Wharton knows how to get inside the follies and foibles of class, gender prescriptions, psychology. I got something out of every one of these short stories--and enjoyed the plot twists and endings. I can only imagine how her own divorce in this time period was fodder for these stories. I would really give it a 4.5--and at times you have to pay a little more attention to language, a paragraph to make sure you are picking it all up--but definitely worth reading.

"Roman Fever" is a brilliant story and this collection is just wonderful.

The best stories in this collection (in my opinion, at any rate) were "Roman Fever" and "Xingu". Nobody is mistress of the epic burn like Edith Wharton. On the whole, an interesting collection of stories about the impact and changing attitude towards divorce in the early 1900s.

There is nothing much you can say about a classic. A classic is a classic for a reason. Edith Wharton is undeniably one of the best American writers and this book of short stories is another proof of it. It is a mark of a true talent to be able in a matter of 20-25 pages to reveal both deep nature of characters and expose society follies. Each story is a masterpiece which leaves you with a deeper understanding of suffocating restrictions of 19th century America and complexities of human nature. This book is a must read for anyone who appreciates quality literature.

Reading challenge: #7

Great wit!!

Everything about Edith Wharton's work is stately, like an antique fainting couch in a museum, its frame hand-carved, its fabric delicately embroidered. But somehow, the stories are not stifling. Some are sly and humorous, like "Roman Fever" and "Xingu," which both make fools of people who think they know more than they do.

What I really love about Wharton, though—and The Age of Innocence, arguably her most famous work, is a great example of this, too—is the way she lays out her characters' conflicts quite transparently, all so readers can admire how inevitably people misunderstand and unwittingly abuse one another. You want to take her characters by the shoulders and translate for them.

I especially love how she dissects marriage, the roles that couples play for each other and how restrictive they can be. "Souls Belated" is an amazing story about how you build a new relationship out of an affair--if you flouted the convention of marriage once, do you just jump back into it? Do you invite the same people to your dinner parties and pretend things haven't changed? "The Other Two" is about a man trying to feel disaffected about doing business with his current wife's last husband. In a way it's all very old-fashioned, but it's also incredibly relatable.

All these people are immersed in police society - usually to their detriment. What could be boring becomes morbidly fascinating because of Wharton's penchant for sympathetic characters.

Especially loved "Xingu" (hilarious) and "After Holbein" (NOT hilarious).

This collection is bookended by two standouts, the delightful one-up(wo)manship of Roman Fever (so short it's almost flash fiction) and the curious gradations of social stigma and sacrifice in Austres Temps...Without diminishing the pleasure gleaned from the parody and satire of After Holbein and Xingu.

Must every Wharton book of short stories I read garner 5 stars? If they're as good this one, then YES.

Amazing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An exquisite collection of short stories, Roman Fever captures the passions and constraints of high society during and after the Gilded Age. Wharton's characters are complex, and each story resonates emotionally. I particularly loved Roman Fever and After Holbein.

This made me love Wharton all over again after a couple of disappointing novels. The standout here is "Xingu", which is a scathingly brilliant, utterly wonderful take-down of pretentious society matrons whose literary club is giving a luncheon for a famous author. I also especially liked "After Holbein", a rather creepy tale of two elderly socialites, and "The Angel at the Grave", about a woman who has devoted her whole life to the care of her dead grandfather's house, papers, and reputation.

like with all of wharton's stories, a subtle exploration of womanhood, limitation, expectation, and class in nineteenth-century american mores