SI LO TUYO ES EL CHISME Y EL ESCÁNDALO, agárrate porque vienen curvas

all the cool girls read wharton

I picked this book up after reading all the excellent reviews here and there. I wanted to read a classic. However, it took me seventy pages to get in the book; I almost gave up waiting for the click. Well I am glad I didn’t because this is a wonderful story. Not in the way that it happens much for the plot moves pretty slowly. It’s about the inner conflict of a rich and well-adjusted young man who falls in love with a forbidden woman just before he is about to marry a perfect and innocent girl.
Beauty of the novel lies mostly in the rare precision that was shown in characters development. I ended up loving all the three main figures plus some other, too. Have to admit that Newland is my favorite because he is a bookworm. I liked the slow beauty of the language as well: distant, slow, subtle, it takes time to fully open but I got my reward: a pure pleasure to read to the last page. A lot of reviewers appreciate the book for its social commentaries, I agree, but, as I said, this is not why I came to love The age of innocence.
Just a remark: it’s fascinating that New York is pictured kind of boring. But it was the 1870s.

Newland Archer, one of Old New York society's crowned princes (so to speak) is overjoyed about his recent engagement to the perfect May Welland. She too has a perfect pedigree, is a pretty young rose just starting to come into bloom, is innocent and beyond reproach in every way, well trained to be the ideal dutiful wife. But when he gets better acquainted with May's spirited and independent-minded cousin Ellen Olenska, just recently returned from Europe and scandalizing all New York with her revealing dresses and foreign manners of speech and behaviour, Newland is at first shocked and then completely taken over with passion. So much so that he is determined to drop May and marry the countess Olenska instead. What he conveniently forgets is that his desire to embrace a life of freedom and equality will not be tolerated by his peers.

A wonderful look at New York's upper crust in the 1870s, whose lives revolved around being seen at the opera and inviting the right people to dinner parties. Wharton exposes a world she knew firsthand from the distance of the 1920s, and what she shows us is just how regulated life was among the elite—in a New York which was cosmopolitan, but prided itself on its rigid and old fashioned conventions. Because this is Wharton, we know this love story is not likely to end with a Happily Ever After, but along the way she touches on interesting themes and presents us with a fascinating cast of characters who may not be likeable, but don't lack for entertainment value. A story I will definitely revisit in future. This audiobook version was narrated to perfection by David Horovitch and is definitely recommended. —August 2012

The first thing that I must admit is that I liked this book much more than I expected to like it. I think I judged this book by its many sort of boring covers and the fact that it sounded like a dry classic in some descriptions I read. I know, “BAD MATTHEW!” As a voracious reader I should not make assumptions and I should go in with an open mind. But, at least with my pre-conceived notions being disproved, I was pleasantly surprised.

While this book has many characters, the story is not complex. This is good because I could focus on keeping the characters straight instead of the story straight! It is basically a story of how late 1800s high society in New York handles behavior they feel unbecoming of their station. It is especially “shocking” when one of their own becomes involved and forgets his place. Scandalous indeed!

I enjoyed the characters and felt strongly – both positively a negatively – about many of them. I did a lot of head shaking. I did a lot of feeling sorry. I did a lot of not being able to believe how people viewed and treated each other. What we see as rather commonplace today in relationships was not to be tolerated back then. I suppose that is reflected in the title of the book – it was an age of innocence – even the smallest sins were too taboo for daily life and not to be accepted or discussed in public forum. I am interested to discuss this further with the book club I read this for and in comment discussion on this review. I am still trying to figure out what the commentary the author was trying to make. I almost feel like the author’s point could be interpreted as “This is how it was – no subtext implied – you decide how you feel about these people and the way they treated each other.”

I have no problem recommending this if you are looking for a classic to read. If you are a fan of historical fiction and/or scandalous gossip stories I don’t think you can go wrong here. After this, I look forward to trying even more Edith Wharton.

Once again an underwhelming Pulitzer Prize winner. I would have given up but "The Age of Innocence" is one of my father’s favorites, so I stuck it out, hoping for an ironic twist or natural catastrophe or messy and embarrassing suicide.

Lacking intellectual pursuits, weird sexual inclinations and/or worthy and urgent causes, the idle rich are a dull lot, and the calamity of this book is that to the last page Newland Archer’s life goes on as tediously as ever.

About 30 pages in I wondered if the book would be concerned solely with the characters’ taste in clothes, their decorating preferences and whether or not their chefs were any good. There was a bright spot about 3/4s through were Newland realizes he wishes his boring wife May were dead, and I was like, yeaaahh, kill her! That would have livened things up, but alas, murder is just not done.

So what did I learn from this book? I learned that in the late 1800s rich white people were like walking light bulbs. They did a lot of coloring, using the rush and ebb of blood to make their faces and necks light up to convey their feelings, or to go ashen to express discouragement, disappointment or calm. Barely a page goes by without someone’s face flushing, or going pale, or clouding over, or reddening fit to burst! This is obviously the way polite society used to express their emotions.

The height of this circulatory phenomenon is the exchage between Newland and M. Rivière, the secretary/messenger. It’s practically acrobatic. First, Newland’s words “sent the blood rushing to his temples as if he had been caught by a bent-back branch in a thicket.” Then “he saw his blush more darkly reflected in M. Rivière’s sallow countenance.” At the same time, “M. Rivière paled to his normal hue: paler than that his complexion could hardly turn.” Then “Archer, reddening slightly, dropped to his chair,” and also “M. Rivière reddened, but his eyes did not falter,” just before “the young man’s color again rose.”

Of course these corporeal flashes and chills parallel similar imagery of embers and fireplaces, the sun and the weather, kindled hope and hope extinguished. Still, I did feel at times it was bit overdone. If I were thorough, this list would be 6x longer, but here are some other instances:

Archer looked at her glowingly p. 21
Miss Archer blushed and tried to look audacious. P. 33.
The young man reddened. p.34
Newland reddened p. 35.
Newland Archer reddened and laughed. P. 53
She glowed with sympathy … a dusky blush rose to her cheek. p. 54.
He colored a little p. 62.
The light touched the russet rings of the dark hair … and made her pale face paler. p. 63.
The Duke beamed on the group … Madame Olenska’s face grew brilliant with pleasure. p. 65.
Her face lit up. p. 68.
Janey paled and her eyes began to project. p. 71
Archer felt the blood in his temples. p. 77
Her face looked pale and extinguished, as if dimmed by the rich red of her dress p. 90
The blood rushed to his forehead. p. 94
To his surprise her color rose, reluctantly and duskily. p. 98
Her face clouded over (…) the blood rose to his temples. p. 110
… he felt the color rise to his cheek. p. 121
She flushed with joy and lifted her face. p. 126.
Archer burst into a laugh, and May echoed it, crimson to the eyes. p. 177
A sudden blush rose to young Mrs. Archer’s face (…) p. 215
“Augusta,” he said, turning pale and putting down his fork (…) p. 232
It was Mrs. Welland’s turn to grow pale (…) p. 233
Mr. Welland’s brow remained clouded (…) p. 233
.. with an insistence so unlike her he felt the blood rising to his face … p. 234
… and her face, in contrast, was wan and almost faded. p. 243
She merely looked paler, with darker shadows in the folds and recesses of her obesity. p. 248
The young man heard her with veins aglow. p. 249

The Age of Innocence is basically a love triangle. Newland Archer is a wealthy lawyer of upper-class New York society, who is engaged to be married to May, a member of the same society. Ruled by well-laid conventions, Newland believes him to be happy and content and eagerly awaits his impending marriage. The meet of Ellen, May's cousin, and his closer association with her that follows make him see the dull and empty life that he is forced to live which is tightly controlled by convention. Newland eventually falls in love with Ellen, but convention and duty require that he should surrender his love and freedom.

I didn't take to the character of Newland Archer initially. His cowardice and inaction really bothered me. Even when May offers him that he may break the engagement if there is "another woman" whom he desires to marry, he does not grab at the opportunity. Although he constantly lamented over his lost opportunity to love and live freely, it is his own inaction that brought him misery; and not only to him but to May and Ellen. But later, on reflecting on his character, I realized that I cannot judge his character by modern convictions. Given the time period in which the character is set, nothing was surprising in Newland's cause of action. The conventions by which they lived were a second religion to them from which it was almost impossible to deviate.

May was the representation of family, duty, and convention. She is described as pretty, socially perfect but one who lacks imagination and room for growth. But I felt that she was severely misunderstood, especially by Newland. While she puts a socially acceptable face outwards, underneath lives a strong, intelligent, and artful woman who goes to greater lengths to secure what is hers.

My sympathy was with Ellen who was an innocent victim of fate and convention. Her character represented the universal “unconventional women". She was always portrayed in soft, kind, and truthful light with a mind of her own, and I believe, she is Ms. Wharton's heroine.

Through the main characters of Newland, May, and Ellen, and supported by several interesting supporting characters, the story is a true portrayal of the lives and way of living of New York upper-class society. Being herself part of that society, Ms. Wharton draws a truthful account of it, satirically portraying at the same time, their rigid conventional ways of living. The story concludes with the final chapter being set thirty years later, which shows how the people have slowly managed to unchain themselves from these strict bonds. This chapter was a breath of fresh air.

The writing is beautifully detailed, and the psychological portrayal of the characters is cleverly done that it was easy to connect with the story and its characters from the very beginning. Her writing is easy-going yet graceful making it both a quick and interesting read.

This is my second reading of Wharton's work and I loved it. To me, The Age of Innocence is a story of an "age of innocence" where people were kept within strict social rules where imaginative and passionate living is neither heard of nor sanctioned.

Although written in the 20th century, The Age of Innocence could well be seen as a pastiche of 19th century literature. We have the naïve, well-meaning young man who tries yet fails to overcome the prejudices of his society and social class; we have the foreign woman, sophisticated and beautiful, with whom the young man duly falls in love; and we have the fiancée, the typical girl-next-door so beloved in America pop culture, getting between our heroes. Intermeshed with this love triangle, are very rigid puritanical mores, which spill into intricate forms of class divide. I am familiar with how classism works in Europe, remnants, in part, of the old aristocratic order. But although I had heard something about Old Money vs New Money in the US, I had never seen it in action.

The psychological insights only a post-Freud world could provide make this novel truly extraordinary. The love story between Archer and Countess Olenska is beautifully written not for what it is but for the insights into Archer’s feelings, wonderfully illustrated by the quote: Each time you happen to me all over again. And in fact, the encounters between Archer and Olenska are sparse. Archer spends much more time thinking about her than with her. What could then be a rather banal love story turns into a sublime relationship made of self-denial and lofty feelings. On the other hand, it is precisely the relationship between Archer and his wife, May, that is very much banal, dirty and sullied despite May’s pretences at purity.

Прелесть классических романов не в том, что вызревая во времени, они непременно учат нас чему-то важному - можно подумать, будто классика со временем усыхает до кураги концентрированного смысла, позолота сотрется, свиная кожа реальности остается и т.д., но мне кажется, что в случае с подлинной классической литературой все ровно наоборот.
Теряются и усыхают прописные истины, сиюминутность и актуальность, а остается слепок прошлого времени, который, если он был отчетливо снят - на талант, а не на мыло, становится своего рода окном в прошлое, в его навсегда ушедшую красоту.

Роман Уортон, конечно, можно прочесть как историю о неудавшейся любви, где влюбленные, помучавшись немного страстью как изжогой и полюбив немного друг дружку в уме, разошлись обратно по зонам своего комфорта, прекрасно понимая, что в принципе и находятся на зоне, но зато у них там и быт налаженный и макароны с мясом. Но, на мой взгляд, самое важное, что сейчас осталось от этого романа - это избыточная, крепкая вещность текста, весь этот плюш оперных кресел, изумрудные ожерелья, соленья в банках на столе в приватной комнатке бостонского ресторана, золотой день с видом на море, перо цапли на шляпе, гвоздики, тяжелые красные розы, желтые розы, парижские наряды в чехлах, дожидающиеся, чтоб однажды сбылися мечты сумасшедшие, платье было надето, фиалки цвели и далее по тексту. Все то, что до нас дошло уже неживым, в тусклом музейном обрамлении, здесь еще сияет светом и новизной - и еще тем самым, детским, предчувствием телефона и того, что тогда еще называлось прогрессом.

3.5 stars
Edith Wharton shows us the world of the upper class in 1870's New York. This elite group had very rigid rules of behavior, social rituals, fashion, and entertaining. There is an element of hypocrisy that existed in some of its members behind their conservative moral exterior.

Newland Archer, a wealthy young lawyer, is engaged to May, an innocent young woman who follows society's moral code. But Newland is very attracted to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has separated from her philandering husband. Ellen, who has spent many years in Europe, has a more artistic sensibility and shocks her staid relatives with her bohemian ways. Society, as well as these three main characters, plays a part in the resolution of this love triangle.

Very detailed descriptions are given of the homes, manners, and lifestyles of the upper class New Yorkers during the time that Wharton was a young woman herself. While this makes the book important historically, it weighed down the first half of the novel. The second half of the book picked up the pace of the plot.

Each of the two women, especially May, seemed more complex than Newland realized. He was dealing with his own feelings of being constrained by society, but also had a strong sense of duty. Society was changing by the time Newland's children were adults with many more opportunities for freedom and self-expression.

Take a Trip: Part of this novel was set in Newport, RI, where the very wealthy vacationed in the summers. The mansions have been beautifully preserved, and their tours offer another glimpse of this element of society. The conspicuous consumption is almost overwhelming. Newport is an especially scenic and interesting getaway.

May be I ought to have read this before the four stories in Old New York: Four Novellas. The novel was written in 1920 and the novellas that pick up, somewhat on the side, some of the same characters  Mrs Manson Mingott, Sillerton Jackson, Mrs Struthers, Henry Van der Luyden were published four years later. Although "Old New York", with its windows onto the four decades of the 1840s; 1850s; 1860s and 1870s, provides the introductory framework of the city of Wharton's (obsessive?) memories and of her earlier novel. The Age of Innocence is set in the 1870s, although the reader keeps the feeling that one is watching it through a telescope that zooms onto the past. This suspicion is confirmed in the last chapter, when the novel is wrapped up at the turn of the century.

Whatever the order, my reading attitude has been the same in both works. Firmly rooted on their sense of place and time, I kept marking in the map of my mind where he various characters stood, where they walked (mostly up and down 5th), and lived (brown-stoned houses and later in the somewhat surreptitious cream-colored buildings), for their particular siting forms certainly part of their portraiture.

In reality this is my second reading. From my first experience I just remember that I had started reading just after sitting on a lecture on the act of looking in nineteenth century painting. The most striking scenes were opera watchers not watching the opera but watching at each other watching themselves. I was then struck by the rounded structure of the novel for it is at the opera that the plot begins; and ends. The reader can see him/herself as witnessing the story from one of the boxes beginning, lets say, at the left side of the horseshoe shaped theater, and gradually moving to one at the extreme right ending it from one of the

The novel is also loaded with references that ground the work to its times and its culture. It is loaded with references: Painting (Bouguereau, Cabanel, Carolus Duran); Art history (Ruskin, William Morris and Walter Pater); Literature (Swinburne's Chastelard, Merimée's Lettres à une inconnue, Paul Bourget); Music (pianist Sarrasate, tenor Campanini); Theatre (George Rignold)... It is all there.

This novel is foremost a sociological analysis and although it is, at its core, a sharp and censorious critique of the collective and ethical mores of a very particular society, it retains an air of nostalgia that for a twenty-first century reader brings a certain wistfulness when one realizes that many of the criticized social barriers have been pulled down but that the revealed boundless field can also seem somewhat disorienting. The reader cannot but ponder what would Wharton have thought of today's freedoms.

Scordatevi i toni umoristici e sarcastici di un Thackeray. Qui, a ogni pagina, a ogni riga, si respira tristezza, dolore e tanta amarezza. Dinanzi a noi lettori si staglia il quadro di una società conformista, ipocrita, che ha fatto delle regole sociali consolidatesi nel tempo dei veri e propri dogmi cui assoggettarsi quieta e condiscendente: pena un'esclusione sociale temuta quasi più della morte stessa. Non c'è spazio per la discussione, il dibattito, le voci fuori dal coro, ma solo per un costante, devoto conformismo, per sorrisi dietro ai quali si celano zanne e artigli, per quella medietas nella quale ogni gentiluomo sembra trovare un'intima sicurezza e la certezza d'essere nel giusto. Non è solo la donna a far le spese di un simile clima, ma ogni singola persona, ovunque e sempre. Da leggere.