoon I gave up lingering on every beautiful turn of phrase and atmospheric description. Simply reading through it for enjoyment once makes me want to go back and read it again just to appreciate the writing. But it’s not straight “deep purple prose”. Wharton keeps the pace up by summarizing extended periods of time in which life goes on as established and nothing new or momentous occurs. The key to this is life goes on as established—you have to establish what’s going on first, and Wharton does it beautifully. The moments of description establish setting and mood efficiently for the plot. Additionally, they prevented any character from being a blank. Honestly, I’m jealous of how quickly she manages to give a character, even the most minor character, vivid descriptions that ensure you don’t forget who they are, even if they never reappear except by verbal reference. As a small example, one character is described as “a drifting interrogation,” looking for a purpose, in contrast with someone who fulfilled herself; and, for physical description, as being sunk in a black divan “like a wan Nereid in a midnight sea.” It’s beautiful and you instantly get a feel for this woman as a character.
This was such an enjoyable read, and I’m already looking forward to reading it again.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Can it be more than 5 stars??
A fun, Gatsby-esque romance with oddly strong Louisa May Alcott vibes? Haha. The two protagonists, Susy and Nick, are so compelling that I didn't mind the slow bit in the middle because the end made it worthwhile.
My first Edith Wharton and I'm looking forward to reading her other books.
My first Edith Wharton and I'm looking forward to reading her other books.
A very nice novel, although the very last bit didn't seem right.
There was nothing at all in the entire book that justified the half-naked lady on the cover.
There was nothing at all in the entire book that justified the half-naked lady on the cover.
It is all about love and money by Edith Wharton managed to tell the story in a charming way.
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Audio, my second listen. Lighter than Wharton’s more famous works, sharp observation still in evidence
Cross-posted from my blog: http://quietandbusy.blogspot.com
Edith Wharton is one of my favorite classic authors, so naturally, I try to squish her work into my reading challenges whenever I can. I have her on my Classics Club list four times and I've used her a few times in my Back to the Classics lists as well. The Glimpses of the Moon is one of her novels that I'm using for both challenges this year. It's one of her less famous works, so I knew nothing about it before I started reading. I was curious to see what it was all about though, so I dove right in hoping to find another favorite.
The story is set in the 1920s and centers around Susy Branch and Nick Lansing. Both Susy and Nick run in wealthy circles and fill their days with fashion, art, parties, and lavish vacations. Unfortunately for the pair of them, they do not come from rich families and have no real money of their own. They get by on the kindness of their friends, making themselves such agreeable companions that others in their circle foot all of their bills. This is a precarious situation to be in, however, and their best chance at maintaining the glamorous lifestyle to which they have become accustomed is to marry well. Unfortunately for them, however, Susy and Nick fall in love with each other.
In order to enjoy each other's company for a long as possible, Susy comes up with an unconventional plan. They will marry each other, live for as long as possible off of the checks and favors they receive as wedding gifts, and then divorce once their money runs out or if either of them finds a wealthier spouse prospect. Divorces are easy to obtain and are now socially acceptable within their set, so this plan would not harm their reputations. Nick agrees to give it a shot and the pair are soon married and enjoying a free honeymoon in a friend's Italian villa on Lake Como.
The experiment starts off blissfully for the newlyweds, but things take a turn when one of their wealthy friends asks Susy for a shady favor in recompense for the use of her vacation home. She asks her to post some letters to help her cover up an affair. Susy, feeling trapped into going along with it, does the favor. She feels badly about it though, as this crosses a line for her, and she tries to hide her actions from Nick. Eventually he finds out, and is very upset. He totally disapproves of Susy's participation in the scheme and proposes ending their marriage then and there, believing their whole plan to be a failure if it causes them to lose their morals. Susy is mad at herself for posting the letters, but also believes Nick's reaction to be naive. Of course people will ask for favors in exchange for allowing them to use their property for free - how could he expect otherwise? She thinks he should know that sponging off people is a delicate dance requiring give and take.
This disagreement causes Nick to head off on his own to do some soul searching, and the pair must decide how, or if, they want to go on with their arrangement in the aftermath. Both travel around Europe, meet other people, and entertain the idea of finally divorcing and attaching themselves to better matches. They have ample time to think about the nature of money, relationships, and marriage, and consider if they want to continue attaching themselves to wealthy friends or discard that lifestyle and start earning their own cash. Ultimately, both must figure out a plan for their futures, and determine if that future is one in which they can be together.
I realize that reading my plot description makes The Glimpses of the Moon sounds like a shallow story about selfish people, but I thought this novel was excellent. The story was original and dramatic and truly engaging. Watching Susy and Nick attempt to navigate the world of the upper class with no money of their own was morally gray enough to be interesting, and I found myself constantly wondering how far I would go to keep my position among my friends if I were in their place. Despite the self-seeking nature of their marriage agreement, Susy and Nick do actually love each other--really love each other--and they both have personal standards as well. The strength of their feelings raises the stakes of the story and adds a layer of complexity that I appreciated.
As is usual in her fiction, Wharton does a good job examining the couple's problems along gender lines. Nick's personal standards are the more rigid of the pair. He is consistently uncomfortable with how Susy manages their affairs and treats her quite harshly when he learns about how she helped her friend cover up her affair. However, he doesn't seem to realize that as a man, it is much easier for him to walk away from this situation based on his morals. He can earn money from his travel writing, or find a respectable, if low paying, job working in a place like a bank. As a woman, Susy needs more money to maintain a fancy lifestyle when rapidly changing fashions are taken into account, and her options for earning money are much more limited and much lower paying than a man's would be. Susy is willing to do more than Nick is to maintain their lifestyle not necessarily because she is more selfish, but because she has more to lose than he does if she loses her position among her rich circle of friends. Nick's moralizing, while correct in an ethical sense, consistently irked me because he couldn't seem to understand Susy's position.
Both Nick and Susy grow and change across the novel as they grapple with their feelings and their plans for the future. Their development is well-written and the cast of secondary characters in the story provide interesting comparisons and contrasts to their situation. We see examples of the unabashedly selfish and the morally upright among their friends. We see frivolous divorces and strong marriages. We see those with money and those without. The examples of the people around them help both Nick and Susy think through their difficulties and develop their new philosophies. This story is finely crafted, and Wharton's exploration of the interactions between love and money felt real. I could understand why the different characters throughout the story felt the way they did. Even the ones that were annoying and unforgivably greedy were understandable.
The Glimpses of the Moon was a very good read, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It wasn't quite perfect, of course. There were some issues with pacing towards the end and a bit too much hand-wringing over whether or not to salvage Nick and Susy's marriage overall. I'm not sure if the ending was quite right. In spite of those issues, however, this was still an excellent reading experience and one of my new favorite Wharton novels. It was not quite as compelling as what she created in The House of Mirth or The Age of Innocence, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this one and am happy to have picked it up.
Edith Wharton is one of my favorite classic authors, so naturally, I try to squish her work into my reading challenges whenever I can. I have her on my Classics Club list four times and I've used her a few times in my Back to the Classics lists as well. The Glimpses of the Moon is one of her novels that I'm using for both challenges this year. It's one of her less famous works, so I knew nothing about it before I started reading. I was curious to see what it was all about though, so I dove right in hoping to find another favorite.
The story is set in the 1920s and centers around Susy Branch and Nick Lansing. Both Susy and Nick run in wealthy circles and fill their days with fashion, art, parties, and lavish vacations. Unfortunately for the pair of them, they do not come from rich families and have no real money of their own. They get by on the kindness of their friends, making themselves such agreeable companions that others in their circle foot all of their bills. This is a precarious situation to be in, however, and their best chance at maintaining the glamorous lifestyle to which they have become accustomed is to marry well. Unfortunately for them, however, Susy and Nick fall in love with each other.
In order to enjoy each other's company for a long as possible, Susy comes up with an unconventional plan. They will marry each other, live for as long as possible off of the checks and favors they receive as wedding gifts, and then divorce once their money runs out or if either of them finds a wealthier spouse prospect. Divorces are easy to obtain and are now socially acceptable within their set, so this plan would not harm their reputations. Nick agrees to give it a shot and the pair are soon married and enjoying a free honeymoon in a friend's Italian villa on Lake Como.
The experiment starts off blissfully for the newlyweds, but things take a turn when one of their wealthy friends asks Susy for a shady favor in recompense for the use of her vacation home. She asks her to post some letters to help her cover up an affair. Susy, feeling trapped into going along with it, does the favor. She feels badly about it though, as this crosses a line for her, and she tries to hide her actions from Nick. Eventually he finds out, and is very upset. He totally disapproves of Susy's participation in the scheme and proposes ending their marriage then and there, believing their whole plan to be a failure if it causes them to lose their morals. Susy is mad at herself for posting the letters, but also believes Nick's reaction to be naive. Of course people will ask for favors in exchange for allowing them to use their property for free - how could he expect otherwise? She thinks he should know that sponging off people is a delicate dance requiring give and take.
This disagreement causes Nick to head off on his own to do some soul searching, and the pair must decide how, or if, they want to go on with their arrangement in the aftermath. Both travel around Europe, meet other people, and entertain the idea of finally divorcing and attaching themselves to better matches. They have ample time to think about the nature of money, relationships, and marriage, and consider if they want to continue attaching themselves to wealthy friends or discard that lifestyle and start earning their own cash. Ultimately, both must figure out a plan for their futures, and determine if that future is one in which they can be together.
I realize that reading my plot description makes The Glimpses of the Moon sounds like a shallow story about selfish people, but I thought this novel was excellent. The story was original and dramatic and truly engaging. Watching Susy and Nick attempt to navigate the world of the upper class with no money of their own was morally gray enough to be interesting, and I found myself constantly wondering how far I would go to keep my position among my friends if I were in their place. Despite the self-seeking nature of their marriage agreement, Susy and Nick do actually love each other--really love each other--and they both have personal standards as well. The strength of their feelings raises the stakes of the story and adds a layer of complexity that I appreciated.
As is usual in her fiction, Wharton does a good job examining the couple's problems along gender lines. Nick's personal standards are the more rigid of the pair. He is consistently uncomfortable with how Susy manages their affairs and treats her quite harshly when he learns about how she helped her friend cover up her affair. However, he doesn't seem to realize that as a man, it is much easier for him to walk away from this situation based on his morals. He can earn money from his travel writing, or find a respectable, if low paying, job working in a place like a bank. As a woman, Susy needs more money to maintain a fancy lifestyle when rapidly changing fashions are taken into account, and her options for earning money are much more limited and much lower paying than a man's would be. Susy is willing to do more than Nick is to maintain their lifestyle not necessarily because she is more selfish, but because she has more to lose than he does if she loses her position among her rich circle of friends. Nick's moralizing, while correct in an ethical sense, consistently irked me because he couldn't seem to understand Susy's position.
Both Nick and Susy grow and change across the novel as they grapple with their feelings and their plans for the future. Their development is well-written and the cast of secondary characters in the story provide interesting comparisons and contrasts to their situation. We see examples of the unabashedly selfish and the morally upright among their friends. We see frivolous divorces and strong marriages. We see those with money and those without. The examples of the people around them help both Nick and Susy think through their difficulties and develop their new philosophies. This story is finely crafted, and Wharton's exploration of the interactions between love and money felt real. I could understand why the different characters throughout the story felt the way they did. Even the ones that were annoying and unforgivably greedy were understandable.
The Glimpses of the Moon was a very good read, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It wasn't quite perfect, of course. There were some issues with pacing towards the end and a bit too much hand-wringing over whether or not to salvage Nick and Susy's marriage overall. I'm not sure if the ending was quite right. In spite of those issues, however, this was still an excellent reading experience and one of my new favorite Wharton novels. It was not quite as compelling as what she created in The House of Mirth or The Age of Innocence, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this one and am happy to have picked it up.