I think this is Wharton's weakest work and I firmly believe she would have repaired the problems contained here. The plot is predictable from early on and the characters are altogether unlovable and uninteresting. I haven't read the unaltered manuscript, but the conclusion feels too modern.

This was a fascinating look at the effects of British lords marrying rich Americans to finance their crumbling estates (as in Downtown Abbey). The American ladies chafe at the bit of British rules, and their love stories seem doomed from the start. However, this is more a tale of sisterhood than romance, and the sharp characterization reminded me of why I love Wharton so much. Like Virginia Woolf, she wrote with a feminist slant and dared to raise subjects few female authors of her time would take on.

The BBC did a much better mini series adaptation than the author did of writing it. I understand that she didn't finish and it was completed by a second author. Well that was the end of that. The delineation of character happened the same time as the new author started dabbling, if you will. Not great.

This is hard to rate for me. I’m winding up at 4 stars because 3 seems a bit too harsh.

I really loved the first half or so of this. All the relationships and seeing England through the eyes of these American girls. How all the prejudices can be so different depending on the people… Once Nan got married though it’s like it screeched to a halt. I get that she’s bored and unhappy, but I don’t want to be. The end picked up and, for the most part, I think Mainwaring did a good job at finishing the book.

Edith Wharton is an excellent writer. I felt compelled to keep reading. However, I feel that this story is "broken" which is good is good and evil is evil but evil wins. This is the second Edith Wharton book (The other book being The Age of Innocence) where I couldn’t identify with the protagonist. I’ve decided it’s because Edith Wharton doesn’t seem to have a Christian moral value system coming across in her books. She does a good job keeping up with the Modern value system of the times, but I am disappointed when there is no valuable life lesson learned.

gracie abrams got me wanting to read this yay

I was already a fan of Wharton going into this book. She writes so beautifully and has such interesting characters. She certainly captures this particular period of time well. She wrote what she knew, and her own life experiences certainly play a role in parts of this story. I adored the first 29 chapters that she wrote. It reminded me a little of Downtown Abbey.

It’s such a shame that she died and did not finish the book though. While I know that Mainwaring was an expert on Wharton and followed her synopsis, we’ll never know exactly what she would have said. For me there was a clear shift in the voice and style for the last 12 chapters that Mainwaring wrote.
4.5 stars for Edith, 3 for Marion, so I made it 4 stars.

It's the 1870s, and the daughters of New York City's nouveau riche are being scorned by their social superiors. They are forced to vacation at Saratoga because they haven't gotten invitations to Newport. A clueless father humiliates his family by ensconcing them in a house on shlubby Madison Avenue rather than chic Fifth. Rejected at home, the four daughters set out for England to snare them some aristocratic husbands. They are the buccaneers.

Four stars for the portion Wharton wrote, which co-author Marion Mainwaring tells us is about 89,000 words. One star for the concluding chapters, written by Mainwaring. It just goes to show: Wharton is really, really difficult to copy, in every way: plotting, tone, style, idiom. Mainwaring's addendum was dull and clunky, like so much of random historical fiction. I don't know where the 89,000 word division came in the text, yet there was a point where I suddenly noticed that the Wharton magic was gone. Not coincidentally, it was accompanied by the types of romantic interactions between characters that Wharton would only hint at, but a modern writer would spell out for you.

I want to get hold of the 1938 edition, which doesn't contain Mainwaring's concluding chapters, and also contains the racial language Mainwaring removed for fear it would offend modern readers. The 1993 text is full of words like brown, and dusky, and someone sends a telegram inquiring about her future daughter-in-law: "Is she black?"

The bowdlerization left a bad taste in my mouth. Fear of offending should never cause words to be changed or passages to be excised.

n  Jottings:n
I'm a little alarmed. Yes, another author finished this uncompleted work by Wharton. But it would be nice to see where Wharton's work ends and Mainwaring's begins. Also, the text is bowdlerized: some nasty racial language has apparently been removed. Now I'm going to have to read the 1938 edition to find out what Wharton really wrote. Finally, there is no attribution of the cover art. Big no-no! It's the Acheson Sisters, by John Singer Sargent, hanging at Chatsworth House.

Отличная книга, тот самый Толстый Роман для зимних вечеров, не очень быстрый, не очень медленный. Мог бы быть и толще, но, как известно, закончить его не успели. Ужасно жаль (по ощущениям, там не хватает еще примерно трети), но лучше уж так, чем с переработками и домыслами эпигонов. Оказалось, что единственным способом добыть оригинальный текст является покупка раннего издания конца 30х.

Эдит Уортон пишет о британской аристократии очень похоже на Исигуро: с уважением и порой восхищением, но все-таки _снаружи_, как почтительный наблюдатель. И это очень правильно, потому что большинство POW-рассказчиков тоже пришли извне: гувернантка, Аннабелл, даже Гай после долгого отсутствия чувствует себя посторонним.

В известном смысле этот роман -- приквел к The Age of Innocence: там вышедшая замуж в Европу американка возвращается домой, тут стайка американских красавиц отправляется на охоту за женихами в Великобританию. Теперь я жалею, что смотрела сериал с его дурацкими выдумками, но, с другой стороны, там столько наверчено нового и чуждого книге, что это практически разные истории, слегка объединенные именами героев и общим сюжетом.

I love Edith Wharton so feel compelled to note that I’d give the writing alone 5 stars, but the storyline wasn’t my favorite.

Oh my God, if someone could resurrect the dead and had enough magic potion for one person, I would choose Madame Wharton. It devastates me that even if I visit the "W" shelf at the library a million times over, as if I were a pilgrim visiting a holy shrine, on my bleeding and torn knees, there will never be a new Wharton book propped there for me to read for the very first time. I guess I should be grateful that there are authors out there who inspire such devotion, dead or otherwise.

i just wonder what this would have been like had edith wharton been able to complete it. whilst semi-good, the novel missed her magic touch throughout entirely. while it did not wow like her other work, it was a pleasant read. definitely a must if you want to read her work to completion but not a must if you have not read her other (magnificent) work first.