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pgchuis 's review for:
The House of Mirth
by Edith Wharton
Lily Bart is beautiful and lives with her rich aunt. She is nearly thirty and has been trying to make an advantageous marriage, without being able to bring herself to do it, for the last ten years. We see her throw over Percy Gryce, who was about to propose, because he is wrong and because she prefers the company of Lawrence Selden. Selden loves her, but is not rich enough for her purposes. Lily is caught up in marital dispute between two friend and rumours begin to circulate about her. Her aunt dies and leaves her only a small legacy. She begins to lose her place in society and eventually is forced to try to earn a living as a milliner.
The whole book reads like a car crash and is relentless and oppressive. I found myself taking breaks out of a need to escape the unfolding disaster, although it is not without humour: Lily "had been bored all afternoon by Percy Gryce ... but... must submit to more boredom...and all on the bare chance that he might ultimately decide to do her the honour of boring her for life." Wharton cleverly causes us to sympathize with Lily, but at the same time we judge her for her sense of entitlement, the way she puts status and wealth above love, even the way she cannot bring herself to make the compromise she determines to make and just marry some one. Her moral conscience is important, and I was cheering for some of her later decisions (although I would have borrowed from Rosedale to repay Trenor and set up a shop).
Gerty is a helpful character to show us a life style choice Lily could have made and Selden demonstrates a choice not to take society too seriously. None of Liliy's other "friends" are truly her friends at all, except for Carry Fisher and, in a sense, Simon Rosedale. Wharton's attitude to this Jewish character is of another era, but he has redeeming qualities and again offers Lily choices which she fails to take.
Very interesting, with lots to think about, but I'm glad it's over and I need to go and read something cheerful.
The whole book reads like a car crash and is relentless and oppressive. I found myself taking breaks out of a need to escape the unfolding disaster, although it is not without humour: Lily "had been bored all afternoon by Percy Gryce ... but... must submit to more boredom...and all on the bare chance that he might ultimately decide to do her the honour of boring her for life." Wharton cleverly causes us to sympathize with Lily, but at the same time we judge her for her sense of entitlement, the way she puts status and wealth above love, even the way she cannot bring herself to make the compromise she determines to make and just marry some one. Her moral conscience is important, and I was cheering for some of her later decisions (although I would have borrowed from Rosedale to repay Trenor and set up a shop).
Gerty is a helpful character to show us a life style choice Lily could have made and Selden demonstrates a choice not to take society too seriously. None of Liliy's other "friends" are truly her friends at all, except for Carry Fisher and, in a sense, Simon Rosedale. Wharton's attitude to this Jewish character is of another era, but he has redeeming qualities and again offers Lily choices which she fails to take.
Very interesting, with lots to think about, but I'm glad it's over and I need to go and read something cheerful.