Review by buildingtaste - The House of Mirth

buildingtaste 's review for:

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

4.25

emotional 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

Lily Bart is one of the most complex, layered heroines I’ve read in some time. An unmarried woman pushing into her 30s, with no strong family ties, she is both plagued by and clinging to an unsettled identity, neither ingenue nor matron nor spinster. We see all those types in the book to contrast with Lily, and how she is self-consciously critical of their positions in the world, unwilling to take any of the few roles prescribed for her.

She seems to fall somewhere between Ellen Olenska and Undine Spragg, with Ellen’s ache for a different life and Undine’s deep need for the pleasures and privileges her society provides. If she were any more like one of them it would be easy to resolve her problems, as we are presented again and again with moments where Lily could pursue relatively impoverished freedom with Selden (not that he deserves her lol), Gerty, or Carry, or secure her high position with Rosedale or Dorset. But Lily being Lily, half idealist half hedonist, neither prospect is enough to satisfy her, and had she chosen, I doubt the ending would have been much happier. This is Wharton, after all.

Content Warnings