The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

Title: The Custom of the Country

Author: Edith Wharton

Publisher: 1913

Genre: Classics

Pages: 224

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Classics - Romance; Popsugar - Takes Place Over a Character's Lifetime

Undine Spragg is an exquisitely beautiful but ferociously acquisitive young woman from the Midwest who comes to New York to seek her fortune. She achieves her social ambitions—but only at the highest cost to her family, her admirers, and her several husbands. Wharton lavished on Undine an imaginative energy that suggests she was as fascinated as she was appalled by the alluring monster she had created. It is the complexity of her attitude that makes The Custom of the Country—with its rich social and emotional detail and its headlong narrative power—one of the most fully realized and resonant of her works.

I must say that I was a bit disappointed in this one. I really enjoyed Wharton's The Age of Innocence, but this one felt flat in comparison. Undine is one of the most unlikable characters in literature. No one is rooting for this spoiled brat of a teen in the beginning and no one is rooting for her at the end. I could see Wharton's social commentary, but I just couldn't really get into the characters and storyline to really care. 

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Title: The Age of Innocence

Author: Edith Wharton

Published: 1920

Genre: Classics

Pages: 366

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 1001 Books; TBR Reduction; Ebook; Books to Movies; Back to the Classics -- Woman Author

At the heart of the story are three people whose entangled lives are deeply affected by the tyrannical and rigid requirements of high society. Newland Archer, a restrained young attorney, is engaged to the lovely May Welland but falls in love with May's beautiful and unconventional cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. Despite his fear of a dull marriage to May, Archer goes through with the ceremony — persuaded by his own sense of honor, family, and societal pressures. He continues to see Ellen after the marriage, but his dreams of living a passionate life ultimately cease.

Okay. I get this novel. I get Wharton's criticism of high society. I get the conflict the characters feel. I understand and yet I'm not the biggest fan of this book. Mostly because I can't stand Newland Archer. I get May and the Countess. I understand their behavior, but Newland was just way too selfish for my tastes.

Movie:

I loved the movie adaptation. The actors were cast perfectly, especially Daniel Day-Lewis. Swoon! He even made Archer a more likable character. And Michelle Pfeiffer shined as Countess Olenska. Plus, the movie just looked amazing! I loved the sets and even more, the costumes! Those dresses were intricate and absolutely gorgeous. Perfect adaptation of a historical novel.  Definitely a keeper in terms of a book-to-movie.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Title: Ethan Frome

Author: Edith Wharton

Publisher: 1911

Genre: Classic Fiction

Pages: 99

Rating:  3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Rory Gilmore; 1001 Books; TBR Reduction; A to Z - E; 52 Books - W5; Classics - Name in Title

Perhaps the best-known and most popular of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome is widely considered her masterpiece. Set against a bleak New England background, the novel tells of Frome, his ailing wife Zeena and her companion Mattie Silver, superbly delineating the characters of each as they are drawn relentlessly into a deep-rooted domestic struggle. Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to an older woman. Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of a youthful cousin who is employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. Their growing love for one another, discovered by an embittered wife, presages an ending to this grim tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic.

A classic author I have been meaning to read for years now. I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed in this novel. I just wasn't feeling any of the characters. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the bleak landscape. Those were where Wharton truly shined. But the characters and storyline just weren't that intriguing to me at all.