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A review by abookolive
The Children by Edith Wharton
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Children is a different kind of novel for Edith Wharton, but then again, it's the quintessential Wharton novel. The main character is Martin Boyne, a bachelor who's on his way to see the woman he's been in love with from afar for many years, Rose. She was in an unhappy marriage, which kept them apart, but her husband has fairly recently died, and Martin is thrilled to finally be able to be with her.
That is until he meets a group of unparented children aboard the boat he's traveling on. Most are blood related, a couple are not. They range in age from a toddler to a fifteen-year-old, Judith, who acts as a mother to the whole group. Since they don't all belong to one set of parents, they're at risk of being separated at any moment, something they dread. And so Martin allows himself to get dragged into their dilemma and uses their dramas to distract himself from figuring out what he truly wants for his life.
As Wharton normally does, she creates characters who are, all at once, their own people and representations of ideas or ways of life. Martin must choose between Rose, the personification of Old New York, and Judith, the child of the nouveaux riche. Judith is a teenager, which makes it uncomfortable reading for the modern eye, but once you see how deeply confused Martin is and what Wharton is actually trying to communicate, it's easier to understand why she made such a choice.
I was frustrated at the characters through most of this book and even though it's definitely a more approachable read writing-wise and revolves around a troop of funny, generally sweet kids, Wharton sill manages to make things tragic and hopeless. As I said, this one is both unlike and precisely like all the other Wharton novels I've read. She makes you love to hate her characters and encircles you with breathtaking prose while she does so. She was a master at her craft.
That is until he meets a group of unparented children aboard the boat he's traveling on. Most are blood related, a couple are not. They range in age from a toddler to a fifteen-year-old, Judith, who acts as a mother to the whole group. Since they don't all belong to one set of parents, they're at risk of being separated at any moment, something they dread. And so Martin allows himself to get dragged into their dilemma and uses their dramas to distract himself from figuring out what he truly wants for his life.
As Wharton normally does, she creates characters who are, all at once, their own people and representations of ideas or ways of life. Martin must choose between Rose, the personification of Old New York, and Judith, the child of the nouveaux riche. Judith is a teenager, which makes it uncomfortable reading for the modern eye, but once you see how deeply confused Martin is and what Wharton is actually trying to communicate, it's easier to understand why she made such a choice.
I was frustrated at the characters through most of this book and even though it's definitely a more approachable read writing-wise and revolves around a troop of funny, generally sweet kids, Wharton sill manages to make things tragic and hopeless. As I said, this one is both unlike and precisely like all the other Wharton novels I've read. She makes you love to hate her characters and encircles you with breathtaking prose while she does so. She was a master at her craft.