Classics for Beginners discussion

This is the Spoilers Welcome discussion thread for The Age of Innocence. People participating in the discussion are welcome to post their thoughts here as they read.

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I didn't realize that The Age of Innocence won the Pulitzer prize in 1920. This is a brief biography of Ms. Wharton: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/whar...

Edith Wharton designed her own home in Lenox, MA. You can visit the house. This is a little about her house: https://www.edithwharton.org/discover...

I'm on chapter 15 (a bit slow these days), y first Wharton and I love it!

Nina wrote: "I'm on chapter 15 (a bit slow these days), y first Wharton and I love it!"
It's my second and I love it, especially a she has "real women" in her stories, good or bad and mostly in between like we all are. I find her writing really insightful for the country and the age. I didn't know much until then.

Karen wrote: "Well, I'm finished! What a story!
I'm always reminded to expect the unexpected! I am dazzled by the ending, and no, I will not spoil it. Just keep reading :)

At first I wasn't sure of what to mak..."
Could you recommend any others? The other one I have read is The Custom of the Country, which I thought was even better.

Many love The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome.

Thank you all, I'll certainly will try and get around to all your recommendations.

Karen, A tea party read-a-thon sounds lovely. I wish I knew enough readers interested in doing that.

Wharton gives us the literature of the time that Newland is being torn between two women. She mentions that Middlemarch had recently been published (1872) and reviewed. Newland becomes engrossed in The House of Life. Since I had never heard of this one, I looked it up. The author is Rossetti and the book of verse was published in 1870. More information about these poems and what they mean is here: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/d...

It doesn't seem like much has changed with a certain class in New York City. I live outside of New York City and I visit it quite often. There is small, select group of people who live there who only associate with others of their class and wealth. They have an isolated life that completely ignores the lives of those around them except when they need something. These people leave their homes in limousines with darkened windows. They are dropped off at acquaintance's homes or businesses unconcerned with the lives of those around them. If they wrote a book about their life in NYC, I doubt of they would mention the tourists, the street vendors, the vast amount of workers, the subway riders, etc. since that is not part of their everyday life. They might mention the traffic if it interfered with their plans.

If you read about the life of Edith Wharton, you will see that she was a part of the New York society and strove mightily to break away. She did not marry the man she loved and she had an unhappy marriage. She had at least one adulterous affair. There is a lot of autobiography in this book.

Chapter 21 mentions the Lime Rock Lighthouse and its keeper, Ida Lewis. Ida Lewis was quite a woman in a time when women were not considered fit for such hard work. http://www.rhodeislandlighthousehisto...

I have a question about how Wharton describes May's smile. Several times, including the last paragraph in Chapter 19, May mentioned as having a "boyish smile." What is a boyish smile? What is Wharton trying to say when she repeatedly uses this term?

Several people who recommended this book said it was humorous. Do you think it was humorous? I didn't, other than the opera remark and maybe one or two other comments.

☯Emily wrote: "If you read about the life of Edith Wharton, you will see that she was a part of the New York society and strove mightily to break away. She did not marry the man she loved and she had an unhappy m..."
This book certainly feels as if she knew exactly what she was talking about and May to some part feels autobiographical writing to me. Birds in Golden Cages come to mind. However clearly not only in New York but all over the world there are still society's and people like that and in the age of the internet and mass media I'm not sure we can still excuse them for not taking part in real life. Shutting themselves off from the world's problems now and then (plenty of poverty in Edith Wharton's time) is selfish to the extreme.

☯Emily wrote: "I have a question about how Wharton describes May's smile. Several times, including the last paragraph in Chapter 19, May mentioned as having a "boyish smile." What is a boyish smile? What is Whart..."

To me that is a smile that is not sweet and girly but more cheeky. I see someone with dimples and a certain look in their eyes.

Karen wrote: "I'm currently reading Wharton's book "Old New York". It contains 4 novellas, each dealing with the customs and society of NY in the 1840s, 50s, 60s and 70s. I started with the last story "New Year'..."

I really enjoyed reading Old New York: Four Novellas.

this book captivated me right from the get-go. I was stunned how much I liked it. Strangely it was a page-turner. I found a lot of parallels between our time and the setting of this book. I was looking forward to watching the movie but after watching it I realized the tension of the story is inside the mind of the narrator so it doesn't translate well to the screen. I love this book so much I promptly loaded up on Wharton work and devoured everything.

I have read The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I prefer The Age of Innocence.