doyouevendostoyevsky 's review for:

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

5.0

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Wow. Absolutely floored by the beauty, wisdom, and pure excellence of this book. Though I've loved and cherished a lot of books, it is still somewhat rare when I love a book so much that I GENUINELY don't want it to end. There are the books I've loved where, in a secret part of my mind, I'm racing along in order to get to the next book. But I simply wanted The Age of Innocence to carry on forever. This was also rare in that I didn't just love it as a whole, from a distanced perspective, but each line, each word, each plot twist, was closely coveted. The words seemed to be spun together like an intricately woven, soft, delicate garment of the richest quality. It's books like these that makes the English language seem on par with the eloquence and romanticism of French. But it had none of the English stuffiness and monotony of some of the other "greats". And this is just the writing. The STORY itself I find to be one of the best, truest, most beautiful love stories of all time. This book brings to light the philosophy of love being about appreciation rather than possession, which couldn't have come at a better time in my life. The two protagonists are tragic in that their love is never fulfilled, but this love seems stronger and more real than any other Jane Austen snooze-fest I can think of. Ah!! I can't say enough great things about this book. One of my new all time favorites! 5 stars!!