Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton, 1920)

I had much enjoyed Wharton's The House of Mirth almost three years ago, but liked this better. Not sure (or perhaps incapable of articulating) why, but I very much like Wharton's writing.

In this one, New York upper society is changing (something Wharton lived through). Newland Archer is scheduled to be married to a prize catch of New York society, but things get very complicated as he helps out his fiancee's cousin.

I liked the way Wharton ended the book.

I also like that while she is quite focused on the foibles of this segment of society, she also obviously appreciates some of its strengths and charms - very little black and white here.

Didn't know this was a significant movie in 1993, with some pretty big name stars involved. I think I would be scared to watch it as I have nice memories of the book. Even found myself wondering what might have happened with the principal characters after the final events in the book, which is a pretty weird thing to wonder about in a novel.

No comments:

Post a Comment