The Age of Innocence (AmazonClassics Edition)

Slow going at first but as the plot begins to flesh out the characters become more vivid and involved. Some of the characters remain one-dimensional so as to contrast them to the main ones. If you do not enjoy books based on the past you should forego this one as the detail will bore you stiff. Much of the novel is based in the NYC area and is an interesting expose' of its day and age.

This is not an eBook-- the pages are copied from a manuscript and pasted onto the page. You cannot change the size of the font, or use bookmarks or highlighting. This should be clear in the description BEFORE it is purchased.

While radical for its time, this novel now seems somewhat superficial and dated. The main characters are more two-rather than three-dimensional. The international theme, the conflict between American and European values, is not well developed. Compared to a Henry James novel, such as The Ambassadors,

that deals with the international theme, The Age of Innocence, functions on a lesser level.

i struggled to read the novel since it was copied pages of the book. i wasn't able to enjoy the story because of the limitations of enlarging the print. where it would stay enlarged. also the vocabulary/dictionary feature could not be used. did not complete the read.

A depressing story which hit too close to home for me to find enjoyable. How is this one of the "100 Books You Must Read Before You Die" ? I could not at all identify with the affluent lifestyle of the characters, nor with their huge self-absorption.

I felt that Edith Wharton got a bit carried away with her descriptions of all the angst poor Archer was going through. Instead of waiting with bated breath (or any other kind of breath) for the next "action" I felt I was slogging through a huge vat of treacle!
I guess I did not quite enjoy this book the "Everyone should read before they die" as you advertised it!

This book has less pages than some of the other "The Age of Innocence" books. It was because the book was a little larger and the print smaller. This book was for my son to read for school, so when he saw less pages, he was happy. And, love to see him happy. Would order from this seller again.

So like most folks I saw the movie before I read the book so couldn't get the visuals out of my head...but what are ya gonna do?

Here's what I discovered in doing the inevitable comparison between the novel and the film: Over two hours the story is compelling and issues important. But when Wharton's narrative is read over several more hours than a film takes the watch, I couldn't care less about these folks.

Yeah, sorry that your rich and constrained by your ephemeral tradition....but who cares?

What put me off in the novel was the way these characters floated above New York in their fine linens and polished shoes without ever getting the dirty of normal human life on them. Not a single service person was anything other than a prop. Only in the final chapter was anything of the times touched on. It did remind me of Jane Austen writing all those novels during the Napoleonic wars and not once mentioning them. But at least with Austen their middle-classness was often at stake. There seemed to be a fear of slipping into poverty or disrepute.

Not in The Age of Innocence. The worst thing that could happen? Not much. They'll go on being rich and attending balls and the opera. Sorry for the slight disappointment in life.

I gave this four stars because Wharton can obviously compel a reader forward on her prose because I couldn't care less about the story. Also, the final chapter is perhaps the finest final chapter I've ever read in a novel. It is a quiet and wistful chapter full of reflection and regret yet contentment. Much like many men I presume feel in their 50s - or now probably older - looking back on the paths not taken.

This version is a terrible publication. The book is too wide making it difficult to keep track of place from line to line. The layout is off with a very small space at the top of the page compared to the bottom and the margins are too small! Really disappointed!

This is not a criticism of the novel, but this particular version is missing several pages scattered throughout the text. It is extremely annoying when you try to read it. I would buy a different version.

This is a romance. If you are looking for explicate sexual detail you will not find that here. It is a romance in the true sense of romance. A romantic will understand the difference. I have seen the movie and it does very closely follow the book. Something rare for movie makers.
I thoroughly enjoyed the reading of this fine work of fiction.

Beautiful piece of literature, horrendous edition. It's printed on copy paper and looks like it was formatted in Microsoft Word. Don't waste your money; return shipping is more expensive than the book itself.

Bought this for Mom for her book club. 10
women ranging in age from 60-90.
They all hated it. The comments were, "draggy, boring, too much time spent on setting the stage of the era and not telling an interesting story, waste of time and $". Old people are painfully honest.

I know this is a classic but it was painful to get through. none of the characters were the least bit likable. And I kept thinking at least they'd have an affair which would have been interesting. Never happened. Then the ending. PLEASE! Aaaahhhh read for my book club wouldn't recommend this to anyone. The only good thing was I got it for free.

I can not comment on the contents of the book itself because the printing had so many errors and mistakes that it was impossible to read. I don't know what happened, but this should not have been offered for purchase in its current condition. A real ripoff and not worthy to be called a Kindle offering.

I didn't really care for THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. I know it's a bit older and clunky and it's probably directed more towards a turn-of-the-twentieth century female audience than me, but I really wasn't impressed. YMMV.

This was not my favorite Edith Wharton story, but it was enjoyable. The characters were real to me and that made me like them.

My favorite Edith Wharton's, should anyone out there care, are Summer and Custom of the Country.

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I do not want to rate this at this time. I would like the option to comment if I feel strongly about it one way or the other.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

I really enjoyed the book, seeing New York in the "gilded age." However, the formatting on this Kindle version of the book is horrid. I do not recommend you buy this Kindle version. I ended up borrowing the book from my library for much better formatting.

The only reason I read this book was because it was a book club choice. I finished it but dreaded the thought of reading it, every time I picked it up. it is an over blown romance novel. what's with the .... at the end of so many paragraphs ????

This company's name makes you think it is located in the US but it is not. I had to wait quite a while for the book and it arrived with a customs sticker on it. They should tell people that the book is coming from far away so someone can make an informed decision as to whether to order from this company.

Young attorney Newland Archer is engaged to the lovely May Welland and feeling entitled to a life consumed with all the comforts and rituals that his family’s circle of wealthy New Yorkers enjoy. At the turn of the twentieth century, appropriateness in dress, manners, marriages, and relationships is everything. Straying from the fold is not only frowned upon but will turn one into a social outcast, which has happened to May’s cousin Ellen who married a European Count then left him with the help of another man. Countess Olenska’s unconventional attitude appeals to Newland immensely, especially since he’s begun to wonder if marriage to a woman who doesn’t question anything or think for herself might be a tad unsatisfying. The more he ponders this, the more intrigued becomes with the countess. Soon, he questions his entire life.

While the story of snobbish people living useless lives wouldn’t normally interest me, the fact that Edith Wharton wrote it and won a Pulitzer prize for her novel does. I understand why the novel earned such high praise. Wharton writes with the same mild undertone of amusement and mockery that Austen did with Pride and Prejudice, yet Wharton’s subtle layers of cynicism and despondency give the story an edgy feel at times. The conflict between expectation and following one’s heart is beautifully portrayed through Newland’s anguish and regrets.

Despite my hesitancy over the subject matter, I enjoyed this novel. Admittedly, there were far too many characters growing pale during those awkward moments when something is said that shouldn’t be, but what else could they do when outbursts just weren’t done in those days? Having said that, I do believe that the quality of Wharton’s writing still holds up to today’s literary authors.

I have no idea why this is a classic. There is no depth to the characters and I found myself not caring what happened to them. The story of their lives was boring. I finished and said to myself, "So?" Glad it was short!

It is impossible for me to rate Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence because the text of the novel wasn't transmitted; only the title page came through. Because the price was nominal, I didn't submit a complaint.

I'll be honest. The only reason I purchased this book is because it is required reading for my daughters 10th grade AP English class. I don't know (or care, frankly) whether this book is any good or not. I do hope my daughter gets a good grade though:).

I knew the style of writing would be very different from current literature. But I don't know how this won the Pulitzer. It is a long drawn out version of lusting for someone unattainable. ugh I made myself read it but it was grueling.

This book was terrible. and I'm not one to hate books. I'm a lover of books, especially the classics. However, this book to me was dry, bland, and boring. It moved along very slowly. Fans of Jane Austen will enjoy this- another author that doesn't fit my style.

Almost 20 years after reading the depressing "Ethan Frome," did I realize that Edith Wharton is not just a good author of classic literature but that she's really perceptive and funny. Her wit is at the very least on par with Jane Austen -- though she takes a decidedly sharper, less empathetic approach to her characters than Jane.

The first couple of chapters have a lot of zingers - for example:

"... an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English- speaking audiences."

And then a description of Mrs Mingott starts off as

"The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly-turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon."

Doomed city? Oh, that's hilarious! Right? Edith Wharton creates complex and very human characters who aren't always conscious of just how silly their lives might seem. They seem to take these things all very seriously. Newland holds the conflicting beliefs that women are equals and should be able to do things but continues to support the very heteronormative sex roles ascribed to women in marriage, blind even to his fiancees perceptiveness, emotional control and cleverness.

There are some very strong women in this story - and yet they seem to stay more or less stuck within the confines of social convention. Countess Olenska leaves her husband - who refuses to grant her a divorce - but doesn't want to give up her lifestyle (or her money, which he will keep if they divorce anyway).

Even Mrs Mingott defies conventions -- she's created a body that permits her to step outside of conventions (having her bedroom on the first floor and receiving guests there, not going to opera but sending family representatives instead, having her house in a less fashionable area and making people go to visit her there) -- proving that there is some fluidity but keeping appearances "proper" is key to avoiding scandal that will result in the kind of rapid, spiraling downward mobility such as that experienced by the protagonist of "The House of Mirth."

May Welland knows how to play the game - very well - she is a sharp cookie, and she gets her marriage to the "right" man - getting him to give up what might have been his one true love, and establishing such a powerful sense of duty and obligation that even after her death, while he's still young enough to marry again - he refuses to even visit Ellen. Even as social conventions were changing in a whirl all around him, Newland was unable to pursue his happiness to do the right thing, upon which the happiness of many others was contingent.

Whether it was weakness or strength that Newland abandoned any thought of leaving May and went through with the wedding, marriage and family - in the end, does it matter?

Even in "Women in Love" - it seems like despite the characters' ability to choose what they would, they didn't find happiness. Truly, it makes me wonder whether any of what passes for "love" in any of these late 19th/early 20th c novels is actually love or just a strong drive to defy one's environment, conventions and try on something different - if just for a little while - before settling into what is expected.

New land Archer lives in the rarified, mannered world of Old New York, where certain etiquette and conventions must always be followed. His life has been planned for him, and it is a secure one: a job in law, a pretty and gracious fiance, and a round of social events. Although he is not unhappy, he has vague longings for a life with fewer restraints and more adventure. His wife's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, seems to embody these desires, and he falls madly in love with her. This love lasts for years, although he only sees her a few times, and they never consummate their relationship. When he finally decides to follow her to Europe, the family unites to separate them. This book is a brilliant, sometimes funny expose of the superficial, silly behavior of the upper classes in Victorian-era New York. It is also the sad love triangle of two beautiful, intelligent women and the man who doesn't really know either one of them. History buffs will love the details of the time, and romantic fans will enjoy the love story.

Another Pulitzer Prize winner that surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. I'm not sure why I was surprised--I've read Wharton before and liked her, but in reading the summary of this book, I thought I had the plot and the characters all pegged from the beginning. I was wrong.

I listened to it on audio, and I thought the narrator did a fabulous job reading the characters to life. It was one of those books I couldn't wait to listen to. I don't know that I've really read a book about the NYC Elite back in the late 1800s, and it was fascinating to see the puritanical American ideals play out in "society". I thought the characters were all wonderfully drawn and incredibly sympathetic and interesting, and the pull between what is right, what is accepted/allowed, and what the heart wants was just so beautifully conveyed.

I thought the book ended the only way it could, and I was immensely satisfied. There is an epilogue of sorts, and while my first reaction to the very very end was one of disappointment, I know that was based more on a superficial desire for an ending that would not have served the book as well. I think the ending here was incredibly poignant and fitting, and this is the kind of book that will stay with me for awhile. Highly recommend!

Well Ms. Savage certainly knows how to end on a cliffhanger! In the sixth part to this seven part serial, we get to watch Branford become even more possessive and protective of his commoner queen after the betrayal is uncovered. But with one threat stopped, another is lurking in the shadows and this one might not be within the newly crowned King’s ability to stop.

I am loving this series, don’t get me wrong. I am hooked and invested in these characters. I even got over my issues with part five and the darn concubine! And although I can see the reality in the fiction, I can’t say that I won’t be diving into the final part of this series without a little fear of the worst. And I really, really (reallyreallyreallyreally) hope that my fears aren’t confirmed as we wrap up this series.

But part six was another highly addictive installment of this historical romance series and I want part seven right now, even if the stress will cause me to skip ahead to know the ending before starting.

In the 6th installment of Shay Savage’s Unexpected Circumstances series, Savage has provided a perfect set of circumstances and actions that prove just how contradictory the meanings of the word apprehension are:

Definitely 1: the faculty or act of apprehending or understanding; perception on a direct and immediate level.

This aptly applies to the discoveries that are made at the beginning of the story. People used Alexandra’s kindness against her and plotted to thwart any efforts made by the newly crowned King and Queen to protect Silverhelm, but now that Branford knows the truth, he’s promised to ensure his queen’s safety by no longer failing her or making mistakes that risk everything he loves.

This new information is a powerful weapon for both Branford and Alexandra because it shows them that there are very few people in and out of the kingdom who they can trust, which means that, hopefully, by relying on only themselves, they can once again focus on their relationship and command their kingdom to a secure order.

Definition 2: anticipation of adversity or misfortune; suspicion or fear of future trouble or evil.

Branford and Alexandra are still together and back to who they were to each other before people interfered with their lives, which means that the threats are not over. There are still those who hold power that look to acquire more and they do not feel that a Commoner Queen is worthy of her position, so there’s still adversity for Branford and Alexandra to face despite Branford’s pledge to protect her at all costs. That is not something that Branford can control and before the story is over, they, once again, find themselves fighting for their relationship…fighting for their kingdom…even fighting for their lives.

Shay Savage has woven quite the historical romance in her Unexpected Circumstances series. Heading into the final book, I have no idea how everything will play out, but what I do know is that Alexandra can hold her own regardless of what she faces and Branford will make anyone pay in blood who threatens his wife and his kingdom.

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

4 Poison Apples

4 - "Only you... Ever..." Stars!

Part six The Apprehension, of Shay Savages’ Unexpected Circumstances series, deals with the aftermath of the revelations at the end of the previous novella. And to say Brandford is not happy would be a huge understatement.

We are at the stage in the proceedings now, where talking to much about the plot is likely to give away spoilers of things that have occurred in the previous installments, so I am going to keep that part of my review a little vague.

What stuck out most to me in this episode is the strength and confidence that Alexandra has now found within herself to take up the role of Brandford’s wife and her royal position. The situation with King Edgar, Princess Whitney and the potential war with Hadebrand is hanging in the balance in this one, especially in view of what came to light last time.

Revenge and retribution are the name of the game for Brandford, but what surprised me is that Alexandra was by his side each and every step of the way. Their love is now as strong as their bond, and as a couple they have just grown so much over the course of this series, Alexandra in strength and self-belief, and Brandford in humility and in opening himself up to emotions again.

"Seeing you like this… is all I really want in life. Just to see you smile-to be this… happy."

The cliffy to end all cliffies rounds this penultimate novella off, and Shay has literally left everything hanging in the balance. I cannot wait to see how this adventure ends with The Devastation due for release on 23rd August.

ARC generously provided by the author, and it was my absolute pleasure to provide the above honest review.

Conspiracies are uncovered, guilty parties are hunted down, and true colors are being shown in this sixth installment of the Unexpected Circumstances series.

Alexandra and Branford learn that the initial betrayal of Alexandra upon her first arrival in Silverhelm led to Branford’s involved kin seeking an alliance with Hadebrand. And although one of them has distanced herself from the crime, it will not be enough to spare her.

Learning of the treachery, Alexandra finds a thirst for blood within herself that she hadn’t expected. Once this is settled, she is determined to restore her marriage to what it was, and ensure Hadley is treated properly as well. Branford, for his part, is more determined than ever to protect his wife.

This book covers a greater time span than the previous ones, in that several months are glossed over between major action points. There is also more explicit violence in the aftermath of the conspiracy at Silverhelm’s court. The particular brand of violence is true to the time period, haunting and gruesome though it may be.

When Branford and Alexandra reconnect, it is also quite vigorously, which fits the desperation they both felt before and the relief they feel now. You cannot fault Branford for becoming even more overprotective than he already was, and Alexandra understand that. She welcomes his affections and attention, for she knows they come from his heart.

The book ends with another action-packed sequence, in which Alexandra learns just how far Hadebrand’s ambition goes, yet amidst the turmoil, she finds an unexpected ally. Now to just hold out long enough…

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review for Stephanie's Book Reports.

*5 stars for Unexpected Circumstances Book Six: The Apprehension! This book is part of a series and cannot be read as a stand alone.

Traitors have been exposed and let me tell you, hell hath no fury like King Branford! After dealing with the traitors, Branford becomes obsessed with Alexandra's safety, and he refuses to let her out of his sight. For a while, things are great, and Brandford and Alexandra grow closer than ever before. Unfortunately, they are still people who won't stop until Silverhelm is destroyed. Will Branford be able to protect Alexandra and his kingdom?

I am 100% obsessed with this series! I literally count down the days between book releases! Branford and Alexandra are great characters! Even though Branford can be volatile at times, his love for Alexandra knows no bounds. And Alexandra? Well, she is the perfect queen. She is humble and completely devoted to not only her husband but her kingdom as well. I can't wait to see how this amazing story turns out, but I will be sad when its over. If you haven't yet read this series, you need to one click it now! I promise you will love it!

The Apprehension is Book 6 in the Unexpected Circumstance 7 Book Series. We left off in Book 5, The Concubine, with a shocking reveal of two traitors in their midst, but with this discovery their prayers just might be answered.

With these two traitors removed from their midst, hope is suddenly rekindled between Alexandra and Branford. Branford promises to never leave her side at all times, to protect her as he rallies his allies against King Edgar and the kingdom of Hadebrand. But treachery still lives in the hearts of those who wish destruction of Silverhelm.

Janet conspired all along, served me poisoned “witches” tea day after day, killing any baby that might be growing inside of me. I had thought she was my friend, but straight from her own mouth the truth came spewing out. Alexandra had believed her story and fell right into their plans, and thought she was drinking “only tea.” “I was not barren, and as his seed filled me again, and this time I joined him in prayer, and that was when I knew there was still hope.”

Even with Branford's vigilant attention and promises, there are still enemies surrounding them. The Apprehension stops once again in a cliffhanger. Making me very nervous for the next and final book, The Devastation, and this book is told entirely from Branford's point of view.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review for Stephanie's Book Reports.

*5 stars for Unexpected Circumstances Book Six: The Apprehension! This book is part of a series and cannot be read as a stand alone.

Traitors have been exposed and let me tell you, hell hath no fury like King Branford! After dealing with the traitors, Branford becomes obsessed with Alexandra's safety, and he refuses to let her out of his sight. For a while, things are great, and Brandford and Alexandra grow closer than ever before. Unfortunately, they are still people who won't stop until Silverhelm is destroyed. Will Branford be able to protect Alexandra and his kingdom?

I am 100% obsessed with this series! I literally count down the days between book releases! Branford and Alexandra are great characters! Even though Branford can be volatile at times, his love for Alexandra knows no bounds. And Alexandra? Well, she is the perfect queen. She is humble and completely devoted to not only her husband but her kingdom as well. I can't wait to see how this amazing story turns out, but I will be sad when its over. If you haven't yet read this series, you need to one click it now! I promise you will love it!

“The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton is a whirlwind of a novel that allows readers insight into the rich society of New York within the 19th century. It has received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and marked the first for a woman to be awarded with this honor. The basis of this novel focuses on a married couple, Newland Archer and May Welland. Newland is a sophisticated lawyer who seeks adventure and fun while his soon to be wife, May Welland, is more of a traditional, dull woman. It is not until May’s cousin, Count Ellen Olenska, comes home from Europe after leaving her husband, Count Olenski, that Newland finds himself intrigued by another. Count Olenska’s word of separation from her husband causes glares and discussion around town in addition to her already recognized rebellious behavior. Newland finds himself chasing after Count Olenska and trying to win her love despite the consequences.
The general development of this fictional romance novel is intriguing and keeps readers wondering what is in store to happen. I found this novel to be groundbreaking and different from other novels that might discuss a similar situation. The novel felt as if you were simply living in the time yourself and tracing back all of the details and information in your own head. You feel as if you are going through your own mental war with yourself and think about what it is you would do in the situation. Edith Wharton did an incredible job of the development of the novel and allowing her young adult to older audience engage with it. She allows her readers to really engross themselves into her work and feel emotions the characters feel in order to get the full effect of the novel. Edith Wharton was known for portraying people from proper backgrounds and essentials of life to focus on the uprising of relationships in special relation to her time which can definitely be seen throughout the novel.
As there would be with anything else, some flaws were present throughout the work. Some detail within the novel was unreasonably elaborated on causing some loss on the focus of a sentence. Also, many run on sentences were present that caused me to forget what it was I was reading or what the purpose of the line was. In addition, I found there to be an unnecessary amount of minor characters that came and went throughout the novel. As you continue to read the novel, you either get a super elaborate description of a character only to never be discussed of again, or you may come across a character that was mentioned chapters ago later on in the novel that you hardly remember who they were and what purpose they had in the story line.
I feel that the general message of this novel can be taken in different perspectives based on whose point of view you are basing the novel off of. Otherwise, I took the stirring message that your sense of pride and wellbeing in yourself is what can get you through complicated times, despite how off track they may be with your original ambitions. Even with what hardships you may have to go through for a short time, your pride and good judgment can lead you to the ultimately good experiences of life and eventually to greater things. This is a novel that I will constantly look back on and appreciate what kind of story line and messages it holds.

Newland Archer (not Archer Newland, tempted as one may be to think of him as such) is in way, way over his head. He could have had a normal life. He could have been happy with beautiful, simple, conventional May Welland, who happens to be thrilled to be his fiancee. But no. He just had to get involved with May's cousin from Europe, Countess Ellen Olenska. The Countess breaks societal rules right and left, but the crazy part is that she's not setting out to do that - she's setting out to be who she really wants to be. That's probably why Archer's so into her, because no one does that in his New York. But will that be enough to keep them together?

I normally read very quickly, but with "The Age of Innocence," I had to slow down to take in all the names and families and little details that Edith Wharton carefully stitches into her gorgeous embroidery sampler of a novel. All the "These people are related to these people this way and by marriage to these and by the skin of their teeth to these" was a bit difficult to understand at first, but once I did, I couldn't go back. I had to see what happened to everyone, even the ones I didn't like (and there were many). It's sweeping without melodrama, satirical without farce, heartbreaking without sappiness. All I have left to say is for you to read it. And if you have read it? Read it again and come back and talk to me.

On a side note, this book was the first Pulitzer Prize winner written by a woman. It was also the third Pulitzer Prize ever. That's how great this book is: so great that even the old fuddy-duddys judging Pulitzers in 1920 had to sit up and take notice.

My introduction to Edith Wharton came back in high school in the form of Ethan Frome, which set my bar for buttoned-up tragic love stories fairly high and left me with an eternal loathing of pickle dishes. Given that first rip-your-heart-out experience, I was a bit reluctant to return to Wharton, but either I've grown hardier or more cynical (or just older, which tends to cause both) in the past twenty years, because The Age of Innocence stood out much more for its sly satire and gorgeous writing than for its tragedy. It's quite possible I simply don't have sympathy for self-inflicted tragedy.

Wharton brilliantly brings to life 19th century New York City with all of its societal strictures and foibles, and all of its polite stagnation. Her portrayal of Newland Archer - a man completely hemmed in by women, who doesn't realize the extent to which they're herding him like a sheep through his life - is not only deft but funny and surprisingly sympathetic. But the real star of the show is New York itself, and I wish I'd read this while visiting there - preferably while waiting for the curtain to go up on Faust at the Met. Marvelously drawn, clever, and sad, with extra points for featuring a cameo appearance by St. Augustine, Florida.

This is a story of a man, Newland Archer, who falls in love with a woman after he is engaged to another, and feels he cannot break the engagement. He was born into wealth, and has a secure place in New York society of the late 19th century, an exclusive group that requires not only money, but for people to conform to a certain behavioral code in order to belong. This is not necessarily a code of high moral fiber (for men anyways), but is the code of keeping up the appearance of morality, knowing the right people, the right customs, and hiding anything that may be deemed unpleasant. His fiancée, May Welland, is the archetype of a perfect NY society woman. Well behaved, virginal, rich, pretty, but is kind of a blank and seems to have no genuine views of her own, but only reflects what she has been raised to be. Countess Ellen Olenskai, a relation/friend of May and Newland, has fled Europe from an unhappy marriage and looked for security and a place to stay with her New York relatives. Ellen is pretty and intelligent, but breaks many unwritten rules of Archer's group. Archer is attracted to her because of her intelligence and her broader world view, which makes him realize how limited his enjoyments and experiences are if he conforms to his society's requirements. However, he is unable to throw off the values and behaviors of this society that he is raised in so he basically continues with his marriage to May and discourages Ellen from getting a divorce. The novel is basically a long, drawn out description of Newland's vacillation of mind between these two women. It is very well written, and you are never quite sure where Newland will end up in the end. You also get a good picture of this rarefied strata of society and its pettinesses and what made it tick.

The story is a bit lacking imo, in that it didn't totally draw me in. Newland, though intelligent and admirable in may ways, comes off as kind of wishy-washy. He wants it all, and seems to mope that he can't quite get everything that he wants which is relatable, but does not make him totally sympathetic. Countess Olenska is an interesting character, but we only meet her through brief glimpses and she remains somewhat enigmatic. The love Newland has for her seems real, but kind of sudden and out of nowhere to the reader. They clearly have more of a backstory than is laid out in the book. May is also well-drawn. You feel Newland's back and forth attraction and repulsion towards her and what she represents. The end of the book is sort of frustrating as well. I prefer the House of Mirth as Wharton's best novel, but this is well worth the time of reading.

Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer-prize winning “Age of Innocence” is one of the great classics of American literature. Set in New York City's opulent “Golden Age” of the 1870s, it is the story of society man Newland Archer, his fiancée, May Welland, and her mysterious cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska. Against his wishes, Archer finds himself falling in love with Ellen, and as far as he is concerned, for are all the wrong reasons. Ironically, it is May who first forces him and Ellen together in her efforts to be kind to her cousin, who has just returned from Europe under difficult circumstances. To resolve the dilemma, he rushes his marriage to May. Nevertheless, he finds himself caught between his life with May, who is safe and decent, and with Ellen, who is anything but. Everything about May is predictable; she fulfills society’s expectations of an ideal wife. Newland knows she will never fulfill him the way Ellen Olenska could.

But this is also a story of the customs and traditions of “old” New York society. Wharton parodies the society in which she, herself, grew up. The importance of “doing the proper thing” and of maintaining one's proper place in society is one of the main themes of this novel. Yet the book is more than a book about what's proper and what's not. The main characters are complex, and many of the secondary characters are more like caricatures. Without Wharton’s skill, this would be nothing more than a dull romance novel. The prose is beautiful, and her writing is filled with subtle wit. Nearly every character is memorable. She understood how her society worked, who inhabited it, and what could and could not be forgiven. Like most classics, it is to be read more for the writing than for the plot.

Edith Wharton became famous when she published Ethan Frome, and later won a Pulitzer prize for Age of Innocence. These two books are similar in plot development. A man marries a woman but is in love with her cousin. The love with the cousin isn't consummated, and the man stays with his wife. In Ethan Frome, the wife is despicable. In Age of Innocence, the wife is a good woman. Age of Innocence is a lot better than Ethan Frome, but it still has its faults. Both books have unsatisfying and poor endings. Edith goes for the big surprise ending, and falls flat both times. The ending of Age of Innocence is simply dreadful, and anyone who writes to the contrary is just wrong. There is a temptation to give respect to a well known book, but from an impartial viewpoint, the ending is really bad. It is so pathetically bad that it requires explanation, and none is given. Edith basically tells the reader to go to hell, and tells the characters to go to hell, and she doesn't bother to explain any of it. Aside from the atrocious and pathetic ending, the book is well written.

My thoughts are so mixed regarding this work. It is most certainly a masterpeice. The writing is exquisite. I found myself waiting, and waiting and waiting while reading, a sensation that became more profound as I read. Then, finally I think its here, what I have been waiting to find out, to hear described in beautiful prose. Just thrn, I was jettisoned, as if off a cliff. Now I am left hanging on a branch I happened to catch on the way down, swaying in the cool breeze, wondering what just happened. I am left with a profound sense of longing mixed in with a bit of confusion. I do not feel fulfilled and I suppose that is the reason I had a strong feeling of dislike and immediately wished I had not read this book. But, on second thought it hit me that a great work should stir ones emotions and touch one deeply and this book does exactly that. This book gets under your skin and down to your bones and I believe has actually changed me without me ever being aware of it, which makes it almost magical.

When going through a tour of classical literature of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, you never know what you're going to come across. Some books that may seem to be light and easy end up being a bear, while others that strike you as nearly impossible are a breeze to get through. It was a time of mass experimentation, not only as a society, but within literature as well, bringing things as diverse as Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms", and Joyce's "Ulysses". But "The Age of Innocence", while certainly poignant, is not a heavy read; in fact, it definitely fits in the breeze category, though 'breeze' certainly is not synonymous with 'vapid'.

The tale revolves around Newland Archer, an upper-class lawyer living in New York in the 1870s. He is engaged to May Welland, the daughter of one of the city's finest families, and he is eager to start his life with her. After all, the two are from the same circle, and they have the same expectations of life and the proper way to go about living it. But all of that changes when Newland meets May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, newly arrived from Europe after fleeing from her royal husband, and causing a scandal wherever she goes.

It's not that the Countess is a bad person; rather, she has done something not only shameful but simply not allowed in the eyes of New York society. After Newland befriends her, he realizes that she possesses something his life is definitely missing: passion. She makes him start questioning the rigidity of his life, his expectations for the future, even the way society as a whole goes about its orbit. Does conformity mean that one does not have the ability to think for oneself? Is the ideal young woman ever really truly prepared for life - and when does this preparation happen? With women so sheltered before marriage, when are they ever educated about what life is, and when are they allowed to actually develop feelings and opinions of their own? Is it okay for them to want this? And what type of man would not only welcome, but encourage this, for his wife?

Through befriending Ellen, Newland's world is turned upside-down. He finds that he may be forced to choose between what society feels is best for him and what he wants for himself. Does he have the courage to stand out from the crowd and throw caution to the wind? Or is he too bound by honor and respect and the simple way things are done to create that life for himself?

"The Age of Innocence" is one of those books that is not only beautifully-written, but it's a good story, too. I was unsure of what to expect; Signet Classics, while cheap, are in tiny print, and this book is a bit on the long side. But I was blown away by Wharton's gorgeous prose and the vivid painting of her characters and her story. It may have been over a century since the action of this book happened, but it's a classic I can highly recommend.

My copy was given by the author for my honest review.

Branford serves justice the way it should be. Finally discovering the spies among them and the reason for Alexandra's barren womb, Branford doesn't hold back. He is overprotective and worried for her safety. The kingdom is still in trouble and the royals are untrusting of others. Lots happening in this short volume as we near the end. This exciting series has been fun and rather enlightening to the ways of the world during this period. One more left!

1870's the Golden Age of Old New York. In one year Newland Archer and May Welland are to be man and wife. They are the toast of New York City society and everything that is to follow is deliberate and arranged. The bride-to-be as customary receives and carries her lilies-of-the-valley in plain view with a becoming blush, the proper street has been chosen where the couple will reside and the bride's engagement ring has been approved by Mrs. Mason Mingott and even called "liberal". Everyone is happy, approves the match and feels secure in all to come- well except perhaps the groom. After a brief encounter with May's cousin, the exotic and scandalous Countess Ellen Olenska; Newland begins questioning everything about his life and even his future. And that's when The Age of Innocence launches the reader on a journey into the confused mind and actions of Newland Archer and his ornamental world of privilege and damaging opinions.

Mark Twain's quote of "write what you know" perfectly applies to Edith Wharton in the case of The Age of Innocence. She was born into this decorated existence and used her extensive daily knowledge of the Golden Age of New York City to paint a vivid portrait of the society she eventually left behind. The reader will learn more about late 19th-century customs, deportment and modes than other novels you may have encountered. If the curious reader has been craving a rewarding novel of manners you have found the epitome of enveloping setting, journeys and characters. Perhaps not as biting as or slower in development than The House of Mirth,The Custom of the Country or even the first part of The Buccaneers with the familiar satire and action some may have come to expect and love or perhaps this is your first encounter with the splendor of Wharton and you may not even notice. Whatever the reader's previous experience, many will agree by the end that Ms. Wharton has rightly earned her historic Pulitzer Prize with this tale of a realistic tangled love affair in the midst of the subtle action of society on the cusp of a new era of change. You simply cannot not find writing like this anymore, a sure delight for those readers who are old-fashioned in any way.

Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence" is a remarkable piece of literature, and I can fully understand why she won the Pulitzer for this. She so completely captures the essence of old New York society, that the reader feels as though they are seated in one of the drawing rooms quietly listening in to the conversations of the fabulously wealthy Or, perhaps watching the role of society players come full circle while enjoying the sea breezes on a lawn in Newport. Simply delicious!

In this novel, we are introduced to Archer Newland, a young attorney from a solid, wealthy family in New York. Mr. Newland has his life in perfect order: he has his occupation, he is financially settled, he knows the social order and is accepted within it, and he is ready to take on the next step in his life by marrying the very lovely May Welland. All seems so very right and proper in Mr. Archer Newland's very tight knit and exclusive world.

However, a storm approaches that will cause the foundation of Mr. Archer Newland's world to tremble. Her name? Countess Ellen Olenska - cousin to Mr. Newland's bride-to-be and married to some obscure Polish count. Countess Olenska has seemingly run away from her husband and to the shores of her home country to begin anew. And along the way has turned the head of every man in New York society, including Mr. Archer Newland. Because of her willingness to leave her husband, the Countess Olenska has earned the scorn of New York society,. While the attraction between Archer Newland and Countess Olenska is undeniably strong, can Archer Newland deny the foundation of his upbringing? Can he defy the monster that is "society?" Can love truly conquer all?

This novel is not a "quick read." None of the classics written from another era really are, in my opinion. And there are phrases and references in this novel that simply do not make sense, in that I believe they refer to customs and traditions unique to the period of that time. However, it really doesn't take away from the story. And what I do so love about Edity Wharton's writing is that she writes about real life - not about what might have happened or maybe, possibly, if one wished really hard. It seems she faced life and wrote about it - even if life was messy and not all that pretty. However, that is also what brings her stories to life.

I really enjoyed this novel. When the last page was read, and the back cover closed, I was sad to be leaving Archer Newland, May Welland, and Countess Ellen Olenska - it seemed I had come to know them so well. I'm glad they shall live in my imagination.

Yes! Yes! Yes! I just knew that this book was going to make me happy and it did. I knew some heads were gonna roll because bad as all get out Brandford was going to make it happen. I have to tell ya'll that the vengeance felt too good, almost like I was there experiencing it myself. If you guys haven't picked up this series, you are seriously missing out some sexually charged, action packed goodness from this author because every book just keeps taking me deeper and deeper into this world and I am so intrigued by it all, dying to know what happens next.

Especially this time, because there was a huge cliffy that had me on the edge of my seat and I cannot wait to see what happens next with Brandford and Alexandra. I am ridiculously addicted and so very invested in this story. Grab them now because the author is crazy and has this series priced incredibly low on pre-order!

As a study of societal pressures in the 1870s Edit Wharton's The Age Of Innocence is unsurpassed. This is the moneyed class of old New York that are so structured in their social rituals that a modern reader feels almost stifled by the arbitrary constraints people accepted much as the lead character Archer Newland is stifled in his marriage to the wrong woman , or his passion for her cousin that drives much of the plot. Atmospheric and redolent of an era in New York Society that is long gone , this novel is beautifully written and provides a window into a vanished way of life in a richly conceived and executed story. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to walk up lower Fifth Avenue again without thinking of the characters I encountered in this excellent book.

After reading a small flurry of 2013 novels which are contenders for the year's Pulitzer Prize, I decided to turn to my bookshelves and reread some of the past winners. This novel won in 1921, the first time the prize was claimed by a woman. My conclusion: as clever as some of the modern offerings are, they in no way match the excellence of this one.

The Age of Innocence is set in New York City in the 1870's, so Wharton, in 1920, was writing a historical novel. The characters are members of the old-family aristocracy of wealth, with their rigid codes of behavior and expectations. A young man finds himself caught between a sense of duty and a longing for escape and passion when he falls unexpectedly in love with his fiance's cousin. Obviously, the basic plot is not at all new; it's the love triangle. But what Wharton makes of this is something entirely original, and the ending is not at all what is expected, although it is perfect.

What makes this book better than most more modern novels?

First, the writing is impeccable. It is not showy or self-consciously clever, but in a very understated way reveals the irony and tragedy, as well as the sense of safety, of a structured and restrictive society. Every small descriptive detail (and the book has many descriptive details) is pertinent to an understanding of the characters. The book abounds in jewels of writing genius and is one of those novels that reveals itself in new ways each time it is read, absorbing to read even if one already knows the plot. For example, I took away something entirely different from this reading than from previous readings, due, I think, to the perspective of my more advanced age. I understood the ending in an entirely different way.

This is a book of many aspects: a fascinating historical glimpse of a place and time; a meditation about choices and their implications; an examination of how environment influences behavior; an extraordinarily perceptive character study; a love story of heart-rending pathos. And it contains one of the most romantic lines of dialogue in all of literature--"Each time you happen to me all over again."

I unreservedly recommend this novel only to readers of about age 30 and above because I don't believe younger readers will have the perspective to understand the decisions and actions of the characters. I believe the older you are, the more you will appreciate it.

Stunning novel in so many respects, it captures a certain era of NYC like no other work I've ever read. Upon my first reading of this spectacular book several years ago I remember being floored and almost read each chapter with a certain awe as the pretentious, stuffy and insular world of upper crust New Yorkers and Europeans unfolded. Wharton never fails to capture the subtlety of the genuine human feelings, longings and foibles underneath it all; these emotions are always there, like a simmering specter hovering just near the events.

Wharton's written one of the most important novels of all-time with The Age of Innocence because she was a young woman of that milieu and lived almost as a type of pseudo-sentinel who observed everything only later to convey such an incredibly valuable story to the world. I'm in no way exaggerating when I write that The Age of Innocence will stand forever as a seminal work of literature as well as history. As the story flows on it's with a shocking sort of reverence that one has over this entire chapter of a New York that's long, long gone.

She carries off masterful descriptions of Newland's turmoil and frustrations. Never have I witnessed such perfect writing about the inner conflicts and heartaches of a young man slowly realizing he's essentially been snookered by his high society compatriots. May knew all along, which is why she felt the need to inform Ellen virtually before anyone else that Dallas was on the way, prompting Madam Olenska's permanent departure to France.

When Newland finally declares toward the end that he's old fashioned, "just tell her I'm old fashioned" it's unbelievably poignant and heartrending.

With `The Age of Innocence' Edith Wharton put together one of the best things ever in print.

I promise to be brutally honest with my opinion, but it should not be taken as fact. Any reader should read it for themselves, before they decide if this book has any merit or not. Do not judge this book biased solely on my opinion. If you do, you might miss out on a great read. You never know. It could happen.

1. Strong Main Character/ Female Heroine: Newland Archer is an aggravating male protagonist. He is a man that talks the talk, but will not walk the walk. He is a hypocrite. He loves to talk about society and how messed up it is, but he never does anything to change it. He never challenges society. He lets it control him, even as his mind is saying that he is overcoming it. He is not. He is just accepting that society rules his life, because he lets it. He is a coward and a romantic. He loves the idea of challenging the societal norms, but he does absolutely nothing to that effect. He loves the idea of things, but not the actual doing or outcome of it. In the beginning of the novel, the narrator calls him a dilettante. It really describes Newland very well, because he is never going to be a man and stand up for himself and the ones that he loves. If I lived back when this novel first came out, I might have enjoyed it more, but as is, I like really strong character, who overcome authority, not characters that let other people walk all over them. 3 out of 5 stars

2. Strong Minor Characters: May is a devious little thing that the reader does not see working her magic, until the book is half over. Then, the reader sees all the little things that May does to trap Newland into marriage. She is not the innocent little sweet May that everyone talks about, who is so pretty and naive. She is none of these things. She may be beautiful, but she is as ugly as fat old Mrs. Mingott. She likes to control Newland without seeming to and she guilt trips him into doing everything that she wants. She is able to switch around his words into something else. Into something that he did not mean or say. Ellen is the wild, feisty married woman that he wishes he could marry; however, he makes hundreds of mistakes making it impossible for them to be together. Ellen is not as wild as he thinks her to be. She is actually very normal and the only thing that makes her wild is living in Europe, marrying a Count, and wanting a divorce. These are the only things that make her wild in New York society. Newland romanticizes her wildness in his mind, so that he cannot separate the Ellen of his fantasies with the real Ellen. 4 out of 5 stars

3. The Setting: Old New York society is a very interesting place, especially with the mix of old money with the new. It reminds me of the roaring twenties, even though this is the middles 1800s and not 1920. I love discovering all the different places all over the east coast of the United States and even parts of Europe. I got to travel without ever leaving my bedroom. Only a true novelist could ever achieve that. 5 out of 5 stars

4. The Plot: The underlying plot will come to readers after finishing the whole entire book and discussing it in a college course will definitely help you figure it out, but I had it figured out before class, you any dedicated reader can, too. I do not want to give anything more else away, but there are many layers of plot to this book that there is not just one answer. There are many answers based off of experience and level of education. Everyone reads a novel differently and everyone gets something different out of the same book. This is why I write reviews. 4 out of 5 stars

5. The Artwork: The cover is sweet and has an old timey feel. It perfectly matches the plot of the book. The only improvement that I would suggest is adding Newland of the cover, because it is really his age of innocence that Wharton speaks of. 4 out of 5 stars

6. The Writing: The writing is beautiful and exquisite. I have always loved the style of Wharton. She reminds me so much of Jane Austen, except Wharton’s characters have a more realistic demise that does not end with a happy ending for all of her characters. I was not at all intimidated by all of the big words. Since I am an English major, I knew a lot of the words already and the ones that I did not know, I looked up. You really boost your vocabulary and I know that I will be using some of these newly discovered words on my assessment paper. I think I learned about 500 new words are so…maybe less, but there abouts. Any English major or enjoyer of old English will enjoy this novel by Wharton, although her best was The House of Mirth. 4 out of 5 stars

7. The Dialogue: I love the dialogue. No one says what they really mean and you have to try to discover what they really mean. It is a detective game that will have you guessing throughout the entire novel. I enjoy having to figure characters out and the dialogue helps to show how complicated and three dimensional all of the characters truly are. 5 out of 5 stars

Overall, I give this novel 4 stars. I would read another book by Wharton, because so far, I have really enjoyed her books. She is a nice change from Jane Austen, when I have feeling depressed and want my characters to suffer. In Wharton’s books, they always seem to.

The Age of Innocence is a brilliant display of how one man's life becomes this relentless, downward spiral, all because he can't follow his heart. It would be wrong to call Newland Archer, the protagonist, self-sabotaging, but he does lack the willpower to stand up to the unforgiving society in which he lives, upper-class New York of the 1870s, a world full of aristocracy, outings to the opera, formal dances in exquisite ball rooms, peopled with the elite who "dreaded scandal more than disease." This corroded society flows with Newland Arches veins and paralyzes him emotionally.

Edith Wharton is also an expert practitioner in the art of sentence making. Blindly, you could pick any sentence from the novel, and you'll be guaranteed a feast of language; every sentence reveals more than it says on the page.

Following one's one heart can be the most difficult path of all, and not everyone has what it takes to survive that journey. Happiness must be earned, and is only for the strong who dare to seize it. This novel is ever bit as relevant today as it was when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. How many of us would love more than anything to follow our hearts and do what makes us happy, but yet we're shackled to what society demands, or what we think society demands. In the end, we have the power to remove those shackles, or do we?

Oh Shay, Shay, Shay… truth be told, I was ready to cuss and curse you for the events in this book, but you gave me those last few lines, so all is right with the world again, whew! BAHAHA

Brantford and Alexandra just managed to get over a major hurdle and things seem to start to settle down; but of course not! They’re finally getting to a point that they want but Brantford still has his enemies and there are more at stake now with Alexandra’s condition.

Alexandra definitely is now showing her feisty side. And Brantford’s delicious alpha tendencies are in full swing, all for the love of his life.

That ending? Gah!!! I want to see those evil people get their full comeuppance in the final book, grrr…

One more book to go!

*Copy received in exchange for a review

Edith Wharton 'The Age of Innocence'

As many readers before me I had difficulty getting into the story and its characters. But after reading how Archer Newland compared the face of his beautiful young fiancé May with that of her mother

'a middle-aged image of invincible innocence. Ah, no he did not want May to have that kind of innocence, the innocence that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience.'

I was all into the novel and it proved well worth it.

I also had to realize that New York was not always the capital of the world, but once – in the 1870's when this novel is set - a very rigid and conventional society.

Sometimes it was painstaking how well Edith Wharton shows us what a conventional society does to the individual. The last pages – when Archer Newland comes to visit Madame Olenska's house in Paris, but does not go in to see her – were close to brilliant. I almost wanted to kick him inside and meet the love of his life again after more than twenty years.

Next to that the whole novel is beautifully written with sentences such as:
"Each time you happen to me all over again"

Edith Wharton 'The Age of Innocence'

Alexandra and Branford are back in the sixth installment and this is what I was waiting for and now I have to wait for more! This must be read in order to know what the story is about. A quick rundown, she is a commoner and is married to the King. They must produce an heir. We find out in the last book that there were traitors in their mist, preventing conception for the heir. They are taken care of but King Egar will not go quietly.
This whole series has pulled me in and has given my love of historicals back.

I can't wait for the finale!

Reviewed by Shay from Mommys a Book Whore

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

I was and wasn't surprised to find that a movie had been made of this book. However, I can't see a way that a movie could capture all the interior dialogue that went on throughout this novel. (I have put the movie into my Netflix queue) And without the interior dialogue the story will be one-dimensional and, I suspect, so will all of the major characters.
Since the lifestyle that restricts people to their designated place in life is something that I would and do rebel against I felt keenly aware of the struggles and resignation that were experienced by several characters, but particularly the main male protagonist, Newland Archer and the wonderful Countess Ellen Olenska. Wharton let them come close, again and again, to soaring and freeing their souls and kept us wondering until nearly the end if they would succeed.
Set in high society in New York City in the 1870's and wonderfully written I came away feeling as if I'd had a glimpse into that time. In my own life I've experienced some of the echoes of that sort of restrictive lifestyle, one where niggling social details that seem ridiculous to me are all-important to others. When so and so used such and such a phrase what did they really mean? In my world, who cares? If you have something to express then just tell me and don't expect me to spin my wheels trying to figure it out. Yet that is the world of "The Age of Innocence".

I didn’t know what to expect with this book. Often times the literature considered to be classic can be boring or difficult to get wrapped up in. But this story was so elegantly written, so insightful into the human soul and all its intricacies, and into the acrid Ives one makes to obey social norms. Thought provoking and timeless. Plus, for anyone with a special place in their heart for Manhattan, it’s fun to imagine NYC of over a century ago.

I remember this as a favorite from my 12th grade English class, and I was happy to open it up again. As I began to read I was disappointed that I remembered nothing of the plot or characters (although Newland Archer may have left behind a handkerchief or a straw hat in some dusty chamber). The excellence of the prose, an assessment I do remember making in my 17th year, is indisputable. And I vaguely recollect my teacher, Alan Shapiro, sitting, corduroy clad legs crossed at the knees, and telling us what the book’s central theme was: the crushing pressure that society exerts on an individual to conform him or her to its designs.

That indeed is the theme. Newland Archer is a young lawyer, born and bred to live according to the upper class standards of his time and place. He has been smitten by May, a lovely, cheerful blonde girl from his social set. Without knowing each other well, they become engaged (as the custom probably was). But a problem develops: into this promising but bland situation steps his fiancee’s cousin, a woman who represents everything that Newland’s life is not – liberated, spontaneous, painful, and uncertain. The rest of the book follows the couple as they slowly recognize their feelings about each other and begin to communicate about it, and then proceed to vacillate endlessly – both of them less than willing to face the pain, scandal, and upheaval that their coupling would certainly cause.

The book is more about things that do not happen rather than those that do, but none of it is ever boring. Wharton is a masterful satirist who cleverly immerses herself in the social setting of the New York upper crust of the 1870s (she herself was born into the same milieu in 1862). She is not unsympathetic to her characters, even when she portrays them negatively. Her prose is elegant and descriptive, and always focused on the story and characters at hand. Wharton was apparently an admirer and close friend of Henry James, who worked a similar territory. Like most classic stories, it is both of its time and timeless, and makes for a great read.

Phew. Okay. We're literally inching our way to the finish line with this series and man was it a ride!

With the big revelation at the ending of bk5, I was anxious but also ecstatic for what was in the makings to come. With the kingdom at the brink of war and Alexandra's health and status tampered with, Branford is taking no prisoners with anyone who messes with his birthright and wife (+future heir).

As this is a novella and very short and to the point, I can't divulge what happens but with author Shay Savage throwing throes and thrills into the mix, we should all expect the unexpected really.

Loved this sixth installment and can't wait for the 7th and final book in this short but umm long? series!!

America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. "The Edith Wharton Omnibus" contains some of the best work she ever did, exploring the nature of infidelity, passion and a woman's place in an unfriendly world.

"Age of Innocence" is a pretty ironic title. Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

"Ethan Frome" is the male half of a loveless marriage, with the fretful, fussy Zeena. Then Zeena's lovely cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, and she brings out a happier, more passionate side of Ethan. But when Mattie is sent away, Ethan must make a decision. He knows he can't stay in his horrible marriage, so will he run away with Mattie? The choice they make will affect all three lives.

And finally,"Old New York" is a collection of four novellas, exploring different facets of, well, Old New York -- family strife, adultery, illegitimate children, and a young man's inner changes. It stretches over forty years, with one of the novellas set in each successive decade.

Wharton tended to pay attention to three things: human nature, society, and how the two often clashed. She doesn't judge, she just tells it how it was. Divorce was almost unthinkable, affairs scandalous if revealed, and women had the cards stacked against them in matters of love, marriage and sex.

Wharton's formal, often poetic writing style makes these stories all the richer. They're rich with light, smells, sounds and the swirl of nature, even in a city. But it's offset by the starkness of her stories -- if she took a hard look at hypocrises and social conventions, she didn't flinch from showing what happened to those that transgressed. It's realistic, but a bit depressing.

And her characters come to life with startling reality. Wharton never resorts to sentimentality or cheap tricks to make us react to them -- stuffy "aristocrats" of the New World, the sorrowful poor of New England, and bright bohemians. The more brilliant, appealing characters like the free-spirited Countess are easy to feel liking for, but Wharton even makes the less appealing characters -- like the wishy-washy Newland -- realistically complex.

Doomed love and personal reflection are what makes up a lot of "Edith Wharton Omnibus." Sad and beautiful, gripping and classic.

"The room is stifling: I want a little air." Newland Archer is a member of placid Old New York society; a typical young gentleman engaged to a typical young girl, May Welland. Typical, yes, but privately Newland likes to fancy himself a little more open, a little more adventurous than his peers. But is he really? The world he lives in is like a glass-smooth pond populated with snowy swans gliding about in instinctual patterns. Newland has never been outside of this world and doesn't realize how much a part of it he really is. His sensitivity is all in theory, but not in practice: "...He was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation." A battered black swan suddenly propels itself into their midst, and for the first time, we perceive these elegant creatures' frantic underwater paddling. Always a bit of an outsider in their world, the Countess Ellen Olenska has returned to the fold, running from her brilliant foreign marriage. Scandal seems to go hand-in-glove with Ellen. As May's cousin, The Wellands rally around her, and try to squeeze Ellen' square peg into the round hole of Old New York. As a prospective member of the family, the Wellands enlist Newland's help. Resentful at first, he slowly finds his moral vision widening as he learns the full details of Ellen's situation: "For the first time he perceived how elementary his own principles had always been...The case of the Countess Olenska had stirred up old settled convictions and set them drifting dangerously through his mind." He falls in love with Ellen. Why? At a stroke, Wharton answered that question be describing Newland looking about Ellen's parlor while waiting for her: "The atmosphere was so different from any he had ever breathed that self-conciousness vanished in the sense of adventure." Newland suddenly feels trapped by his life and everyone in it; he knows it like the back of his hand. He has to make a choice: safety with May, or adventure with Ellen. Newland's choice, its consequences, and his futile efforts to reverse it I leave to you to discover. In sparkling clear, cold prose, Wharton presents this dilemma that at first exasperates the modern reader; go on! we say. Grab for that happiness! It'll all work out in the end, right? On the surface it does seem that simple, but keep reading and it makes you question today's go-for-it attitude. Maybe getting your heart's desire isn't what you need; there's a difference between adventure and home. Maybe the heart needs a home that's safe and familiar, however unexciting. Wharton's touch is as deft as a diamond-cutter's as she fashions the many facets of this gem. It's so much more than just a romance. At the time of this review, the free version is no longer available. Spring for a full-price copy. You won't regret it.

Young attorney, Newland Archer, lives in a bubble, a closed in world. He is very wealthy, from a good New York City family. His mother is a widow, he has a sister who is sliding into spinsterhood. Mother and daughter are close.

Newland is tired of this life. He wants more out of life than just this. He is engaged to a lovely girl, May, who is much like the girls he grew up and has always known. She is from the same background as Newland. He loves her and wants her for his wife. But there is more as he soon find out. But he marries a girl from his background. He needs adventure, something and somebody different. But life goes on, repititous,boring. The same, always the same.

The book begins at the opera where many of his set go to be entertained, to watch, to comment and to gossip. A young woman, a cousin, is with May Welland and her mother. She is the countess Olenska who has left her Polish count and is staying with her grandmother, Mrs Manson Mingott, who does not go out in public since she has become very obese. Characters must visit her in her home. Ellen Olenska is very liberal, different and if Newland Archer had met her first the story would have been different. But the families approve of the May Welland, Newland Archer engagement. Ellen Mingott was brought up by a liberal aunt, her parents are dead, therefore she had a different upbringing than Newland, May and those of their set.

Ellen Olenska is so different from her peers that those of her grandmother's friends disaprove of the young woman and make their disapproval known. Her grandmother likes her outgoing ways , the young lady has a mind of her own and doesn't mind expressing herself. Countess Olinska wants a divorce. Her relatives want no part of divorce. It would shame the family. There is no divorce in their upper class culture. Newland talks her out of such an action convinced by those around of the embarrassment to this closed in society. Newland is attracted to Ellen. She is much different than the insipid young woman of his acquaintance.

The period of the story is the 1870s, not long after the Civil War.

Edith Wharton came from this type background. The book was written in 1920. Ms Wharton loved to travel to Europe and moved to France where she died. The book is still popular and being read.

This is a very clever book.

It is very interesting as one would not normally think of aristocracy as being American. However, not necessarily having a long history in America, the American white settlers, despite breaking away from Britain, looked to Britain and took on many of the lifestyles of the English. Their continued love of the British heritage and royalty has to be understood against that background. Edith Wharton is a very good writer and her description of the New York aristocracy, their conventions and thinking, reminds one of the works of Jane Austen.

The Age of Innocence is a book that you have to read to the end in order to get the full meaning of the story. It sometimes appears as if there is just ongoing descriptions of the habits and conventions but Edith Wharton is a very clever writer. Newland Archer's thoughts about what had made someone like May Welland such an innocent person, as opposed to the carefree, convention breaking Ellen Olenska, were interesting because it does convey how gender attitudes are often established and supported. But in many ways he is the innocent one in the story because he did not realise other forces that were also powerful in society. Women like May Welland could be very clever, and skilful in getting what they wanted. The story also shows how a society like that in New York could very cleverly, and subtly, protect its members.

A very worthwhile book.

"Newland Archer was a quiet and self-controlled young man. Conformity to the discipline of a small society had become almost his second nature. It was deeply distasteful to him to do anything melodramatic and conspicuous..." (pp. 324-325) I think Edith Wharton chose a male protagonist here because in New York's Gilded Age men could act much more freely than women. Whether male or female, her main characters often reflect her own dilemma---how to escape from a stiflingly conformist society based on wealth and inherited position that condemned intellectual activity particularly in women. Though the number of relatives may confuse you in the first chapters, New York society is a main character in this novel and so the portrayal of interlocking families is a necessity. Even being male, Newland Archer could not escape the coils of this society.

I first read THE AGE OF INNOCENCE over fifty years ago, as a college freshman. It seems to me (dimly for sure) that I didn't get it. I lacked life and literary experience, I lacked any vision of society except my own, and I was impatient to finish in order to read the science fiction and cheap romantic novels which, along with history, travel and contemporary political description was what I liked at the time. I wrote it off as "boring". I've just re-read it and found it wonderful. Your perspective, like mine, is going to depend on your own life experience. That may, of course, be true of your opinion of any novel, but I would say, of this one more than most. The description of New York society, its ways, its opinions, and its physical surroundings--clothes, food, furniture, conveyances, work modes, hangouts---is superb. The novel could only be written by one who knew the whole scene intimately. The marriages of the tight little elite of an already-vast city (we are speaking about the 1870s) guaranteed the strict adherence to a behavioral code that forced elite society into very narrow, restricted patterns, with severe penalties for those who strayed. That is why the love story here, between Newland Archer and his wife's cousin, Ellen Olenska, remains for readers of today's more liberated times, pale, tentative, frustratingly sporadic. There is no sex. In such a hothouse world, even the word "divorce", never mind stronger, more passionate terms, was one that was not heard by `proper' ladies. The two lovers, separated by Fate, do not, cannot, challenge society and try to come together. Ellen, who has fled back to New York from a debauched European husband, and Newland, who is engaged to a perfect society daughter, fall in love. Slowly, slowly we read of the forces which mitigate against their union. Newland raises his family and never escapes to the wider life of the mind for which he longs. Ellen returns to Europe. The end is sad but beautiful in its own way. Not very Hollywood, however. For those who like action, this novel will prove anathema. Don't even think about it. If you like fine writing and extreme sensibilities, if you sometimes muse on Fate and your own acceptance or non-acceptance of it, and if you are curious about the Big Apple's greener days, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is definitely going to be your cup of tea.

I've never really understood or appreciate much about NYC so it was with some reluctance that I started Edith Wharton's classic short novel on high society life in New York city at the close of 19th century (1870s). Wharton's Pulitzer-prize winning "Age of Innocence" depicts all the hypocrisy and convention, duty and criticism, propriety and snobbery of the New York elite as it tells the story of protagonist Newland Archer who is the product of this very society and his agonies over the boundaries of its imposed limits.

The story is really just about Newland Archer and the two women in his life, one who is the safe predictable and decent choice by all society's then standards, and one who is not. Indeed, you would not be mistaken to think this a dull plot, told in no less than a million other works of fiction or real life. But alas, few others are written in the prose and authenticity of Edith Wharton's writing style, reason enough to read "Age of Innocence".

I liked Wharton less than Henry James, far less than Jane Austen, and on no visible scale with Emily Brontë', but I still consider her mastery and command of the rich English language a talent bestowed on few. Her plot of characters was more complex than what I would have liked in such a short novel, and the intricacies of the detailed interactions among the distant characters interested me minimally in the context of the plot, but tremendously in the context of New York elite mindset and ways. Was New York ever so confined to such rigid way of thinking and existing, and European way of life considered so disgraceful and degrading in comparison?

It is difficult to understand Newland Archer. He seems more of an observer of his own life than one in control of it. He seems to be deeply meditating on his choices and hardly acting on them. He studies May Welland, his wife, as though studying a dull piece of art, in great lengths, and expresses surprise at every new discovery. He then compares her to Ellen and finds everything that is not May attractive and desirable. His rush into an engagement and subsequent marriage to May seem at odds with his intense desire to pursue this unrequited love for her cousin, Ellen.

Wharton leaves a lot to the imagination. I still do not understand why Newland does not seriously pursue Ellen Olenska. Is it society's disapproval? Not a strong enough reason for a man like Newland Archer for which to give up his heartthrob. Maybe the answer is in the poetic title: Age of Innocence. Is the Innocence then a reference to the youth that knows no better, and wants that which it cannot have? Is it the Innocence of deeds and duties that is unquestionably carried out under society's pressures and expectations? Or is it really an element in Newland's own personality, whence all his actions are born?

Newland Archer is an indecisive man, whom society manages to bend and mold into the "perfect" husband and father. Society, elite or otherwise, does not care that his heart is filled with regrets 30 years into the future, and his own sense of purpose in life left unaccomplished. But I argue that Newland himself does not care either, for why else does he not pursue Ellen more obstinately? Why does he let the opportunities slip, and his youth and dreams slip even faster? Why would anyone allow that in the blatant presence of such possibility for true happiness?

It is the sign of an accomplished author that makes us think, question, wonder, and urges us to re-read some sections of the book in search of answers, understanding or just for the quiet joy of beautiful prose. A highly accomplished author who leaves me flipping through the pages for her eloquence of the inarticulate in the human emotion and circumstance and for that, I am grateful that I read Edith Wharton's classic.

After reading The House of Mirth for my New York Stories class as an undergrad, I was hooked on Edith Wharton. No one explains the New York upper crust at the turn of the century better than she, partly because she was a card-carrying member of the high society of which she writes.

When I began reading this paperback, I found the old-fashioned prose and dialogue a little off-putting--enough to set it down for a few years. The stilted, once-fashionable speech of the characters first seemed to be a reflection of Wharton's lack of imagination; the book seemed a tad boring and slow-moving at times.

But once I began listening to it on audiobook, I enjoyed the book much more. Wharton, intimately acquainted with the charm and wit--and the machinations and whims--of New York society, transports the reader into the inner sanctuary of the city's wealthiest, a circle with deeply embedded customs and manners as incredible as any fantasy novel.

She acts as a kind of anthropologist, recording the native tongue and strange mannerisms of a society that had already begun to change radically. Newland's stuffy, stodgy generation is contrasted against one greatly altered (and liberated) by World War I.

Though the story seems mired down by the unique customs and traditions that Wharton seeks to encapsulate, the story is, at its heart, a universal one. Who has not yearned for freedom from normative restraints? Who has not felt the desire to rebel against what you should do, to buck tradition and follow your heart?

Edith Wharton received the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman in 1921 for The Age of Innocence. Though at first I wondered how such cautious, traditional prose could win the award, by the end I had realized that Wharton's combination of anthropology and art made this a unique and important book.

Wharton uses her extensive knowledge of this high society's manners and speech to fully immerse the reader in an authentic and complex world, while simultaneously exploring the extent to which societal norms and expectations shape a person.

For a full review, visit my site, Melody & Words!

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

Gentle, powerful story that speaks across the ages. I found it a study in the idea that we do not act in a vacuum, what we do and say has repercussions and we will be a kinder people if we embrace that. Did not find it slow but rather enjoyed the descriptive language and the pace of yesteryear.

Edith Wharton is a wonderful observer of the human condition and brought that to life once again in this novel. Using the backdrop of New York stratified society as her foundation, her protagonist, Archer, is the long-suffering character who yearns for a fullness of life he can never achieve. As in her novel Ethan Frome, Wharton is a master of developing marital situations in which the husband yearns for freedom which the wife will not or supposedly cannot give him. There is a subtheme of pathos in The Age of Innocence that bespeaks the lassitude and longing felt as emptiness by her characters. I heartily recommend this novel to the serious historical fiction reader. Excellent work.

Other novels present you with slices of life; with Edith Wharton's "The Age Of Innocence" you get an entire social structure.

Published in 1920, "Age Of Innocence" consciously captures a Manhattan as it existed for the island's upper crust some fifty years before. Newland Archer is a young man from one of the city's first families determined to do the right things as prescribed by his set. It's an easy life until, on the eve of his engagement to the demure and lovely May Welland, an exotic figure appears in the Wellands' opera box. Ellen Olenska, May's cousin, is back from the Old World having escaped from a bad marriage. Newland is initially upset at the somewhat scandalous situation Ellen presents, but over time he sees in Ellen something vital and magical his life has previously lacked. Will he act on those feelings, or will his social order keep him down?

A slow-moving story where major moments sometimes turn on nothing happening at all, "Age Of Innocence" starts out a light endurance test for readers with little in the way of notable incident. Like her contemporary Henry James, Edith Wharton is often engrossed in the thought processes of her characters to the point where they stand still.

Yet Wharton never bores you the way James sometimes can, at least not in this book, with her wonderfully dazzling and witty descriptions of New York society. Take her introduction of the fat, wise Welland matriarch, Mrs. Manson Mingott, worthy of Monty Python: "The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump, active little woman with a neatly turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon."

In Wharton's hands we find ourselves in the minutely-described manor of Julius Beaufort, an Englishman with a disreputable reputation in business and matrimony that is looked past by his otherwise exacting neighbors because his house has one of the few private ballrooms in the city.

Later on in the story, when a character with his own well-known clandestine activities inveighs against the loose morals of his neighbors, another mutters to Newland: "The people who have the worst cooks are always telling you they're poisoned when they dine out."

Wharton captures this culture with the right sense of fun, but also surprising warmth for the lost place and time. She grew up in New York in the 1870s and clearly regarded it by the start of the Jazz Age with a combination of nostalgic wistfulness and the analytical curiosity of an explorer digging into the remains of Pompeii. She presents a narrow yet comfortable world, where people seem to enjoy the high level of security that comes from knowing one another intimately. Even Ellen the outsider talks of having come back because "I want to feel cared for and safe."

Cutting against this idea is the other major one Wharton presents, easier for us to note today, of a society where the idea of women being as free as men can seem shocking. For Ellen, the possibility of a sexually active lifestyle outside her marriage punishes her in a way it doesn't her openly philandering husband. But women are both the victims and enforcers of this strange moral code. In May Welland you have the best example of both, a cheerful, superficially simple character who seems oblivious of the growing feeling between her husband and her cousin yet nevertheless is playing what James would call "a very deep game."

Is May the hero or villain of this piece? It's another bit of marvelous ambiguity from Wharton. "Age Of Innocence" contains much matter about which every reader will have to decide for themselves, perhaps most notably in the book's ending. That's Wharton's great gift to us here, a novel that seems to tell us everything but leaves it to us to decide on what it all means.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

After slogging through way too many poorly edited ebooks of late, it was time to turn to classic literature.

Edith Wharton is the mistress of social commentary; her delightful powers of observation regarding every nuance of behavior are shared with the reader; and each turn of phrase sets the scene as thoroughly as if we were there.

We are faced with dilemmas of the human soul and the taboos of "good" society amidst its conventions. "Old New York" was almost a character in its own right,so much of a role was it assigned. Family and position = tribal bonds

We are drawn into the fray via the appeal of Countess Olenska and the shock her actions engender in polite society. The "triangle" is carefully established, and there is an ineffable sadness about her person.

The familiar is the safest...Americans come across as staid, set in their ways and boring compared to Europeans.

I enjoyed the mildly humorous observations on things like the limitations obesity put upon Mrs. Mingott.

Some of my favorites of Ms. Whaton's observations are: "Fierce spinsters who said `No' on principle before they knew what they were going to be asked"... "The innocence that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience."

I ordered this book and I have not received it? However, your system indicates that I have it? How do I have this book sent to me to my Kendle? I'm a new purchaser of books for Kendle e-books, but I will not order another until I have confidence that I can receive them.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

In Edith Wharton's classic "The Age of Innocence" the protagonist Newland Archer is torn between his love for Countess Olenska and his loyalty to his aristocratic clan. Desperate to experience the resplendent splendor of life that the Countess promises, Archer is ultimately undone by the machinations, norms, and habits of his family. When Archer accepts his fate, he also accepts a life of comfortable respectability but also one of dull mediocrity.

Or at least that's what they say.

Writing in a luxurious and lethargic language that is proof of her comfort and confidence in her wealth and in her place in society, Edith Wharton paints a portrait of Newland Archer that is quite unflattering. He is a man who has dreams and who has longings, but it is all within the internal workings of his mind. Outside, he is a man who is all too content with his easy aristocratic life: he is expected to do nothing and does nothing at his law office, and we can assume that he learned nothing at Harvard. He inherited domestic tranquility with his mother and his sister, and his marriage was both a birth-right and responsibility. When Countess Olenska appears on the scene, her beauty and her independence do stir some romantic imaginings in him, but he does very little. We assume that if his fiance weren't so diabolically clever in the way that only aristocrats can be Archer would have run away with the Countess by the end of part one of the book. But how do we in fact know that Archer's dreams were thwarted, and that he just didn't find convenient excuses not to pursue them? This is a man who has never shown any hint of rebellion and dissent, and we are only creatures of habit.

The only proof of Archer's character comes at the end of the book. His wife is dead, his children are grown, and the society has changed around him. If now was a perfect time for Archer to at least pursue his passion for the Countess now was it. And indeed his son arranges a meeting between him and the Countess, but Archer, perhaps just sick and tired of finding excuses for his blind loyalty to his clan, just gets up and leave without even struggling to explain why he would do so.

Newland Archer is ultimately nothing more than a product of the times he grew up. He internalized all the habits and norms of his clan without really questioning them. When he could finally question, he instead just retreated again to the certainty of his Manhattan enclave.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

From the ending in the previous book, we knew things are going to hit the fans. Branford is on a warpath to those who dare crossed him and Alexandra. What I didn't expect was for the violence to escalate so much. It was all very Game of Throne, if you get what I mean. I'm quite shock by it, but enjoying it tremendously. Is time for some payback.

The drama is getting more complicated, with more players involved and add in a deranged villain, we're in for such a great time. I'm more than worked up by the cliffhanger and I believe the final installment to wrap up this series is gonna kick some major a$$. Give me more blood!

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

Newland Archer, the protagonist of this ironically entitled novel set in the late nineteenth century, is a proper New York gentleman, and part of a society which adheres to strict social codes, subordinating all aspects of life to doing what is expected, which is synonymous with doing what it right. As the author remarks early in the novel, "Few things were more awful than an offense against Taste." Newland meets and marries May Welland, an unimaginative, shallow young woman whose upbringing has made her the perfect, inoffensive wife, one who knows how to behave and how to adhere to the "rules" of the society in which they live.

When Newland is reintroduced to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has left her husband in Europe and now wants a divorce, he finds himself utterly captivated by her independence and her willingness to risk all, socially, by flouting convention. Both Ellen and Newland are products of their upbringing and their culture, however, and they resist their feelings because of their separate social obligations. Various meetings between them suggest that their feelings are far stronger than what is obvious on the surface, and the question of whether they will finally state the obvious or act on their feelings constitutes the plot.

Wharton creates an exceptionally realistic picture of New York in the post-Civil War era, a time in which aristocrats of inherited wealth found themselves competing socially with parvenus. Her ability to show the conflict between a person's need for social acceptance and the desire for personal freedom is striking. As the various characters make their peace with their decisions--either to challenge or yield to social dictates--the novel achieves an unusual dramatic tension, subtle because of its lack of direct confrontation and powerful in its effects on individual destinies. This is, in fact, less an "age of innocence" than it is an age of social manipulation.

Wharton herself manipulates the reader--some of her best dialogues and scenes are those the characters never actually have--conversations that they imagine, confrontations which they never allow themselves to have, and resolutions which happen through inaction rather than through decision-making. Filled with acute social observations, the novel shows individuals convincing themselves that obeying social dictates is the right thing to do. Though the novel sometimes seems claustrophobic due to its limitations on action, Age of Innocence brilliantly captures the age and attitudes of the era. Mary Whipple

The book begins with wit and irony, as Edith Wharton describes the small élite of New York society in the early 1870s. They lived within a whole series of well-understood conventions and assumptions which included nice and minute distinctions within the social hierarchy, a censorious and gossipy attitude towards any member of the set who strayed from what was expected of them in the manners, appropriate cultural interests, dress and furniture, and relations between the sexes. Those who were felt not to conform, such as the American-born Countess Olenska who had returned from Europe, leaving her husband and intending to divorce him, imperilled the reputation of their entire families. In that society, young unmarried women, in particular, were brought up in ignorance of the ways of the world, into which they were initiated only after their marriage. Until then, theirs was the age of innocence of the title.

That is the state in which May Welland was when she was engaged to Newland Archer. May Welland belonged to the same family as the Countess. They were cousins and the granddaughters of the powerful and wealthy matriarch, Mrs Mingott, a pivotal and superbly drawn character, both as to her personality and to her vast appearance. Newland was in a dilemma: he had really shared all the assumptions of his class; but now, to protect his fiancée, he felt he had both to defend the Countess and to dissuade her from going ahead with the divorce. The Countess is `unconventional' in other ways: she consorts with artists, who never mix with the social élite of New York, and she claims the right as a woman to live her own life. She is also very attractive, and Newland, in taking her side, not only finds himself unaccustomedly critical of the conventions in which he has been brought up, but falls in love with her, as she does with him. Then of course he wants her to divorce her husband so that they can marry, though he is engaged to May. The Countess thinks this impossible - perhaps out of loyalty to her cousin May (though this is not made explicit at the time); and Newland then does in fact feel bound to marry May, though he already feels the dread that he would be sucked into the conventional life which he was beginning to find stifling.

May's interests and attitudes indeed turned out to be much the same as those of the society into which she had been born (though she was no fool, understood more than her innocent air suggested, and knew how to use the coded language which said so much more than its surface would suggest). After a year and a half of marriage, Newland was just getting used again to the world in which he had after all also spent most of his earlier life, when the Countess Olenska reappeared in his life. Their love for each other has never died down, but they are no nearer to being able to make a life with each other: his code forbids divorce, and hers forbids the role of a mistress and the betrayal of other members of her family. And of the two, the enigmatic Countess is always the stronger and the saner one.

The strength of the tribe is irresistible, and it is brought out especially in the superlative description, both sardonic and touching, of the farewell dinner given, at May's insistence, in honour of the Countess' return to Europe.

A quarter of a century elapses between then and the last chapter of the book. This, too, is quite outstanding, describing not only how Newland`s family and public life had developed respectably in that time, but also what changes had come over New York society in the interval. Newland's son Dallas is so much less inhibited than his father had been; the stuffy mores of his father's generation have long passed away. In the brief portrayal of Dallas and of the relationship between him and his father Edith Wharton again shows herself as both a brilliant social historian as well as a sophisticated novelist.

I read this book because it was assigned to me by our book club. I have gotten 20% of the way in and nothing important has happened. There are WAY too many characters (too many rich families) to keep straight, and they are all boring, self righteous, and wordy. Don't bother reading...

Edith Wharton escapes from a tendency to melodrama (a problem of her era) to create her masterpiece novel "Age of Innocence." Set in post-Civil War New York, she deliniates the mores and customs of the New York Social List with care and depth.

Newland Archer is the protagonist, a true Greek tragic hero with a flaw. While Newland is a most upright, conventional young man, he harbors an urge to be artistic and "different" while taking a course through his life on a well-trodden path. He chooses May Welland as his bride, whose family is almost frozen by a rigid devotion to social custom; Mr. Welland, Newland soon realizes, has been made almost a cipher by the strictures imposed by his limited but socially conscious wife. May is likewise limited (Newland thinks about lifting the blinders that her upbringing has imposed on her and in a moment of perception, wonders if she has lost any ability to see beyond her limited horizons like the blind fish dwelling in caverns.) But he marries her nonetheless, admiring her silent ability to communicate subtle wishes and opinions by a single knowing glance. Later, this will come back to haunt him as he doesn't realize that what is pleasant when it conforms to his wishes, is restrictive and oppressive when it doesn't.

Meanwhile, May's cousin "poor Ellen" or Countess Olenska, returns from Europe after fleeing a poorly-arranged marriage with a dissolute Polish count. Her name is clever: the pedestrian "Ellen" contrasts almost comically with the pompous "Countess Olenska." As a contrast, Newland's spinsterish, horse-faced sister Janey shows the non-glamourous side of New York femininity, while Medora Manson, Ellen's aunt is a comic foil and a fun-house mirror to Ellen, much-married, and her real name is Chivers but she styles herself "The Marchioness Manson" as Manson can be transmuted to "Manzoni" in Italy. She flits between Europe and North America, married too many times and descending into eccentricity and poverty--a harbinger of what Ellen is heading towards.

Newland falls in love with Ellen, and she with him, but the paths they choose in living their lives lead them inexorably to loss and tragedy; but could any other choices have given them any more happiness?

Newland is tragic because he yearns for freedom and artistic expression but stays in his rut; this makes him in his own eyes a dilletante. When finally he has a chance to acquire his life's desire, he, at mid-fifties, gives it up. Is his last action in the book a renunciation of desire? Or is it a realization that his dreams are more real than what he can ever achieve for himself in the life he has chosen to live? I think the latter.

This is one of America's great novels and Wharton's masterpiece, in my opinion. I always look forward to re-reading it.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Barnes and Noble, 1920
293 pages
Classic
4.5/5 stars

Source: Own

Thoughts: I put this on my list because I wanted to read the first Pulitzer winning-novel by a woman; after enjoying Old New York, a collection of four short stories, I had high hopes for this. And they were mostly fulfilled.

I loved the pictures painted by Wharton; every detail seemed carefully chosen to convey the taste and wealth of the characters although I'm sure I didn't fully appreciate those details, given my 21st century sensibilities and understanding. I loved being enmeshed in that world and slowly journeying through it toward completion.

The part I didn't like was the character Newland Archer. He is torn between duty to his fiancee May Welland and passion for her cousin, the scandalous Countess Ellen Olenska who left her husband. I was caught up in that and I supported his choice. But I hated his musings on the innocence and conventionality of May-how was she to be different? I think that he is a stand-in for Wharton who was raised in that kind of environment but obviously had a sharp intellect of her own. Over the course of the novel though, I grew annoyed with him. I did not want to spend as much time with him as I did; I think I would have preferred this novel from a female point of view because Archer grated on me.

I would also like to see the movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer (j'adore her), and Winona Ryder.

Overall: Beautifully written; I definitely consider myself a fan of Wharton now.

Cover: Pretty gallery-I'm a big fan of the Barnes and Noble editions.

Newland Archer has a problem: he is married to one woman and in love with another. No, that is not his problem. If he were living in modern day America the couple would file for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences," and get on with their lives. But in Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Age of Innocence, Newland lives in New York City in the 1880s and 1890s and is a member of the upper crust of New York society where divorce is not acceptable. Indeed, the rules of this culture are firm and minute, as for example the stricture against entering a box at the opera during a solo.

The novel begins with the return of Countess Olenska, the former Ellen Mingott, who left New York society behind at an early age when she moved to Europe with her aunt. She then married Count Olenska who is described as a brutish person who takes her inheritance (legally as her husband). Ellen leaves him and returns to New York to what she hopes will be the bosom of her family. The response is mixed since a woman is supposed, by cultural standards, to remain with her husband despite any circumstances. Ellen is also given to other behaviors that are contrary to the accepted norm.

At this point in the story Newland becomes engaged to May Welland, a beautiful young woman who is also a member of this society. But as Newland and Ellen interact they become conscious of their love for each other. Archer works (after a fashion) as an attorney for a law firm that primarily serves these families and is asked to persuade Ellen from filing for divorce from Count Olenska, which she finally agrees to do. May and Newland get married and the Countess continues to live in the United States but moves about rather than live in close proximity to Archer. As time goes by they meet on various occasions, always in tense, dramatic fashion. Finally the matriarch of the group, Mrs. Manson Miggot, agrees to provide Ellen with a substantial allowance and Ellen decides to return to Europe, but to remain independent of her husband. Newland is gladdened by this news because he has determined to leave his wife (damn the consequences!) to be with Ellen. The book then reaches it climax with Edith Wharton ultimately saying that one cannot successfully flaunt society's rules. On the other hand, Wharton's sympathies are clearly with Ellen as she is portrayed most favorably throughout the novel.

The Age of Innocence is worth reading as a glimpse into a world most people will never enter. Wharton is particularly well qualified to write about this world as she was a member of high New York society herself. For some people, including myself, this world is shallow and meaningless and the characters in the story frivolous and for the most part uninteresting. In a world where more than one billion people subsist each day on less than a dollar it is hard for me to find sympathy for people whose biggest problem is adhering to a set of rules that have little meaning beyond their circle.

Edith Wharton crafted this portrait of 1870's New York high society in 1920. It is a modern novel of a pre-modern time, informed by anthropology, sociology and psychology.

The role of a social order in shaping society, decisions, habits, mindsets, clothing, dinner and conversation is intricately illustrated. This a believable world that is accessible a century later.

The roles of social expectations, moral principles, obligations, commitments, hopes, desires, fears, stories, positions, relations, finance
and power on one man's decisions regarding two women are interwoven in a compelling drama. The author pulls the reader into this world, makes the time and characters familiar, looking forward to a resolution of the inherent conflicting forces.

Romance in high society is rarely a recipe for engaging the male audience. Wharton succeeds brilliantly, sharing the story through the eyes and reflections of the male lead. She has a hauntingly deep understanding of a man in conflict with himself. The leading man is presented as an attractive, self-aware, but flawed individual. The commonality and contrasts between him and the two ladies echoes throughout the book.

The intensity of life and making choices resonates long after the last page is turned.

When Edith Wharton published THE AGE OF INNOCENCE in 1920, she was writing of an age from her youth, one that had strict rules of conduct, one that punished those who flouted those rules, and one that rewarded those who broke them but had the good sense to do so quietly. The New York of the 1870s was just such an age. The upper echelons were peopled by the first and second generation newly rich. Those who counted knew everyone else who counted too. Such people lived lives that were unconnected to their more poverty-stricken brethren who lived away from the tree-lined terraces on Park Avenue. The married men were expected to have their sleazy affairs. The married women were expected to tolerate them. Single women were expected to get ready to become married women, knowing all the while the rules of the game.

Into just such a society, lawyer Newland Archer lives and works. He is one of the "innocents" of the title. He is ready to marry but in his innocence he plans to remain faithful. His world is ordered and logical. Enter his fiancé, May Welland. She too is innocent but her innocence is not the same as Newland's. Where he believes in the magic of the rabbit being pulled from the hat, May sees very well the hat's false bottom. May has been brought up to be a more rigidly stratified Stepford Wife, one who marries a man she knows will cheat on her, but her consolation is that, according to the Rules of the Game, his cheating must be covert and cannot lead to divorce. As long as both spouses play by the rules, everyone is reasonably happy and the System functions. Enter, Countess Ellen Olenska, a married cousin of May who visits her, meets Newland, and sparks fly. It would be perfectly acceptable for Ellen to tacitly cast a blind eye should Newland and Ellen commence a discrete affair, but for that to happen, the unspoken consensus must be that the affair cannot lead beyond the physical level. For if it were to go beyond that, then the Rules are threatened and the entire flimsy house of cards come crashing down. Ellen and Newland are tempted to have their affair, but they do not because they know that once they do, feelings take over and neither is strong enough to carry on with their hearts tugging one way but their bodies another. What Newland does do is to place his love for Ellen in an internal shrine and there it stays, year after year, neither growing nor shrinking. Eventually, after May has died and Newland is freed from the Rules, he can pick up the pieces even many years later. He and his adult son travel to Paris to see Ellen, but when the son walks into her apartment, Newland does not. Newland has lived with the shrine of love for so long in his heart that he prefers the image of a youthful Ellen to the reality of an aged one.

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is a novel marked by the clashing of many tragedies, all of which had been erected to allow a rich society to function with minimal friction, but in the crushing of hope for May, Ellen, and Newland, this friction has morphed into a disintegration of all that good people hold dear. For these self-deluding scions of society, the cost is clearly far too high.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

In the beginning of the book I felt suffocated and annoyed by the old New York society yet appreciated Edith Wharton's caustic and dry humor when describing it and its denizens. I worried, though, that the book would aggravate me too much because of the characters and all of their rigid rules and arrogant affluence. However, that was what Edith wanted. We are thrust into the world of Newland Archer.

Just like Newland, I experienced the Countess Olenska as a delightful diversion and immediately wanted to read more about her world and conversations. When she asks Newland if he is much in love with his fiancee, he replies: "As much as a man can be." She then asks, "Do you think, then, there is a limit?" Through his relationship to her, Newland comes to the realization that all he had dreamed of turned out to be created by a fabricated self. Ellen Olenska awakened his authentic self, but because he had spent his entire young life on conforming to what he thought would equate with happiness, his former fantasy is suddenly turned into a constricting nightmare that he has to continue navigating.

May is brilliantly portrayed as a perfect and vapid beauty, almost mannequin-like in her icy and "innocent" approach to their future together.

I think both men and women would gain a lot from reading this, because we all have at one time yearned for someone or something (whether another person, career goal, etc.) that would require sacrificing one's identity so that if you followed your heart you would lose everything in the process except for your true self.

The suspense and angst builds as the novel progresses until I wanted to scream at Newland to run away with Ellen. The story ends when we find out what decisions were made, and that is followed by many years later and what had become of everyone. That part, to me, was the saddest.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

This story about the turn of the last century and the old-fashioned protagonist, Archer Newland, is queerly both outdated in most or all aspects and yet capable of being read by many future generations of readers.

Just about everything in this book has little to do with our present day lives - before electricity, before phones, before either world war, and set amid the upper crust New York society made up of persons (even those of the Mingotts who dwell up by that "park" near that art museum of the future) who babble and gossip among and about themselves - for better and for worse.

The heroine, Madame (Ellen) Olenska, shakes their pedigree tree when she and her European-reared mannerisms cajole easily and deftly with the suspicious and tightly-cliqued New York wealth. By always doing the right thing, she eventually shatters Archer's life - or does she? Her character personifies the coined term, "Do the right thing."

Because this script is penned by a woman's hand, it uniquely depicts the male perspective in an extremely accurate tone. Wharton's soft message against the not-as-soft strictures of elitist northeastern society can be read with double entendre: as Wharton is one of those she criticizes with glove hands and boiled-noodle whips.

A constant theme in this book is high class society's hypocrisy. And, one discussion between Archer and his law partner about women's rights -- most specifically Madame Olenska's attempt to exercise (what was then) exclusively male rights -- beautifully depicts how his liberal opinions jibe with his personal life -- one strewn in old fashioned and high browed morals. The greatest hypocrisy almost floors the reader with an ending which evidences Archer's decisions to be, as self-described, "old fashioned."

The topic is much like Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." However, comparisons of the authors must end soon thereafter. Their writing style is different and so are their books' respective messages - or at least the tone in which the messages are delivered. I prefer the midwesterner's style over the northeasterner's prose, but to each their own. This writer reminds me more of the her British contemporaries: Forster, Waugh or Murdoch. In any event, Wharton is a master, and has a handful of great novels from which any reader should be lucky enough to have time to read.

I chose The Age of Innocence because I had never read any Edith Wharton, and after I read To Marry an English Lord, I was keen on exploring the world depicted in that book: New York City society of the 1880s. To Marry an English Lord told of how Edith Wharton had been snubbed by society, and how she expressed her disdain for them by depicting these very people in her novels, giving these very real New Yorkers new names. The Age of Innocence is a fascinating look into this world. It is rich with exquisite details, from their obsession with clothes to their petty mindedness. Wharton's writing is beautifully done, and her characters are engaging, even when they are being nasty. There is humor, as well. And all this is wrapped up in a pretty package that moves right along at a pace that says "leisurely" while it reads "quickly." Wharton's storytelling seems lightning fast compared to her contemporary (and another of my favorite writers,) Henry James.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

I would like to give this book 4.5 stars. It is very good, but not outstandingly great. It paints a wholly believable picture of an era and the people who are part of that era. They do not rise above their times but are totally part of their world. The world of the upper crust of New York in the late nineteenth century is quite different than our world, but this novel breathes life into that world and the people who lived in that world. The author sees the characters as complete human beings and does not preach at us about their virtues or foibles. You and I probably have values that would be out of place in that world, but the book makes us believe in and understand a society that no longer exists.
The writing style is clear and well paced. It is a relatively easy read. It would actually make a good beach or airplane travel read, but it is a thousand times better than the typical forgettable stuff under that rubrik.

The Age of Innocence
Edith, Wharton. “The Age of Innocence” published by Floating Press, c2010. Waiheke Island, 1920

The Age of Innocence takes place near the ending of World War. Let me remind you how devastating this war was. Edith Wharton now had been living as an expatriate in Paris for about five years. During this time is Paris she wrote novels that were fiction, and helped refugees with relief from the war. She was a very passionate individual with high drive which led her to being nominated for the French Legion Honor, which she won. She was disturbed by what she saw from the war and continued to write about it. In which led to her being known as a war novelist.
The Age of Innocence takes place at the ending of the First World War. Edith Warton published the book in 1920. Edith was brought up in a lovely household with parents who were known for their lavish parties. She was born into a family with a great selection of privileges such as, marriage, education and traveling. She becomes unhappily married at a young age to a man thirteen years older than her. She finds herself facing adultery and the temptations it with holds. Which she mentions in her writing in “The Age of Innocence.”
In the story Archer a young lawyer finds himself in a new engagement with a beautiful woman by the name of May Welland. He is having troubles coping with the often visits from her family, her cousin Countess Ellen Olenska. Countess just returned from American where she had recently left her husband. She is outspoken and tends to shock people with her manners, and rumors of adultery. Archer grows to known Countess and appreciates her views on New York City.
Meanwhile in the book, he begins to feel differently about his new fiancée Welland. He begins to look at her as a manufactured product of etiquette. Countess mentions that she is going to divorce her husband and Archer supports her decision, but believes she should remain married. After Archer and Mays honeymoon in Europe they return to the marry life in New York. Later in the story Ellen is reunited with her husband where he asks for her return and she refuses, which Archer later discovers. Ellen’s grandmother had a stroke where she returned to New York to help care for her. Archer and Ellen agree to perfect their affair but suddenly she is leaving. Ellen returns to Europe but before May threw her a farewell party. After the party, May Welland mentions to Archer that she is pregnant and announced the news to Ellen two weeks prior.
Twenty-five years have passed by in that time the Archers had three children and May had passed away from pneumonia. Archer has decided to travel to France since the passing of his wife, he was convinced by his son to travel. They travel to Paris which they have arranged to meet with Countess. At the last minute of the arrangements Archer does the unthinkable and sends his son alone to visit her. Leaving what memories, the two had shared in the past.

References:
Edith, Wharton. “The Age of Innocence” published by Floating Press, c2010. Waiheke Island, 1920.
Saint John’s Rivers State Library Esources.

Eighteenth century American "high" society is shown in this subtly uncomfortable, at times merciless novel by Wharton. It explores the unwanted, inevitable, but, in the end, understandable change that occured within a young man on the verge of being married.

On the onset, everything seemed headed for bliss: perfect fiancee, stable prospects, and a comfortable yet predictable soon-to-be married life. But then he meets the Countess Olenska, cousin of his betrothed. This epitome of eccentricity (and source of ignominy of her relatives) becomes strangely alluring to him, what with her unconventional looks, manner of dressing, chosen companions, and overall lifestyle.

As his interactions with her become more frequent, he finds his fiancee somehow paling in comparison next to the vibrancy of the Countess. He becomes disdainful of the ridiculousness with which young men and women are brought up into their glittering society, and who will no doubt foster the same beliefs and traditions to their sons and daughters. As his life and everything he was taught at birth ostensibly comes crashing down upon him, he discovers his attraction to the Countess grow into passionate love. But these two lovers are mired into a world that would shun their relationship: the Countess at the very least is still very much married, and Archer is still very much engaged to be so...

This novel is a veritable force to be reckoned with (though it was tough gaining momentum on the first few pages). Not only does it explore the many intricacies in romantic love, it sheds a blinding light on the ways society draws its defenses around itself, constructs rules and traditions to be followed for the continuation of its existence, and in turn drowns out the very foundations of reason. There is subtlety in the way the author exposed a society so caught up in the world they have built around itself that it becomes blind to change and is still, in so many ways, innocent in its need to keep itself closeted from things both severely chaotic and beautiful that make up the inherent human experience.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

The Age of Innocence is about Newland Archer, an indifferent lawyer who is engaged to the prim and proper May Welland but secretly develops the hots for her independent, fiery cousin Ellen Olenska. Their feelings intensify only in bits and pieces, for their stifling social world would never look well upon an engaged man having an affair with a woman of already questionable repute. As they grow closer they are driven further apart, both by custom and by human manipulation, all of which are far from innocent.

The Age of Innocence is many things- biting social satire, sharp-edged character study, and a sympathetic observation of one of the most constricted romances in the history of literature. It is also an incredibly entertaining book, with sentence after elegant sentence finely constructing this little world of turn-of-the-century upper-crust New York that is now far gone. It is also a complete work; at its end I felt completely satisfied because nothing was left out, no relevant nuance or character unexplored, its themes illuminated just enough and nothing feeling out of place. From the pomp and circumstance of the beginning, to the desire and betrayal of the middle, to the suitably haunting conclusion, this is simply a perfect book and I couldn't imagine American lit without it. Highly recommended for anyone.

Because I hope to visit Wharton's home in upstate New York this fall, I wanted to read one of her books before going. Since this won a Pulitzer, I picked it. I found it very engaging in describing the life style of a certain class of people in a certain period of time in a particular city, New York. While the much of the book was predictable given the restraints of that time, the ending had a bit of a surprise. It is so unlike the fast paced fiction of today and instead took time to develop the characters, some intellectually astute, some vacuous, some just endearing. If it hadn't been quite so predictable, I would have given it Five Stars.

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

I believe the writer reflected her times and 1870's NY high society; so it is a period piece. The plot is well done with ironic twists. The title is perhaps a sarcasm. I am sure it is very well written because it won a Pulitzer Prize. However this novel lost me because I found I did not care one iota about any of the characters. They all seemed shallow and remote-- which was the point of the story-- but my 2016 personality could not plug in. When I came to the last page I said aloud, "Meah!" I think one would have to be more of a history buff and appreciate changes in society to get the full appreciation of the book.

Eighteenth century American "high" society is shown in this subtly uncomfortable, at times merciless novel by Wharton. It explores the unwanted, inevitable, but, in the end, understandable change that occured within a young man on the verge of being married.

On the onset, everything seemed headed for bliss: perfect fiancee, stable prospects, and a comfortable yet predictable soon-to-be married life. But then he meets the Countess Olenska, cousin of his betrothed. This epitome of eccentricity (and source of ignominy of her relatives) becomes strangely alluring to him, what with her unconventional looks, manner of dressing, chosen companions, and overall lifestyle.

As his interactions with her become more frequent, he finds his fiancee somehow paling in comparison next to the vibrancy of the Countess. He becomes disdainful of the ridiculousness with which young men and women are brought up into their glittering society, and who will no doubt foster the same beliefs and traditions to their sons and daughters. As his life and everything he was taught at birth ostensibly comes crashing down upon him, he discovers his attraction to the Countess grow into passionate love. But these two lovers are mired into a world that would shun their relationship: the Countess at the very least is still very much married, and Archer is still very much engaged to be so...

This novel is a veritable force to be reckoned with (though it was tough gaining momentum on the first few pages). Not only does it explore the many intricacies in romantic love, it sheds a blinding light on the ways society draws its defenses around itself, constructs rules and traditions to be followed for the continuation of its existence, and in turn drowns out the very foundations of reason. There is subtlety in the way the author exposed a society so caught up in the world they have built around itself that it becomes blind to change and is still, in so many ways, innocent in its need to keep itself closeted from things both severely chaotic and beautiful that make up the inherent human experience.

Newland Archer, the protagonist of Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, opens this story as an almost haughtily optimistic and self-satisfied young man - at the top of New York society, about to announce his engagement to the beautiful and sought-after May Welland, with little to mar what seems to be a life of uninterrupted happiness and fulfillment. Wealth, industry, friends, family, a fiancé he loves dearly....what more could a young man want from life? He can even afford to have a few radical ideas, one of them being the opinion that women should speak their minds and be genuine in their deportment and self-awareness, shaking off - just a little, perhaps - the stringent and elaborate rituals of conformity forced on them by a well-meaning but ultimately hypocritical society.

Despite the slightly smug impression we get of Archer at the beginning, it is this examination of himself that makes the reader realize there's more to him than most men of his age and class; that he possesses a sensitivity and longing for what is real, despite that reality's drawbacks, and it endears him to us. Early on he states, to the shock of his friend, that "Women should be free--as free as we are." Soon after, we get this insight into his mind as he reflects on what he sees around him in the marriages of his friends, parents, and relatives, which is precisely what he is determined to avoid between himself and May:

"What could he and she really know of each other, since it was his duty, as a "decent" fellow, to conceal his past from her, and hers, as a marriageable girl, to have no past to conceal? What if, for some one of the subtler reasons that would tell with both of them, they should tire of each other, misunderstand or irritate each other?

He reviewed his friends' marriages - the supposedly happy ones - and saw none that answered, even remotely, to the passionate and tender comradeship which he pictured as his permanent relation with May Welland. He perceived that such a picture presupposed, on her part, the experience, the versatility, the freedom of judgment, which she had been carefully trained not to possess; and with a shiver of foreboding he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together by ignorance on the one side and hypocrisy on the other.

.....In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs."

So, this is where Archer is in life when May's cousin Ellen comes to New York from Paris, fleeing an illustriously-placed but disastrous marriage, and her entrance into New York society is tinged with scandal. When Archer falls in love with Ellen against all his better judgment and to what he knows would be the detriment of everything he deems crucial to his happiness, it's a torturous love that nearly drives him mad.

That description may make it sound like a forgettable bit of romance, but forgettable bits of romance don't generally win Pulitzers, and the true heart of this story is about the decisions we make that shape our lives one way or another, and what kind of devastating emotional havoc the `wrong' love can wreak on a person's soul. Archer is forced down an emotionally-tormented path few of us would choose, I think, and in many ways it's both beautiful and tragic to watch his story unfold. I was incredibly moved by it.

As mentioned, The Age of Innocence won Wharton the Pulizer Prize for fiction in 1921, making it the first time a woman had ever won the award.

I've had this book for years but finally got around to reading it, spurred on by the sense that I haven't read enough American classics. I'm awarding 'The Age of Innocence' 4.5 stars and rounding to 4 for practical purposes, although, I must say, I think the ending of the novel is worthy of 5 stars.

Why not 5 stars overall? I only award 5 stars to books that I really think will stay with me for life; things I'll want to keep coming back to to read again. 'The Age of Innocence' is such a very good, well-written novel, that the only reason I think it falls short of being in the 5 star category for me is maybe that the extent to which it is an incisive social observation of privileged society in latter-Nineteenth century New York compromises the extent to which it charts a very private and personal -and so timeless- love affair. However, the whole point of the book is an examination of how these private and public spheres of life interconnect (and, indeed, conflict), so I realise that my complaint is somewhat paradoxical!

But I did think 'The Age of Innocence' was a great novel and I was struck by the frank modernity of Wharton's writing - perhaps due to the fact that this nineteenth century novel was published in the twentieth century.

Towards the end of the book I became preoccupied with how the story would end. In conclusion, I found it ended in the only way it could, given what had gone before. And I thought it a truly five-star ending. I would recommend 'The Age of Innocence' to anyone who enjoys reading novels - it's a great novel.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

Before reading Age of Innocence, I read House of Mirth and loved it. It was my first Edith Wharton book and I was eager to try another. This book was not a page turner by any means. I think it was more ambitious than House of Mirth in its scope but less enjoyable.The basic setup is that Newland Archer loves Countess Ellen Olenska but she is not free to divorce her cruel husband even though she has left him. Newland marries young, beautiful May, but still longs for Ellen. Newland is definitely dull. Ellen is marginally more interesting because she doesn't feel as constrained by the New York social rules. I couldn't really see what their "relationship" was based on - they hardly saw each other or talked to each other. The high society was stultifying and I became impatient reading about every little gesture and nuance. I guess that was the point. I did like the ending however. Unexpected.
Now perhaps I'll try Ethan Frome.

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

Comedy or tragedy? Trust Edith Wharton to write a single book that is both! A feast of sensual writing or a play of subtle psychological nuances? Again, trust Wharton to craft a novel that is simultaneously both.

Age of Innocence is a masterpiece of writing, by an author whose deceptively simple descriptive writing style speaks on many levels at once.

The plot is straightforward: Newland Archer is a young man living in New York "Society" of the 1870s. He is happily engaged to marry May, a beautiful young woman chosen for him by his family. Shortly after their engagement is announced, he meets May's more exotic and openly seductive older cousin Ellen. He becomes completely captivated by Ellen, and spends the rest of his life believing it would have been better had he married Ellen instead.

The story unfolds through Newland's eyes. In Newland's eyes, he is unconventional, Ellen is sophisticated, and May is shallow, conventional, and boring. Yet - and here is Wharton's genius -- while narrating the world through Newland's eyes, Wharton manages to convey that Newland is the shallow, conventional one. Newland believes that wives are dull and fettered; unavailable women are mysterious and exciting. His own awkward behaviors become confirmation for his stereotypical beliefs. To the reader, who is treated to deeper glimpses of May's character, Newland's emotional immaturity is comical; but for Newland himself, it is tragic.

Wharton shows us two sides of social convention within a small upper-class community: on the one hand, it can painfully narrow a person's vision, as it does for Newland; on the other hand, it can create deep bonds of family connection, as it does for May. Wharton leaves it up to the reader to decide which is the truer picture.

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

Newland Archer, the protagonist of this ironically entitled novel set in the late nineteenth century, is a proper New York gentleman, and part of a society which adheres to strict social codes, subordinating all aspects of life to doing what is expected, which is synonymous with doing what it right. As the author remarks early in the novel, "Few things were more awful than an offense against Taste." Newland meets and marries May Welland, an unimaginative, shallow young woman whose upbringing has made her the perfect, inoffensive wife, one who knows how to behave and how to adhere to the "rules" of the society in which they live.

When Newland is reintroduced to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has left her husband in Europe and now wants a divorce, he finds himself utterly captivated by her freedom and her willingness to risk all, socially, by flouting convention. Both Ellen and Newland, however, are products of their upbringing and their culture, however, and they resist their feelings because of their separate social obligations. Various meetings between them suggest that their feelings are far stronger than what is obvious on the surface, and the question of whether either of them will finally state the obvious remains unanswered.

Wharton creates an exceptionally realistic picture of New York in the post-Civil War era, a time in which aristocrats of inherited wealth found themselves competing socially with parvenus. Her ability to show the conflict between a person's desire for freedom and his/her need for social acceptance is striking. As the various characters make their peace with their decisions-either to conform to or to challenge social dictates-the novel achieves an unusual dramatic tension, subtle because of its lack of direct confrontation and powerful in its effects on individual destinies. This is, in fact, less an "age of innocence" than it is an age of social manipulation.

Wharton herself manipulates the reader--her best dialogues are those in which the characters never actually participate--conversations that they keep to themselves, confrontations which they never allow themselves to have, and resolutions which happen through inaction rather than through decision-making. Filled with acute social observations, the novel shows individuals convincing themselves that obeying social dictates is the right thing to do. Though the novel sometimes seems to smother the reader with its limitations on action, Age of Innocence brilliantly captures the age and attitudes of the era. Mary Whipple

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

Newland Archer, the protagonist of this ironically entitled novel set in the late nineteenth century, is a proper New York gentleman, and part of a society which adheres to strict social codes, subordinating all aspects of life to doing what is expected, which is synonymous with doing what it right. As the author remarks early in the novel, "Few things were more awful than an offense against Taste." Newland meets and marries May Welland, an unimaginative, shallow young woman whose upbringing has made her the perfect, inoffensive wife, one who knows how to behave and how to adhere to the "rules" of the society in which they live.

When Newland is reintroduced to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has left her husband in Europe and now wants a divorce, he finds himself utterly captivated by her freedom and her willingness to risk all, socially, by flouting convention. Both Ellen and Newland, however, are products of their upbringing and their culture, however, and they resist their feelings because of their separate social obligations. Various meetings between them suggest that their feelings are far stronger than what is obvious on the surface, and the question of whether either of them will finally state the obvious remains unanswered.

Wharton creates an exceptionally realistic picture of New York in the post-Civil War era, a time in which aristocrats of inherited wealth found themselves competing socially with parvenus. Her ability to show the conflict between a person's desire for freedom and his/her need for social acceptance is striking. As the various characters make their peace with their decisions-either to conform to or to challenge social dictates-the novel achieves an unusual dramatic tension, subtle because of its lack of direct confrontation and powerful in its effects on individual destinies. This is, in fact, less an "age of innocence" than it is an age of social manipulation.

Wharton herself manipulates the reader--her best dialogues are those in which the characters never actually participate--conversations that they keep to themselves, confrontations which they never allow themselves to have, and resolutions which happen through inaction rather than through decision-making. Filled with acute social observations, the novel shows individuals convincing themselves that obeying social dictates is the right thing to do. Though the novel sometimes seems to smother the reader with its limitations on action, Age of Innocence brilliantly captures the age and attitudes of the era. Mary Whipple

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

Edith Wharton is perhaps best known as a writer who never offered her readers a simple, quote-unquote happy ending. "The Age of Innocence" is her thorough examination of the strictures society placed upon its citizens in the late nineteenth century. It is a tale of a love that can never be lived, a life that can never be set free. It is, quite rightfully, one of the best novels of the twentieth century.

Newland Archer is a young man about to be married to May Welland, a woman he admires for her beauty and for his ability to shape her future thoughts and dreams. When her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, reappears in his life, Arhcer's ideas about love and convention are shaken to the core. For he falls desperately in love with Ellen, but cannot admit it, knowing that any admission or secret life would be unacceptable in his society. And although Ellen returns Archer's love, she would never betray the trust of her family, and will not degrade herself to be with him solely as his mistress. Meanwhile, Archer's wife, May, is not quite as innocent and unknowing as he believes her to be, and Archer must choose between the reality of his life in an unreal world, or the illusion of happiness with the real love of his life.

"The Age of Innocence" is truly an ironic title, for no character in the novel is innocent. In the society of Old New York, all secrets were known and hypocrisy was the order of the day. Wharton is an expert at laying bare that which truly goes on in the minds and hearts of human beings. This is a novel that will stand the test of time, for at its core are questions about loyalty and longing that are timeless.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Highly recommended.

A classic novel made famous by a recent movie, The Age of Innocence is the story of a society man, Newland Archer, caught between two very different women. On the one hand is May Welland, the virginal Diana of New York society, whose seeming frankness and innocence discourage and oppress him: "Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile." All this is "supposed to be what he wanted, what he had a right to, in order that he might exercise his lordly pleasure in smashing it like an image made of snow." Her counterpart is her cousin Countess Ellen Olenska, vaguely exotic, vaguely dangerous, forbidden-primarily because she is not the "artificial product" of society, but a genuine, sensual woman whose independent way of thinking is enough to tacitly and then overtly banish her from the very company that Newland's life is built around. She is "different," as Archer will later discuss with one of his children. No one else would say, "Why not make one's own fashions?" thus giving a voice to what Archer himself deep down believes but can't put into practice.

Ironically, it is May who first forces him and Ellen together, against his will, in her efforts to be kind to her cousin, who has just returned from Europe. As he sees more of "poor Ellen," estranged from her emotionally abusive husband and seemingly vulnerable to the wiles of the wealthy outsider scoundrel Julius Beaufort, he finds himself returning again and again to her until he realises he is in love with her-long after the reader has reached that conclusion. He resolves the dilemma by rushing his marriage to May, which makes it that much worse. Thus ensues a delicate balance between the life he has chosen with May, with whom he now realises he has no emotional bond, and the life he would choose if he were more sure of himself, more sure that being true to oneself is more important than being true to one's system.

Nearly every character is memorable-from the massive Mrs. Manson Mingott, May and Ellen's grandmother who is old enough and skilled enough to intuit all and manipulate all; to the womanizing Lawrence Lefferts, whose behavior is acceptable because he knows how to play the game, how things are "done"; to the frigid bastions of society, the van der Luydens; to May's mother, who cannot be exposed in any way to "unpleasantness"; to Archer's virginal sister Janey, who lives life vicariously through gossip and guesswork.

Many scenes and locations are equally vivid: Beaufort's lavish house and party; the contrast of the van der Luydens' dinner party; Archer and May's conventional and stifling honeymoon, more sporty than romantic or passionate; Archer's pursuit of May in Florida and his following Ellen to the Blenkers' and then to Boston; a revealing ride with Ellen in May's brougham; Mrs. Mingott's house in the middle of "nowhere," where she rules like a queen and where the politics are only slightly less complicated than those of Elizabeth I's court-all unforgettable places and scenes.

In less intelligent or skilled hands, the plot could have become mere melodrama, but Wharton knows how her society worked, who inhabited it, what it forgave, and what it could not pardon. Affairs are pardonable; treachery, real or perceived, to the framework of what holds these people together is not. In the end, May saves Archer from himself-and dooms him to her kind of life by doing so. When he gives up all his dreams, he looks into May's "blue eyes, wet with tears." She knows what he does not and remains cold as the moon that the goddess Diana rules.

It could be said that May and Ellen represent two sides of Newland Archer-both are people he is afraid to become. If he is like May, he experiences death of the mind, death of the soul, death of the emotions, becoming what he is expected to be to keep the foundations that society is built upon steady, strong, and standing. (It is no coincidence that a theme in Wharton's The House of Mirth is the vulnerability of that house to the influx of modern ways.) If he becomes like Ellen, he will lose everything that he has built his own foundations on. In the end, he is neither, nor is he himself. His tragedy is not that much less than that of The House of Mirth's Lily Bart, both victims of a society they need but cannot survive.

Diane L. Schirf, 28 April 2001.

Nobody knew the hypocrises of "old New York" better than Edith Wharton, and nobody portrayed them as well. In "The Age of Innocence," Wharton took readers on a trip through the stuffy upper crust of 1870s New York, wrapped up in a hopeless love affair.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when J.Lo acquires and discards boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose. Probably it wasn't in the 1920s, when the book was first published. But this isn't a book to read if you appreciate sexiness and steam -- instead it's a social satire, a bittersweet romance, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Wharton brings old New York to life in this book -- opulent, beautiful, cultured, yet empty and kind of boring. It is "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought," so tied up in tradition that nobody there really lives. And even though the unattainable countess is beautiful and sweet, it becomes obvious after awhile that Newland is actually in love with the idea of breaking out of his conventional life.

Wharton's writing is a bit like a giant rosebud -- it takes forever to fully open. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms and gloves. Wharton put them in to illustrate her point about New York at that time, and all the stories about different families, scandals and customs are actually very important.

Newland seems like a rather boring person, since he only has brief bursts of individuality. But he gets more interesting when he struggles between his conscience and his longing for freedom. May is (suitably) pallid and a bit dull, while the Countess is alluringly mysterious and unconsciously rebellious. The fact that she doesn't TRY to rebel makes her far more interesting than Newland.

"Age of Innocence" considered a story about a man in love with an unattainable woman, but it's also about that man straining against a stagnant, hypocritical society. Rich, intriguing and beautifully written.

The reading public must have been taken by shock when, in 1920, Wharton published this novel. Written off by most of the critics and audience of her time as having her best literary years far behind her, she produced what is arguably her most important work. Her story of New York City in the 1870s, where family name and propriety counted as much as accumulated wealth, resonated with readers who were just beginning to catch hints of the looming social revolution that would come later in the decade - and once again shatter time tested institutions. Wharton's looking back to the time of her youth (she was 57 when the book was published) is neither too sentimental nor too critical, but simply a fond remembrance of the time and place in which she lived and, like Madame Olenska, eventually escaped.
However, it is not with Madame Olenska but with Newland Archer that Wharton is closest associated. Belonging to similar social castes, both the author and Newland are able to see the foibles in their social milieu but in no way are ready to discard it totally. Whereas, in the end, both are ready to follow their individual paths from Old New York they are fully aware of what is expected of them as members of this society, and act accordingly. This is the central theme of the novel: individual desire vs. collective propriety. In the hands of a lesser author, this conflict could have resulted in a quite heavy and didactic work - and as interesting as an evening at a needlepoint demonstration. By clothing her novel in the time tested mantle of a love story, she is given rein to employ her talents to the fullest. In short, she re-creates the New York City of the 1870s and peoples it with characters that seem to be historical, not just based on historical models. The characters of Madame Olenska, Newland, May Welland and, especially, Mrs. Manson Mingott are wonderfully drawn and never become stereotyped nor trivialized; in fact, they are so lifelike that the reader (as if knowing them for years) is able to anticipate their thought patterns and actions. And of course, there is the city itself - before the Holland Tunnel, Grand Central Station, subways and telephone, where 39th Street was considered the hinterland. Wharton treats the city with affection as well as with the critical eye of the archaeologist attempting to reconstruct some long past civilization.
Especially fine is the final chapter in which Wharton (in less than twenty pages) summarizes the life of Newland from the time of his parting with Madame Olenska to his life in early twentieth century New York. The economy of her prose in this final chapter combined with her justaposition of sentimental reflection and historical fact are first rate. Particularly moving is the final scene in which the reader leaves Newland sitting on a bench outside of Madame Olenska's apartment in Paris unable (and unwilling) to abrogate both his loyalty to his now deceased wife, May, nor the unrequited love that he still has for Madame Olenska.

On a 5 star scale, this is a 7. The Age of Innocence is about New York society in the late 1800's. Wharton's fast paced dialogue is unequivocally the best I have ever read. The reader is not only pulled in immediately but comes quickly to understand the nonverbal communication inherent in the interchanges. This is the heart of the story - the things that are not said, the things that are not done in New York society at that time and how the rigid rules of that society were enforced without ever explicitly saying any of it. In Mrs. Wharton's words: "It was the old New York way of taking life "without effusion of blood": the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes," except the behaviour of those who gave them. " This is as much a story about the mores of New York society as it is a bitter love story of two people caught up in it.

Newland Archer represents New York society as a young man of high society blissfully engaged to equally prominent May Welland. The reader comes to know him and the story is told through his eyes. It is through him that we come to understand "the rules". When Countess Ellen Olenska returns from a ruined marriage abroad, everything in Newland's structured view of society is challenged. It is as if a veil is lifted from his eyes and he can suddenly see the big picture from multiple points of view. However, one of the facets of "the rules" is to be blind to these angles and once empowered to see, he belongs neither to New York or to the world at large. He has only the choice of destroying all that he knows in pursuit of the mysterious woman who has brought about this change or living a life whose values for him have lost their luster. She, on the other hand, has come to see the value to the ideas that have had Newland so rigidly encased. Together they are a ringing disavowal and endorsement at the same time.

This is not an indictment of that society. Ms. Wharton had condemned it early in her life but eventually found a value in the way that things were done and reflects that sentiment in Madame Olenska who, having had her eyes opened could never fully return.

"... if it's not worthwhile to have given up, to have missed things, so that others may be saved from disillusionment and misery - then everything I came home for, everything that made my other life seem by contrast so bare and so poor because no one there took account of them - all these things are a sham or a dream. "

This is not your typical love story and there have been no spoilers given here. In the end, you will feel that the characters have done what is right; however, in this book, it is the definition of right that is being questioned.

The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton's novel of New York high society in which she examines the social codes of 1870s Manhattan and their effects on the lives of her three main characters, Newland Archer, his fiancée May Welland and her cousin, the Countess Olenska.
Archer is a young man of impeccable breeding, who lives the life of the amusedly detached gentleman, assured of his place at the very highest level in society. He is engaged to the equally well-bred May Welland, a society beauty who is described throughout the novel as 'virginal' and frequently likened to a goddess. At the start of the novel Archer is looking forward to marriage and the freedom that it will bring, convinced that his will be different from the respectable boredom that seems to drive the marriages of his peers. He is aware that May is young and inexperienced, but is relishing the prospect of `educating' her. His complacent views on life begin to crumble however when he meets Ellen Olenska, May's older cousin and the estranged wife of a European count (`European' is equated throughout the novel with a vague sense of unprincipled debauchery). Ellen's reputation precedes her and because she left her husband, rumour has it, for the affections of another man, her position on returning to New York is that of an outcast. She is seen as exotic, unpredictable and oblivious to the strict code of conduct that New York society operates under. However, because she is the product of another respectable family, circumstances contrive to see that she is welcomed, albeit grudgingly, back into the fold. Archer sees himself as an open-minded and forward-thinking individual but he is not prepared for the effect Countess Olenska has on him. Because she is not governed by the constricting laws that the rest of his social circle abides by, he rapidly forms an intimate, if inappropriate, bond with her and this leads to the disintegration of his former prospects of happiness as he sees how shallow and inhibiting they really are, and how he can only be free by breaking out of the life he now sees is imprisoning him.
The Age of Innocence is the first Edith Wharton novel I have read, and to be honest I'm not wholly convinced by all the accolades thrown at this celebrated American writer. I did enjoy and appreciate the novel, but am convinced that if Wharton had allowed it to develop at a slower pace, it would have been a more satisfying read. At times her elegance and insight are remarkable, but I often found the dialogue, particularly between Archer and Ellen, unconvincing, and some of the decisions that Archer takes, although not necessarily out of character, seemed at odds with what has gone before. More insight into the agonising soul searching that he must have endured would have lent greater truth to the situation. It seems that Edith Wharton is a novelist in the tradition of Jane Austen and George Eliot (although for me The Age of Innocence had more parallels with The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles than any book by these two brilliant authors), but with this novel she falls just short of the standards set by Austen and Eliot in that there is a slight unnaturalness to the progression of the story and the themes she explores are not explored as meticulously as they might have been. That said, The Age of Innocence still remains an interesting and moving novel and probably not the last I will read by Edith Wharton.

I can't help it. The low opinion expressed of this book is uninformed and thoughtless. Such a review as I just read is an example of how little education has done in increasing the true comprehension needed to truly contemplate a book. To read words is one thing; to read a book on a list of great books is admirable; to try to discount something that may be going above your head is disgusting and arrogant. Such a person would be well suited to attending a class, talking with a fellow reader, browsing a website, or reading an Oxford edition with supplemental essays and annotations. Why read a book and then decide it is lacking just because it is foreign territory or more challenging than a plainspoken pulp novel?

The Age of Innocence is written by one of the finest authors the world has offered forth. This is a story that encompasses the Victorian sensibility towards duty and class as it comes into a necessarily muted clash with personal desires and true connection. At the very heart of the narrative, the reader will find the very essence of the transition between then and now--a Victorian world that still, to this day, grapples for dominance with our own. The protagonist is to choose between two women; and his reputation and his family's reputation is on the line. Not only is it a much detailed and fabulous slice of prudish Victorian/American life in conflict with more modern sensibilities and preferences, it is a passionate and witty read. The Scorcese film, though beautiful cinematically, does nothing to replace Wharton's incredible narrator. This is a must read item told by a woman who knew the Vanderbilts, who knew the rumors and stories on par with this fictional one, whose social position among uppercrust New York society gives something both fictional and yet informed. The greatest pleasure is the narrator's eye view of what is bubbling underneath the surface of incredible personal and social restraint. The protagonist's fiance becomes the true centerpiece of the novel as she not only is a victim of but the willfully naive and (somewhat disgustingly)benevolent continuation of her era's restrictive values. She is the touchstone of what is expected and the protagonist, his children, and the love of his life must all conform to a fantasy perpetuated by and for her. She is the active agent of society's values and keep that in mind as you read. Keep your eye on her and the tendencies of society to get the full historical perspective Wharton has to offer. This is one of those tragedies in love and life that are told in such a calm, muted way that it will not leave you alone for many a year. The anticlimactical approach does a great deal more than many a sensational attempt at portraying similar drives and disappointments.

Edith Wharton has a place in the North American Literature canon as one of the best female writers ever. With her novels and novellas she was able to portrait and, above all, criticize the wealth North American society of the turn of the Century. Although she wrote about New York, her books acquired a universal dimension, since they talk about the human nature.
`The Age of Innocence' is widely regarded as one of her masterpieces, and so it is. It received a Pulitzer Prize in 1921, and has passed through the years as a seminal book from the early XX Century. With her wit and knowledge, Wharton was able to recreate that universe where money and liaisons matter more than people's feelings. Due to this situation, her characters are unhappy, and trying --or not-- to change their almost unchangeable destinies.
At the center of the turmoil are Madame Olenska and Newland Archer. She, a unhappy married woman moving back to USA, trying to divorce from her rich and mean husband. He, a wealthy and brilliant lawyer who has a bright future ahead of him. The couple could have a beautiful love story were she not married and, to make matters worse, he not the fiancé of her cousin.
Archer's life split in two: on one side is the love of Madame Olenska, with whom he could be happy, but ostracized; on the other a dull marriage with May Welland, what would confirm his status in society and give him the bright future.
In the background of this turmoil is Wharton's powerful voice, of a person who has lived in this society and suffered its consequence. Describing and criticizing with brilliance things from a time she lived and knew, the writer was able to create a timeless book. Something that nowadays, almost a hundred years later, is still fresh and very important.
The most important thing is not if we have wisdom or not, but what we do with the wit we have. Edith Wharton, for one, used her in a brilliant way creating some books that will last forever, such as `The Age...' and `The House of Mirth', showing people how a beautiful society can be mean and hurt whose who dare to be different.

As I read this book, I realized that it is very similar to many of the other Victorian novels that I have read. It exaggerates many of the same themes, particularly when it comes to the societal rules around which the characters evolve. They always have the mothers, gossiping and conniving to set their daughters up with the best catch in town, seldom regarding any feelings for love. The men, always watching to make sure that they are keeping up with their professional life and pleasing the women, seem to have more intellectual depth. The daughters almost always follow their mothers and do as society expects of them. I've always been taken aback by the formality of these books as well. Age of Innocence is no exception. There are innumerable social taboos and intricacies of form that are vital to a reputation in society. The men and women are all expected to understand the proper manners for calling on others and holding parties. One must know who is acceptable to associate with, and who is not. Wharton covered these formalities well. All of the families in the novel are defined in their own classes, engagements are expected to be held of behalf of certain people, and proper rules are to be obeyed in the company of others. But Age of Innocence stepped onto a different level from other Victorian novels. Wharton used her characters to make an outright mockery of many of the social expectations. By showing Newland's distaste for form and disregard for many of the formalities, the author openly shows the banal characteristics of the other characters. She also uses Countess Olenski's inadequate knowledge of American society to define the formalities as absurd. When the Countess arrives and breaks the social norms of New York, the others marvel at the gall of being disreputable. By emphasizing these difference, Wharton shows the hypocrisy and almost ignorance of the members of the New York society. For my taste, Wharton's mockery of formality was done more effectively than most Victorian novels. I had a difficult time in understanding the relationships Newland had with the two central female characters, May and Ellen. In the beginning, Newland truly seemed to love May. With the mystery and enchantment of a new face, I wondered if Newland really even had basis for his adoration of Ellen. He sees very little of her and speaks to her very infrequently before he decides that he is in love with her. I was left a little suspect. I saw his care for her as something new and exciting that seemed enticing, but lacked real substance. Newland's relationship with May is based on a more solid understanding of character and personality. He has spent the time to get to know her and understands that he truly cares for her and can be happy with her. Had Newland begun a serious relationship with Ellen, he may have encountered many difficulties and misunderstandings. On the other hand, setting aside the assumption that Newland knew little of Ellen, he seemed to be passionately in love with her. The love he feels for May throughout the novel seems to be more out of convenience. Newland may have been able to happily overcome the form of society that he seemed to so detest and he may have also been happy alone with Ellen. But as the book goes, he chooses to settle for the marriage of convenience. I initially had wanted him to seek his passionate interest and leave May. But as he married May, I changed my mind. The scene that depicts the wedding made me feel immediately sorry for May. To her, it was likely the happiest day of her life, yet her husband was entirely absorbed in something else. I once heard a quote that nothing is worse than a marriage without love, except a marriage in which the love is one-sided. May devoted her entire self to Newland, and throughout the entire marriage he was unable to look at what he had. He spent all the time dreaming of Countess Olenski, wishing he could find a way to be with her, and wanting to know what she was doing or feeling. How unfair to May. Undoubtedly, May had an idea of Newland's absence of affection and must have been sorely hurt, as hinted at multiple times throughout the book. The end of the book threw me off entirely. I didn't know whether to be glad, or mad. I still don't know. On the one hand, Newland was so close. He had hoped for and wished for this moment for 26 years, and now that he didn't have May or distance to stop him, he stopped himself. I'm not quite sure why. Was he too proud to face his mistake? Was he afraid that he'd be disappointed or let down after all that time? I didn't understand. So when he walked home alone from the apartment, I sat in awe of what was going on. On the other hand, I saw it as a good thing as well. It almost seemed like finally, after May had died, that he realized that he had chosen a different life. He had a family to care for and his own place in society as a result of his life with May. Did he finally realize that he had settled for a different life when he chose May? If so, it seemed like he had finally come to terms with his life as a whole, giving the book a complete finish. But I'm not sure that that is why he left. It was an interesting way to end the book and I was very intrigued by it. Overall, I found the book rather captivating as it focused on the two relationships. At times, I was bothered by the formalities, but I think that was one of the key points in the book. Overall, I was impressed with Wharton's writing style and found the book impressive.

"It was the old New York way of taking life "with effusion of blood"; the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes", except the behavior of those who gave rise to them."

I do like the way Wharton cuts to the chase and gets to the underbelly of the of 19C New York's hypocritical society. Set in New York's golden age, Wharton tells the story of Newland Archer, who has just announced his engagement to May Welland, although the arrival of May's cousin Countess Ellen Olenska on the heels of a disastrous marriage throws Newland for a loop. Newland and Ellen fight their attraction as he settles down to married life and proper society with May, until finally culminating in a very enigmatic ending to the love story.

Wharton, born Edith Newbald Jones, was born and raised in the high society that she writes about and my understanding is that the old phrase "keeping up with the Joneses" came from the rest of the upper crust trying to keep up with Wharton's family. As much as I enjoyed this, I didn't find it anywhere near as engaging and readable as The House of Mirth, although she is brilliant as always in displaying the foibles, weaknesses and flat out hypocrisy of New York society in the late 19C. This is a very subtle book with a story that unfolds slowly and one to savor slowly - if you're looking for a fast paced, page turning read look elsewhere.

This is another in a series of classics I have been listening to on my commute. This is my first time through the novel, though I have seen several movie versions of the novel in the past.

My reaction to the audio book was fairly positive. The narrator, David Horowitch, generally did a very good job. His characterizations were fairly good, though not in the same league as a Jim Dale. I still had to pay attention to which character was speaking, though I could tell the two main characters apart. My biggest complaint was how he spoke too quietly where I couldn't understand him. It was appropriate at those points in the story, but it was too much. Since I am driving, the road noise is too great to handle such a dynamic range.

The novel itself is excellent and does a good job showing the social norms of the time and the struggles Newland had in dealing with them. It effectively showed the temptations that many people have dealt with, and one man's response to those temptations.

I recommend this audio book, but note that it is best to listen to with either ear phones or in a quiet room due to the extreme dynamic range of the speaker.

An unblinking examination of characters forced to choose between propriety and love, and a time when people still had to choose between the two. What I liked about the novel is that it makes you question both - is propriety worth the price you pay for it? Is love? What constitutes "happiness" - is it passion, or contentment? Can personal happiness ever be achieved if its cost is the happiness of others about whom you care?

Wharton does an excellent job of depicting ~1880s New York society, a construct so brittle that the mere expression of individuality, ambition or temperament threatens to shatter it. Then she creates two fairly empathetic characters, the "restless young man" Newland Archer and the simultaneously worldly/naive Ellen Olenska, sets them against the system and explores - with a brutal honesty that allows for no hope of literary intervention (fate, coincidence or anachronism) - the hypocrisy forced upon them ... and, to be fair, the hypocrisy they force upon themselves.

Had Jane Austen undertaken this tale, she might have told it with more humor but with less honesty. What both authors share, however, is an ability to satirize the often arbitrary, often absurd constraits of "propriety" while simultaneously acknowledging their force and enduring power.

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is an incisive portrait of a struggle for forbidden love among members of the idle rich in post-Civil War New York. Wharton's narrator is sharply critical of the characters she describes; the words from the writer's pen often seem like arrows shot from a well-aimed bow. Her critical sharpness never really descends into the pit of cynicism, however; besides, what most people consider cynical is merely someone else's honest attempt to see things as they are. Her characters are human, they have their noble and mean aspects, but as a rule they don't give each other credit for the good that is within them--all must be imposed from the outside, by religion or meddling mothers or fear of losing one's economic status. It is this tyranny of society that Wharton both understands and shreds to pieces so well. We are all hypocrites to one degree or another; some people get it, others do not--Wharton clearly "gets it."
Wharton skillfully uses her protagonist, Newland Archer, to depict the soul's wrestling match between conventional expectations and individual freedom. Her supporting characters are colorfully drawn, if not fleshed out as much as fans of Henry James may prefer. Wharton admired James intensely, and although a professor of mine once called her "a poor man's James," she is better thought of as a rich woman's Wharton. She did indeed pattern THE AGE OF INNOCENCE after James' less popular novel, THE AMBASSADORS, and she takes up themes of desire, freedom, renunciation and regret with a more generous and witty spirit than he.

The story is set in the 1870's in Manhattan. Newland Archer is young, wealthy, good-looking and ranks quite high in society. He is to be married to his "perfect" society counterpart May Welland. Right before their engagement Newland is introduced to May's cousin the Countess Olenska who has just returned from a disappointing marriage in Europe. She has a somewhat scandalous past (at least as far as society is considered) and Newland is attracted to her almost immediately. What develops is a tragic yet beautiful conflict within Newland that strains him to the utmost limit of his character. He puruses the Countess while making wedding plans with May. I won't ruin it for you by telling you who he gets in the end, but don't expect a flowery, kissy, smootchy ending. Instead, Edith Wharton goes to great lengths to describe the reality behind the facade of this society and she does so with astonishing clarity and frankness. This is one of my all time favorite books and will be for some time to come I can be sure. Every time I read it I see the story unfold on a whole new level. SIDE NOTE: See the movie! Usually, any movie version will pale in comparsion, especially in comparision to the book, but this is an exceptional exception! Martin Scorcese unfolds the tale with incredible attention to detail and provides the moviegoer with a unique experience... A movie that actually is as good (if not better) than the book. BTW, Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for letters. She did so with this book in 1921.

Of course, anything by Edith Wharton IS in 'the past' by now. But pretend, for a moment, that you are living at the turn of the century. Pretend, too, that the social customs and niceties of books such as The House of Mirth and The Custom of the Country are still practiced, alive, and somewhat fresh. Divorce is still highly frowned upon but does not constitute complete social ruin. There are still codes that you must follow, but you follow them by habit rather than by any belief in the inherent 'rightness' of them.
Try reading The Age of Innocence in this frame of mind, and the story becomes markedly different. It would be all to easy to confuse the social world of the 1870's with that of the 1900's, because we're looking at it from more than a century later. What is twenty years, after all? Of course, we know very well what twenty years is and what changes are produced in that amount of time. Twenty years is the gap that turns Neil Young into Marilyn Manson.
This makes The Age of Innocence the story of how the world of Wharton's other books was created. If you think the social rules in Wharton's most famous stories are strict, then reading The Age of Innocence will illustrate just how much one society was a product of the other. While reading The Age of Innocence, I guarantee you will feel somewhat stifled by the inevitable predictability of the characters' actions. They are restricted by their society, and their lives are dictated by it. At the same time, however, Wharton gives life to the people in her books, along with enough free will to sway and bend their way into an entertaining and compelling story.
In summary, The Age of Innocence gives us a look at an earlier New York, one whose social mores relaxed into social folkways thirty years later.

Now that the enemies have been uncovered, Branford and Alexandrea can concentrate on making babies. Their love continues to flourish despite all of the turmoil, but they can't become complacent because danger is still surrounding them. Like walking a tightrope, they are one distraction away from complete disaster.

It just keeps getting more exciting, I found myself holding my breath reading this one. I can't say enough good things about this series. And I can't wait for the next book!

Novels of manners set among the upper crust of the nineteenth century are always hard for me to appreciate: the endless preoccupation with various proprieties, and the subtle indirect discourse cultivated by such circles, as well as the fixation on material things (endless descriptions of people's dress, of furnishings of rooms, of what is served for dinner) can all accumulate in such a way that I am overwhelmed by a sense of sterility, pretension, and emptiness.

"The Age of Innocence," much like many Henry James novels, therefore does not rank among my favorite novels. The highly ineffectual, insanely passive and voyeuristic protagonist, Newland Archer, also drives me crazy, and it is very hard for me to take him seriously. It seems as though he never does anything, never takes responsibility for anything, never even has any truthful conversations, except for a few sporadic outbursts when he is safely alone with the somewhat unattainable woman whom he loves but whom he does not have the courage to pursue in any real way. But, of course, that is part of Wharton's point: she is portraying a life largely unlived due to a lack of courage. I have to give Wharton credit for making me care more about her pathetic protagonist than one might expect to care for such a worm. And her depiction of Old New York's high society is extremely vivid and interesting from a historical point of view, even though it is also quite appalling.

What I mainly enjoyed about Wharton's novel was the absolutely exquisite prose. Here just a brief sample: "The day was delectable. The bare vaulting of trees along the Mall was ceiled with lapis lazuli, and arched above snow that shone like splintered crystals. It was the weather to call out May's radiance, and she burned like a young maple in the frost. Archer was proud of the glances turned on her, and the simple joy of possessorship cleared away his underlying perplexities."

My chief reason for recommending this novel is the endlessly witty, poignant, and beautiful language, full of keen little psychological observations and inimitable formulations. While Wharton's subject matter does not exactly grip me, certainly her language does.

I live in New York City and just happened to be reading this Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Edith Wharton on the subway on my way to work on September 11. Walking through Grand Central Station to my office I was thinking about the central character, Newland Archer, and his thoughts that he could see his whole life laid out in front of him with all its boring details. Fifteen minutes later the World Trade Center was attacked, and even though I was several miles north of the disaster, I knew that life would never be the same again. And I suddenly understood the reason for Edith Wharton's title.
Written in 1920, Wharton (1862-1937), a divorced upper class American woman who had lived through the carnage of the War in Europe, had just returned to the United States. With artistic subtlety and mastery of understatement, she casts a critical eye on the New York social scene of the 1870s, creating complex and memorable characters whose lives are ruled by the cultural restraints of their time. It is a rigid and restrictive world, its social mores so constricting that every detail of their circumscribed lives must be adhered to rigidly or they will experience the fate of the outcast. Here we meet Newland Archer, a young man torn between his seemingly perfect wife and the exciting appeal of her cousin, a divorced Countess whose very presence challenges the very narrow world surrounding her. This is a world where talking about anything unpleasant is forbidden, and yet the skill of the author makes the reader understand all those unspoken thoughts that live behind the words that are never said.
All the characters live a life of luxury, fill their lives with trivia and are trapped in a gilded cage. To some, it is more difficult than others and Newland Archer is one of these, struggling to conform and yet glimpsing other possibilities. There is a constant battleground between this strengths and weaknesses and, at the end, we are saddened but yet understand the inevitable conclusion. Ms Wharton has done an outstanding job of taking her readers on a voyage into the hearts and minds of these characters of a bygone era. Highly recommended.

Newland Archer, the protagonist of this ironically entitled novel set in the late nineteenth century, is a proper New York gentleman, and part of a society which adheres to strict social codes, subordinating all aspects of life to doing what is expected, which is synonymous with doing what it right. As the author remarks early in the novel, "Few things were more awful than an offense against Taste." Newland meets and marries May Welland, an unimaginative, shallow young woman whose upbringing has made her the perfect, inoffensive wife, one who knows how to behave and how to adhere to the "rules" of the society in which they live.

When Newland is reintroduced to May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has left her husband in Europe and now wants a divorce, he finds himself utterly captivated by her freedom and her willingness to risk all, socially, by flouting convention. Both Ellen and Newland, however, are products of their upbringing and their culture, and they dutifully resist their feelings because of their separate social obligations. Various meetings between them suggest that their feelings are far stronger than what is obvious on the surface, and the question of whether either of them will finally state their feelings pervades the novel.

Wharton creates an exceptionally realistic picture of New York in the post-Civil War era, a time in which aristocrats of inherited wealth found themselves competing socially with parvenus, and social rules were changing. Her ability to show the conflict between a person's desire for freedom and his/her need for social acceptance is striking. As the various characters make their peace with their decisions--either to conform to or to challenge social dictates--the novel achieves an unusual dramatic tension, subtle because of its lack of direct confrontation and powerful in its effects on individual destinies. This is, in fact, less an "age of innocence" than it is an age of social manipulation.

Wharton herself manipulates the reader--her best dialogues are those in which the characters never actually participate--conversations that they keep to themselves, confrontations which they never allow themselves to have, and resolutions which happen through inaction rather than through decision-making. Filled with acute social observations, the novel shows individuals convincing themselves that obeying social dictates is the right thing to do. Though the novel sometimes seems to smother the reader with its limitations on action, Age of Innocence brilliantly captures the age and attitudes of the era. Mary Whipple

Written in 1920 but set primarily in the 1870's, Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence" is a novel of nostalgia, recalling its author's memories of what New York high society was like in a time when the industrial age had raised the standard of living to indulgent levels of comfort but before twentieth-century technologies had made life faster, busier, and noisier; a world where balls, formal dinners, and the opera were the main events and the lower classes were visible only as servants. Into this setting Wharton fashions an elegant story about a young man caught between his fiancee and the woman he believes he loves even more.
Newland Archer, a junior partner in a prominent law firm, is engaged to marry May Welland who, like Archer, comes from one of the many respected upper middle class New York families. However, Archer takes an interest in May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, who has just separated from her wealthy aristocrat husband in Europe and plans to settle in New York. Ellen bears the burden of possibly causing a scandal in her family if her separation results in divorce, and she is already raising eyebrows by consorting with Julius Beaufort, a married banker. Archer gradually falls in love with Ellen and wishes to whisk her away to a place where they can escape the scrutiny of reproachful eyes; May, sensing that his romantic interests may lie elsewhere than with her, even suggests that he should follow his heart. Loyal to societal conventions and propriety, however, he marries May but remains passionate about Ellen, whose presence in New York is a constant reminder of his sacrifice.
Lurking beneath the plot are implications about the many social and cultural differences between America and Europe. Archer has a taste for literature, and since America at that time did not have much of a body of literature or even an identifiable culture for that matter, everything he reads is imported from Europe. Part of his attention to Ellen is due to her connection to and representation of the rich culture of Europe, while May, for all her wholesome goodness, represents to him the dull conventionality that is so much a part of the uncultured New York. (Henry James, a great influence on Wharton, explored a similar theme in "The Ambassadors.")
It's likely the snobbish society that Wharton describes so vividly still exists today, though maybe with different standards and "rules." Her prose once again is graceful and exact, portraying with admirable candor this cold, vicious, uninviting world as an arena of cruelty masked by gentility. Like Lily Bart in "The House of Mirth," Ellen Olenska is a product and a victim of the society of her time and her class, but fortunately unlike Lily, she manages not to let it destroy her.

The writing style is ok. I dislike the story and the characters. I couldn't feel any liking towards a single character. Newline Archer was the worst. I don't think he would have been happy with either of the women to be honest. Throughout I always felt like he was the kind of person who always lusts after the unattainable. Had he actually chosen to break off his engagement to May and start his life with the Countess, I'm sure in a couple of years he'd have regretted it and started acting condescending and making HER feel like he made such a huge sacrifice to be with her. He's such an annoying martyr of a character. In what actually happened, yes he stayed with May. I think he quite successfully convinced himself too that he stayed because he was loyal and honoured his promises and what not, but in reality he was just a weak man, scared to take control of his life. And because he didn't want to face up to the fact that he was weak and scared, he convinced himself that he was doing the "honourable" thing.

The Age of Innocence is a book that modern readers will perhaps find hard to appreciate. Not so much from the writing itself -- Edith Wharton is one of the masters of literary craft and this book won her the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921. Rather, modern readers, raised in an age of independence and the anti-hero, where cultural standards are routinely smacked down with a hammer, may just not understand or have patience for the conflicts and dilemmas raised in the book. In exquisite detail, Edith brings the cultural boundaries, customs, and mores of upper class New York in the 1870s to life, primarily through the relationships between Newland Archer, May Welland, and Ellen Olenska. The characters are conflicted by having to balance restrictions and customs of their class, and their feelings of duty and honor, against human emotions of love and passion. I think modern readers should really give this book a chance, as it offers a rare insight into a world long forgotten, and if only for that, it deserves to be read.

"...people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes", except the behavior of those who gave rise to them." Edith Wharton "The Age of Innocence"

The realm of high society in 1870's New York was a world that was much more sated with hypocrisy and odious ostentation than of innocence. Most of the main characters in this classic made my stomach turn, talk about a bunch of phony, self-important, affected aristocrats. However, what really made this Pulitzer Prize winner so enjoyable for me is the main female character - Countess Ellen Olenska. What a wonderful creation! She is not the least bit pretentious (she actually treats her maid as an equal and friend) and possesses a genuine, compassionate heart of gold. She had the courage to stand alone and be her own person, despite being ostracized from her inner circle.

The story centers upon the upcoming marriage of one of N.Y.'s elite couples - Newland Archer and May Welland - and the free spirited Ellen, who has all of upper-class society in an uproar since separating from her abusive husband. For in their myopic world, divorce is not an option and most of her family and friends believe she should go back to her husband despite all the unhappiness he has caused her with his persistently perfidious ways. Ellen's arrival also abruptly shakes the fragile foundation of Archer and May's union. For when Archer first meets the Countess, his life and his future dreams suddenly change drastically. For the first time in his life, Ellen helps him see how truly trapped he is in his superficial world.

This may be a fictional novel, and it may take place in a different era and place, but the world of the privileged class hasn't changed all that much in today's American society. Bottom line, Edith's attention to detail is dead-on accurate when depicting the singular, shallow world of the elite. This is the first Wharton novel I have ever read, however, as a fan of Naturalism (i.e. Zola, Maupassant, Dreiser, Steinbeck, et al...) I knew I had to give her a shot. Needless to say, I was not disappointed in the least. I really enjoy her witty style and also the empathy she showed toward the plight of her characters, particularly her main protagonist Newland Archer and his shallow wife May.

Definitely recommended!!!

This is a book into which I can dip at any moment. The characters are drawn so clearly that they do not disappear into stereotype but instead are constantly surprising the reader with nuances no matter the number of reads.

Newland Archer is the prototype of a man caught between the world of his head and the world of his heart. While he is drawn to Countess Olenska, he is too aware of the consequences of following that attraction. The true wonder of this book is the subtle characterization of May Welland, the innocent cast between the star-crossed lovers. Both rigid in her adherence to the rules of her class and blind to subterfuge around her, the revelation of her depths, her understanding and her compassion offer the reader a full picture of how love, in its many forms, shapes lives.

The writing is exemplary. Both properly archaic and achingly familiar, it draws in the reader, pulling back the curtains on a world so immersed in duty and tradtion and secrecy as to make the reader feel a part of the structure.

I read it periodically, enjoying the pacing, the language and the heartbreak a million times over.

The Age of Innocence is a book written out of the most uppity, and conceded, part of society in the New York around the 1870's. The society is one that what you wear, whom you are seen with and what your family is like makes up what you are like. It almost annoyed me read of the tragic circumstances in which they lived. There was no originality; there were no thoughts. Any new ideas were squashed in their infancy and conformed to a strict set of rules and codes of conduct. Wharton introduces us as readers to a mass of people who live life but do not truly experience life. The one exception to this is the Countess Olenska and Newland Archer, to a certain extent. The countess comes to New York from a battered marriage, everyone formulates an opinion about her and she is treated well on the surface but no one really cares about here. Newland is the only one in the society who cares. He is kind of my hero in the book because even though he doesn't totally break the code of traditionalism, he flirts with its boundaries. These two characters are the only reasons that I enjoyed the book. They represent the modern movement. They are the ones who feel that the traditional way is not always the best way. Even though Newland eventually conforms to tradition, he truly experiences how life might be if he broke the traditions. The Age of Innocence represents a constant personal struggle. The main conflict is fought within the confines of Newland's head. He struggles with the decision to either follow his heart or his idea of what is right. To be truthful I was upset with how the book ended; however this gives more strength to its message because it is more practical. If you enjoy reading books that excite you, that move you, and that uplift you, then this book is probably not for you. In this book, Newland struggles inside himself; it is a slow moving conflict that takes all the pages of the book to develop. However, though it is a slow moving conflict it does develop very well. We can truly see the change take place in the thoughts of Newland, however it disappoints me to see his actions stay the same. I enjoyed the book for its quality of writing and I believe that other readers would enjoy it for the same qualities. In conclusion, the Age of Innocence was a well-written novel that is somewhat slow moving but a good read nonetheless.

This is the last major novel of Edith Wharton (1862-1937). She was a New York writer who moved to France in 1910; and, she wrote six well-known novels starting with "The House of Mirth" in 1905. The present novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1921 for best novel. I bought and read the Penguin Classics Red version. My version had the text only and there was no analysis. The edition posted here for sale has additional comments. The red version is slightly cheaper and from what I can determine ít is the same novel. The 363 pages are a fairly quick read and I read it in two evenings. The prose is straightforward and there are not too many characters. It is a well-constructed novel, i.e.: it is medium length, it has a good plot with interesting characters, well balanced, and it has some mystery.

The setting for the novel is a bit reminiscent of Henry James or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Wharton's characters are a bit more level headed and easy going than those writers. The characters do not go through violent swings of emotion as one sees with the Fitzgerald characters.

Without giving away the plot, the story is set in 1870s New York, among the wealthy social families. It is a love triangle among three wealthy people: two women and one young man. The man is Newland Archer, a young New York lawyer. She describes their balls and dinners and nights out at the opera. We follow them to Boston and out into the country on vacations and weekends off. There are no "common folk" here among the characters. They are all in a few related and wealthy families.

The novel is very well written. It is clear, concise, and it is an interesting and a compelling read. She generates enough interest to keep our attention throughout. Once you start to read, one will look forward to getting back to the novel during breaks. The main three figures are sympathetic characters and mostly an interesting story.

Wharton has an easy going and clear style that is easy to read. Most will enjoy this novel.

I recommend the read: 5 stars.

Edith Wharton revisits and scrutinizes the New York high society she grew up in in this novel of love, social expectations, and class boundaries. Newland Archer-the central figure in the novel- is torn between a woman who represents tradition (and never questions the social order) and the woman he loves, who challenges the limits of society's tolerance, and seems oblivious in doing so. Throughout the novel, Archer is beseiged by thoughts of following his heart, but is drawn by propiety to never break with tradition. One is reminded of "The House of Mirth", another great work by Wharton, in which the central character's social blunder in the first chapter of the novel results in an irreparable decline into the lower classes.
Not only does Wharton enlighten the reader on the social codes of conduct during "The Age of Innocence", but she also fills the novel with the dress codes, dining codes, and proper codes of etiquette which were so important in the daily lives of the members of New York's high society. This stunning attention to detail really takes the reader to a different time and place, and it's a fascinating journey.

This classic novel won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. This tale is centered around the social life of the upper class in New York City starting in the 1870's. It was also made into a film in 1992. The principle character is a young lawyer, Newland Archer, who becomes the fiance of May Welland. However, just before the engagement is announced, he meets May's cousin Ellen Olenska. Social taboos in New York society cause her to be nearly ostracized (she is separated from a dissolute Polish count). Archer is intelligent enough to be aware of his position in the society in which he moves. He falls in love with Ellen but it is too late to withdraw his engagement to May. Now forced to marry May, he finds himself trapped by the conditions and conventions of society. The conventions of the society in which he has been raised prevents him from truly following his heart. Years later, after May has died, Newland visits Paris with his son. Ellen invites them to visit her. At the last moment, he sits on the street outside her apartment and sends Dallas, his son, in alone. Apparently, though he is now free, he prefers his ideal vision of the Ellen of his past rather than the reality of the present. He slowly walks away without seeing her. This book is one of the top novels of the twentieth century.

The story is great. Unfortunately, the audio book will not download to my new Kindle Fire 8, so I can't listen to it. It may be the Kindle's fault (it is pretty awful, see my previous review) or it could be Audible's, but in any event Audible DOES NOT provide a way to report a problem or request a refund. Or if they do, it is very well-hidden and I haven't been able to find it. My advice would be to just the read the novel and forget about the audio. It's sad to see the store's once great quality sinking so low of late.

Tragic and beautiful. My heart broke again and again for Newland as society forced him to bury his heart and keep it hidden. This same society that aimed to save his marriage at any cost succeeded only in keeping him married while ruining any chance he had at a joyful and fulfilling marriage. Twice he attempted honesty with May, desired only to confess and throw himself at her mercy, and twice he was prevented by the rules and edicts of society. What kind of love and grace and mercy might he have known if he had only been allowed to speak what was in his heart? What companionship might he and May have enjoyed if honesty had been allowed?

His son Dallas sees the truth and speaks it when he says, "No. You never did ask each other anything, did you? And you never told each other anything. You just sat and watched each other, and guessed at what was going on underneath." To be married and yet remain unknown by your spouse--now that is a tragedy.

This is a story set in the stifling atmosphere of upper-class turn of the century New York, where everyone does what they think others expect of them, and are more worried about appearances and `tradition' (though really, the city is till so young the traditions are relatively new) than what is right or good.
Newland Archer is engaged to marry May Welland, a young woman from the same social strata as himself. He then meets May's cousin Ellen Olenska, and falls in love, which is a major problem - not only is Newland expected to marry May, but Ellen is a married woman, who did the wrong thing and left her rich European husband. The story explores the attempts by Newland to break out from the expectation of society to be with the woman he loves, and how society and his own beliefs keep him reined in.
This story is a joy to read, not only for its narrative, but also because of Wharton's lush descriptions of the locations and rituals of New York life - she can make you feel that you know a house inside and out just by the way she writes about it. This book reminded me a lot of Anna Karenina - the same stifling societal rules that kept people from doing what they wanted in life, the same sumptuous settings. Only Age of Innocence is a lot shorter, and I have to say a lot more readable!

I've not read "classic" novels since I was in my early twenties, but I came across the Edith Wharton book "The Age of Innocence" which has recently been made into a film staring Michelle Pfeiffer, and it captured my attention. The book is a wonderful compendium of historical information on the social eccentricities of the upper class New Yorkers of the 19th Century of which Miss Wharton had been a part in her younger years. The narrative is delightfully and colorfully written and reads quickly. Since I have lived in NYC myself, it was especially enjoyable reading about the early days of the old city, and the addition of 19th century pageantry made it doubly so. As to the centerpiece romance of the book, I found it to be nearly non-existent, but then I am a woman of the 20th and 21st Century. Where much of what occurs in the book must have seemed "steamy," "sensuous," and "adventurous" by the standards of the time during which the action takes place, I can't help but wonder if it would have seemed tame even to the readers of the roaring 20s when the book was first penned. It is in the subtle disclosure that there are limitations in life and that those in our environment have a measure of control over how we live it and that this is probably a good thing, that the author's genius is discovered, and it is obviously in recognition of this genius that the Pulitzer was presented to Miss Wharton, the first woman to receive the prestigious award. In Newland Archer, the author creates a wonderful character who believes he is confronted with the prospect of a dull life of "duty" with an unimaginative but beautiful wife. A youthful rebellion against this stasis arises when he is confronted with a mysterious countess, the cousin of his wife. Ellen Olenska is all any romantic young man could hope for: a damsel in distress, a woman of the European tradition at once bored by convention but delighted by the simplicity of straight-laced New York ways. She is sexually exciting by virtue of her unobtainability, and he spends much of his time in pleasant fantasy over her for most of his life. The book has the same gentle wit and charm of movies like the Fourposter Bed, the Ghost and Mrs Muir, Life with Father, Cheaper by the Dozen and other films set in the same time period and social milieu. For anyone who enjoys an enjoyable visit to a quieter, "simpler" time, the time of our grandparents and great grand parents, this is a wonderful vacation.

Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence is a stunning tale of love and loss, entangled in the superficial New York society of the 1870s. The novel focuses on Newland Archer and his conflict between his love for unconventional Countess Olenska and his devotion to "nice" May Welland, his betrothed. The interactions of the characters are beautifully written, but the plot drags in some parts. Countess Olenska's mystery and scandal is introduced early causing the reader to be intrigued about her fate. On the other hand, May is the canon New York young woman. She adheres to society's binding rules, and consequently never fully develops an inquisitive mind like Olenska's. Archer's strong and often feministic opinions overshadow May's almost boring character. He wants May to know of the world and be an independent thinker. My favorite character is Madame Olenska because she is feisty, passionate, and unconventional. She and Newland fall in love after he's already announced his engagement to her cousin, May. My favorite aspect of the story is Newland's internal struggle between what he desires and what society wants for him because it is fast paced and lively, compared to the external plot. This book is for the patient reader because the plot moves slowly. The story's hold on me was from my desire to know if Newland ended up with May or Countess Olenska. This conflict was the only thing that kept me intrigued. New York society's haughty and hypocritical attitude enraged me because it was hindering Countess Olenska's happiness with Archer. Though I feel the plot could have been livelier, I still recommend this book. The unfolding of Archer and Countess Olenska's intricate relationship and character make the novel worth plodding through. I suggest this book to anyone who enjoys 19th century romance and complicated internal struggles in the characters. The story has its ironic and comical parts as well. For example, it is ironic that the women parade the façade that they are innocent and pure, but actually complain and gossip. These situations help liven the tiresome plot. However, if you did not like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I doubt that you will appreciate this story because it moves at a much slower pace. It can also be frustrating because society forbids Countess Olenska and Newland Archer to act upon their love for each other. Despite these problems, I still recommend the book because of its strong message against superficiality. Through the characters, Wharton depicts how complicated life becomes when you are not honest with yourself and those around you. Therefore The Age of Innocence is an emotional novel that will leave you frustrated, upset, and filled with awe.

All of Edith Wharton's books about New York society are, of course, a glimpse of an older society for us. The Age of Innocence stands out, however, because it was a nostalgic book for Edith Wharton. She wrote this book after World War I and looked back at an earlier age. Interestingly, this makes the book more rather than less resonant today. It resonates because we read this book mainly to see what society was once like. And Edith Wharton was writing for the same purpose--although for her it was more of a trip down memory lane. We struggle between rooting for characters to break free from social constraints that have since passed away and thinking that maybe these constraints created a happier society. I got the sense that Wharton was doing the same thing.
The book tells the story of Newland Archer who is engaged to May. May's cousin, Countess Olenska, comes to town escaping from a bad marriage. Countess Olenska grew up in New York but moved to Europe. She loves the newness and rationality of the New World, but has Old World mystery around her. Newland is quickly intrigued by her.
The rest of the book revolves around the triangle of May, Newland and the Countess. It often focuses on the mores of the society, the attempts of the Countess to become at home in New York, May's attempts to be good to her cousin and yet make a good marriage with Newland and Newland's struggle between his background in society and his rational view that that society's rules should be cast aside.
I would, however, recommend reading this more for the view of New York than for the plot. One example: we quickly accept the view that Newland, his family and his relations are the pinnacle of New York society. However, Wharton throws us a curveball. Newland goes to the van der Luydens to ask a favor. And we learn that Newland is really not at the pinnacle of society. The van der Luydens stand on another level and Newland's tier of society exists at the heels of this society. Throughout the book, Wharton gives us similar little nuggets of what American society once was like.
I sincerely recommend this book.

Newland Archer is engaged to May-old New York's most desirable debutante. Then May's cousin, Countess Olenska, arrives in New York and May's charms seem contrived in comparison. Archer wants the Countess Olenska, but he lacks the courage to bring the relationship to fruition. Thus a whole lifetime of love is missed and mourned.

There is much to be admired in Wharton's story of an unhappy marriage in old New York. But I must have spent too long in New Zealand because I find myself agreeing whole heartedly with Kiwi Katherine Mansfield's Katherine Mansfield's Short Stories (Norton Critical Edition) 1920 Athenaeum review of this book-the characters in The Age of Innocence were "mere portraits" and I did not "grow warm in a gallery where the temperature is so sparkling cool". A whole book devoted to a few meager expressions of passion was stifling. And when I say meager, I mean meager. The peak-a wanton, uncontrolled, passion fueled expression of love between Archer and the Countess Olenska is always in dim view, but no one wants to dare make the trek to the summit and live with the consequences. Archer, May and the Countess Olenska live in a beautiful world, but it owns them. You keep hoping for inroads into these stifling characters, some human weakness, but they all refuse to drink the wine. It's refreshing to read a book where people are more than slaves to biological passions, but these characters still sell their souls for money, title, position and the respect of people they scant respect themselves. Ultimately this is a book about opportunities missed not because of circumstances, but because the players never had the courage to express their love. It's a good story, but Wharton's writing may be just as full of the "faint implications" and "spare delicacies" that she accuses her characters of having.

A good read, but not one of my favorites. I found the text a little spare.

The Scorsese film The Age of Innocence does an excellent job of bringing this story to the screen and is highly recommended.

I don't read books twice, at least not often. This is one of the few and the only one if you omit children's books! It is a book that struck deep into my heart and made me re-read passages just to marvel at the prose, the wisdom, and the simple elegance of Edith Wharton's narrative of the human condition. I literally wept as the sad tale of impossible love unfolds. It is a credit to Wharton's writing that her characters press onward and take their defeat with grace and class, therein making this bittersweet novel more honest, both intellectually as well as romantically.
I can not say that you will like this, although if you have read Ethan Frome, you will be familiar with the gift Wharton has for skipping the sugar-coating and allowing the reader some credit. This is one of only a handful of novels that have moved me on a deep level. That may not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me.

Wharton's The Age of Innocence is well worth reading. However, one should be advised this book is definitely a women's novel, to be savored by women particularly, not by men. (Before all the feminists shout, I am a 43-year-old, married man whose favorite authors are all women, not women who write like men, just excellent authors who happen to be women, with one exception, Truman Capote. Enough said about that... I happen to think women make the best physicians and writers, primarily due to their feminine perception and ability to deal with and describe human sentiments.)
The basic plot, swept of all other subplots and twists, is essentially soap-opera at its very best. Yet, when you add the subplots and the outstanding literary skill wrought together with artful insight into New York aristocracy toward the end of the 19th century, you have a wonderful book.
Some readers may find the first six to eight chapters dreadfully descriptive and needlessly detailed. For some these chapters may appear endless. Stick with it; the novel is worth it. On the other hand, for those who love detailed descriptions of attire, protocol, architecture, mores, styles, etc. of old aristocratic New York, the first several chapters are a highlight.
Once the plot is established and begins rolling along, the novel is most entertaining. Furthermore, the many insights into basic human nature Wharton reveals through her great writing makes for an outstanding novel.
Do read it. If you are particularly interested in learning more about New York, or aristocracy at its height in America, or great American woman writers, this is a must read.

For general readers Wharton has constructed a book that is everything the other reviewers here claim for it regarding their enjoyment of it.

For a writer, as in my case, I needed more than entertainment.

I read Age of Innocence as a source of information on the era Wharton knew so well - Old New York and Newport in the Gilded Age. For that purpose I found it outstanding indeed. But Wharton's selection of characters and the plot suggested a lot more reading would be valuable. I started with her latest biography by Herminone Lee, a striking work in itself. (Knopf, 2007.) I recommend it to anyone interested in Wharton. This aroused curiosity as to the extent Wharton's life may have contributed to her selection of material and her dark brown treatment of it. She always seems to be trying to get even with someone, as Louis Auchincloss has observed as well. He is must reading on Wharton. Curious on that point, I ended up reading at least two dozen books that I would not normally read, such as Henry James, parts of Balzac, another reading of Madame Bovary, even Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, which I thought was more soundly written than Age of Innocence. It certainly was a lot happier book.

I was disturbed by Age of Innocence, especially it's conclusion. Other professional writers have told me of a similar reaction. One, a lady friend of my wife's, who is a highly successful writer of mysteries, said, "When I got to the end I simply screamed!" Figuratively, so did I.

Tastes in books are obviously subjective. I tend to history and biography. Neither I, nor anyone else, is qualified to criticize Wharton simply based on individual taste. But there is a fair basis of more objectively considering her work: her own book about how to write novels and short stories. After reading Age, I was surprised to find that, as a writer, I agree with almost everything Wharton wrote about the subject. She doesn't follow her own views in any of her writing that I have read and I have read a lot of it recently.

Wharton and I agree on the first principle of all good writing: "Write only about what you know about." Next in importance, and of equal weight are: (1) know your characters thoroughly (2) keep characters in character (3) after that turn them loose and let them write the plot in interaction with each other and don't meddle. This was Mailer's approach, but there are striking contrasts in approach that produced sterling writing, such as Steinbeck (his Winter of Our Discontent is a masterpiece of plotting). (4) avoid contrived situations which always involve unsound motivation (an annoying offense that almost every reader will catch, since people are basically logical). There are many more good rules to follow, such as avoiding Acts of God (the Deus ex Machina of Greek drama.) Instead let the characters get into their own scrapes due to their own limitations and out by their own ingenuity. If she had not ignored her own rules and allowed her two main characters to step out of character, Age would have demanded a different ending.

Therefore, judged by herself, I think Age of Innocence and many other of her works flunk the course.

I promise to be brutally honest with my opinion, but it should not be taken as fact. Any reader should read it for themselves, before they decide if this book has any merit or not. Do not judge this book biased solely on my opinion. If you do, you might miss out on a great read. You never know. It could happen.

1. Strong Main Character/ Female Heroine: Newland Archer is an aggravating male protagonist. He is a man that talks the talk, but will not walk the walk. He is a hypocrite. He loves to talk about society and how messed up it is, but he never does anything to change it. He never challenges society. He lets it control him, even as his mind is saying that he is overcoming it. He is not. He is just accepting that society rules his life, because he lets it. He is a coward and a romantic. He loves the idea of challenging the societal norms, but he does absolutely nothing to that effect. He loves the idea of things, but not the actual doing or outcome of it. In the beginning of the novel, the narrator calls him a dilettante. It really describes Newland very well, because he is never going to be a man and stand up for himself and the ones that he loves. If I lived back when this novel first came out, I might have enjoyed it more, but as is, I like really strong character, who overcome authority, not characters that let other people walk all over them. 3 out of 5 stars

2. Strong Minor Characters: May is a devious little thing that the reader does not see working her magic, until the book is half over. Then, the reader sees all the little things that May does to trap Newland into marriage. She is not the innocent little sweet May that everyone talks about, who is so pretty and naive. She is none of these things. She may be beautiful, but she is as ugly as fat old Mrs. Mingott. She likes to control Newland without seeming to and she guilt trips him into doing everything that she wants. She is able to switch around his words into something else. Into something that he did not mean or say. Ellen is the wild, feisty married woman that he wishes he could marry; however, he makes hundreds of mistakes making it impossible for them to be together. Ellen is not as wild as he thinks her to be. She is actually very normal and the only thing that makes her wild is living in Europe, marrying a Count, and wanting a divorce. These are the only things that make her wild in New York society. Newland romanticizes her wildness in his mind, so that he cannot separate the Ellen of his fantasies with the real Ellen. 4 out of 5 stars

3. The Setting: Old New York society is a very interesting place, especially with the mix of old money with the new. It reminds me of the roaring twenties, even though this is the middles 1800s and not 1920. I love discovering all the different places all over the east coast of the United States and even parts of Europe. I got to travel without ever leaving my bedroom. Only a true novelist could ever achieve that. 5 out of 5 stars

4. The Plot: The underlying plot will come to readers after finishing the whole entire book and discussing it in a college course will definitely help you figure it out, but I had it figured out before class, you any dedicated reader can, too. I do not want to give anything more else away, but there are many layers of plot to this book that there is not just one answer. There are many answers based off of experience and level of education. Everyone reads a novel differently and everyone gets something different out of the same book. This is why I write reviews. 4 out of 5 stars

5. The Artwork: The cover is sweet and has an old timey feel. It perfectly matches the plot of the book. The only improvement that I would suggest is adding Newland of the cover, because it is really his age of innocence that Wharton speaks of. 4 out of 5 stars

6. The Writing: The writing is beautiful and exquisite. I have always loved the style of Wharton. She reminds me so much of Jane Austen, except Wharton's characters have a more realistic demise that does not end with a happy ending for all of her characters. I was not at all intimidated by all of the big words. Since I am an English major, I knew a lot of the words already and the ones that I did not know, I looked up. You really boost your vocabulary and I know that I will be using some of these newly discovered words on my assessment paper. I think I learned about 500 new words are so...maybe less, but there abouts. Any English major or enjoyer of old English will enjoy this novel by Wharton, although her best was The House of Mirth. 4 out of 5 stars

7. The Dialogue: I love the dialogue. No one says what they really mean and you have to try to discover what they really mean. It is a detective game that will have you guessing throughout the entire novel. I enjoy having to figure characters out and the dialogue helps to show how complicated and three dimensional all of the characters truly are. 5 out of 5 stars

Overall, I give this novel 4 stars. I would read another book by Wharton, because so far, I have really enjoyed her books. She is a nice change from Jane Austen, when I have feeling depressed and want my characters to suffer. In Wharton's books, they always seem to.

I read this and The House of Mirth in college mostly out of curiosity about how the "other half"(1%?) lives. Both appeared to be brilliant re-creations of a time and a place. Because Edith Wharton was such a superior novelist, both readings (then and now) convinced me that she was also an accurate reporter---that the types of incidents, customs, and the motivations she reported were truthful.

The first time I read, I concluded that her New Yorkers were primarily dedicated to retaining their money which was, after all, the basis of their position. Also, they needed to define themselves as a limited club, not letting their group grow too large (Jew and nouveau riche kept in their places on the fringes). But new fortunes were being made as new opportunities arose and capitalism demands places for innovators. They needed to prove that money, by itself, was not enough. They claimed superior refinement and a cultural facade to ward off competition.

But why, I asked myself, place such social strictures on themselves? They were able to enjoy easy lives, why not just enjoy? And this is what, I believe, makes Wharton timeless: they needed the legitimacy that elites always seek to become an(even limited) ruling class. Europe's kings and nobles (who often initially gained their ascendancy through banditry) claimed divine right, to be passed on by birth. But America had no royalty, and proclaimed itself dedicated to democracy. How to make their place at the top? They could buy refined objects and learn and (and pass down) refined manners. They could achieve culture through philanthropy. Not being able to rely on birth or even a long history, they needed a further rationale to identify themselves as rulers. They chose, from our Puritan beginnings, moral superiority. They would provide moral standards for all the under classes to aspire to while telling themselves they had earned their position through their sacrifices.

Edith's breakout book discuss one's tension between following one's heart to love whomever one fancies and loyalty to societal expectations, rules, and values. Particualar Ccase in point: Newland Archer.

Torn by his loyalty to his wife-to-be, May Welland, who repesents tradition and stability of Old New York society and the soon-to-be divorcee, Ellen Olenska, who represents the worldly bohemian life of the Old World, spontanaiety, and freedom from societal inhibitions and rules. Mr. Archer has a major dilemma since he's possess progressive and conservative views. He has very progressive views on art, literature, politics, etc., while at the same time have conservative views on romance and family. It's the dilemma of most upper class and professional men back then. It's still is even in these progressive and liberal times that is the 21st century. We still subscribe to "the chaste ideal." according to Ben Affleck after the famous breakup with J.Lo. Most men want stability and tradition in their lives. They also want to have families. Therefore, most men prefer the "May Welland" type over the outspoken, outlandish, and unpredictable "Ellen Olenska".

Back to the real issue at hand: the romantic choices of Newland Archer. Newland wants to have it both ways. He wants to marry May to save face while having Ellen as his secret lover. Knowing that New York society frowns on such things, Ellen decides to leave New York for Europe, thereby cancel such possiblity. In the meantime, Newland became a devoted husband to May until her death.

One can see why it is a classic bestseller because it has been rattling around in my mind so deeply. The story is well constructed and the writing has been proven by the test of time. But, oh, so depressing, so barren, so painfully staid. These issues are still so prevalent the book is timeless. A must read for any thoughtful person, IMHO.

This is a stunning masterpiece of American literature. Wharton reaches the heights achieved by England's George Eliot in Middlemarch. Age of Innnocence is considered one of the top 100 novels in the English language and I heartily agree. The novel is set in the Golden Age of New York high society in the 1870's. Like Middlemarch, manners and rigid conformity assure success. Love is an anomaly.
Newland Archer, rich and well-connected, is poised to marry May Welland. She is beautiful, suitable and pure. In fact she is compared to a Diana, goddess of the hunt. This is the virgin archetype, untouchable, pure and only desirable from a distance. Archer meets her scandalous cousin, the Countess Olenska. Olenska has committed the unforgivable and left her husband for another man. She is taboo. She is also older, wiser and sexual (more taboos.) Archer is irrestibly drawn to her and thus forms the conflict for the rest of the novel.
No one of her era writes of toxic marriages better than Wharton; she had her own tragic marriage to a man who used her fortune to set up a house for his mistress. And don't forget Wharton's equally famous novel Ethan Frome, about another toxic marriage that ends in grief.
Good news,by the way; Wharton's home in Lennox, MA, the Mount, is being restored. It's home to a resident theater that does some brilliant Shakespeare. If you have a chance to go, do so. It's a wonderful experience.

This was one and still remains one of my favorite books from college. If you've seen the movie you might be misled into thinking this is a romance, which it's not, as most respectable English teachers would be quick to tell you. However, the truth be told is that it actually does work on a romance level too if that's what one is looking for. Wharton's descriptions bloom like spring flowers, and her understanding of how the young feel when they are in love is dead-on accurate.

More than a romance, I would call it one of those truly literary works as its themes, which mainly have to do with class hierarchy and its ridiculously arbitrary rules, are so meticulously and carefully developed that the theme, story, and characters truly become a seamless whole.

Wharton is truly one of the 20th century writers, and I expect her light to continue to shine brighter as the years go by. I'd also like to add that House of Mirth is another spectacular book that is far better than the movie (not that I've minded any of Wharton's movie adaptations--they are better than most.) So for crafty storytelling, beautiful imagery, and an eye for subtle satire you've come to the right author.

This is a book I have heard about for years so was rather surprised to find it rather tedious and boring.... BUT there were some very funny quotes here and there, a few made me laugh out loud. But, alas, not enough to read it from cover to cover when there are so many really well written books out there. This is a story again about the rich with little to nothing to do but envy others and waste time from day to day making others with less fortune feel left out or needy... a silly and not very original story/book.

"The Age of Innocence" is a wonderful read on many levels for all kinds of readers. It shouldn't just appeal to "literature" buffs but also to romance readers, those interested in history or psychology, and anyone looking for an interesting and involving story.
Wharton weaves an intriguing tale of New York society in the late 19th century, where old ways have not yet made way for "modern" views, but it's evident that it is only a matter of time. For example, what would have been considered socially unacceptable in Newland and May Archer's time, such as marrying your mistress after your wife dies, is perfectly alright by the time May and Newland's son, Dallas, is ready to marry. Dallas is to marry the daughter of the previously mentioned union, demonstrating that by the early 20th century, the old social conventions of Old New York have gone by the wayside. Unfortunately this didn't happen in time for Newland and the Countess, and in fact, it appears that he wishes that everything could remain the same as it was in his youth, which is seen by his reaction to Countess Olenska at the end of the novel.
What makes the book truly great, though, is Wharton's detail of EVERYthing, from how a dinner was served, to an evening at the opera, and more. It's almost impossible not to enter the mind of the characters; they are so completely and complexly developed that this book should be required reading for every writer!
I really give this book 4 1/2 stars; the only reason it isn't 5 stars is because the ending was a little disappointing to me, although it was quite in keeping with the characters and the story. We tend to satisfy our curiosity as soon as possible, but a hundred years ago one had to look at other issues as more important than personal satisfaction.

I received a complementary copy for a honest review.

From finding the traitors and their happiness only to loose it again. Will Brandford and Alexandra find the happiness they both worked so hard for.
As with the books before this one in the series, Shay has brought more their story to life, and look forward to the next and last book in the series.

While reading the first fifty pages of this edition, I wondered how I would ever finish the book. Much of the prose lingered on fashion terminology that I simply did not understand, and didn't have the patience to explore the extensive end-notes of this edition to educate myself.

Having now become so intimately familiar with all the characters described in that section, I am tempted to reread it with the notes: I do wish, however, that B&N had opted for extensive footnotes rather than end-notes...the footnotes are so much easier to read.

The story itself is very rewarding, and Newland's son's report in the last chapter of why May knew Newland would be a terrific father was one of the most moving pieces of dialogue I have ever read.

If you have difficulty with the first 50 pages, join the club. The novel *will* reward your effort.

This book paints a fantastic portrait of the tightly controlling high society of the late 1800's New York and it's repression of individuality. Wharton tells the story of Newland Archer, a young man raised in this society, but who possesses a unique ability to question the rules. During his engagement to May Welland, he meets a woman of questionable background who knocks down the beliefs embedded in him through his upbringing. The story of their relationship and its effect on his marriage show the tensions in this society and how its members worked to preserve their culture. Early in the book, the abundant details of dress and decoration of the times become tedious, but Wharton's portrait of individuals, their thoughts, and how the society affected their life choices is masterful. An enjoyable and educational read.

Since I liked Ethan Frome and House of Mirth, Wharton was a sure thing. Hm . . . This is a Gilded Age high society love triangle with overblown language and syntax. The high class style is deadly dated. In fairness, there's probably some humor lost in era translation and any shock value has been long worn off.

I found the Age of Innocence to be an incredibly beautiful book. It has been a long time since I've read anything so masterfully written. It is a book that resonated with me on many levels and won't be forgotten very easily. The characters are wonderfully portrayed. It is a story of a romance that struggles against the norms and unwritten rules of the upper-class of NYC in the 1870's. More fundamentally though the book is also about the constraining/bounded environments/communities/affiliations that we all operate within. How some of us strive to breakout or go against the grain of these realms and take the associated risks. It is a novel of breaking free and seeking something more meaningful and deeper. It has my highest recommendation!

Generally I don't care for books written by anyone with an agenda. Now of course most self-serving and overwhelmingly too serious tomes aren't particularly worthwhile, those of partisans attacking their equal and opposite extreme. This book was surely written in a heightened and urgent time of deep disgust for the author. She had recently been divorced, ending a loveless marriage to someone history tells us (now, in hindsight and considering the superior accomplishments of his former wife) was something of a jerk. Edith sat down in those moments of disillusion mired in a confusing, overwhelming state of newfound personal freedom and ranted out this smart, funny and throughly entertaining book about how stupid and petty she believed some of her contemporaries and ancestors to be.

It doesn't matter whether we agree with Wharton's viewpoint or not--that isn't necessary to enjoy this book. One of the criticisms of male authors of this era (and prior as well as today) is that they are unable to represent realistic female characters. In most cases this is true, but it is also true with their male characters--self-serving drones who stand in for self-important authors. It was the rare author who was frequently overpraised for somehow 'understanding' women (I am thinking specifically here of Henry James) as if the author-as-God would be otherwise unable to know the thoughts of their creations. The truth is that someone like James and, more to the point here, someone like Edith Wharton, were wonderful character profilers. Wharton's male characters are very true-to-life considering the limitations of the world they exist in. Her female characters seem more to be like cardboard with the obvious exceptions of the primaries. Wharton's agenda, here, regardless of what various generations of literary types of forced onto the meaning of this novel, appears to be quite simply an attack on the world she grew up in. Now this is of course the usual path for self-conscious and self-important writers struggling over their first or second novels and using the often fragmented premises of their own lives as some sort of baited self-therapy exercise, but with Wharton there is something different in her execution. Perhaps it is because she managed to lose herself in the varying paths of her characters and understood the realities of telling a story that she was able to get away from many of the excesses of this usually annoying genre of self-exposure. Maybe she was just a better writer than all of these whining and silly ladies who worship/imitated her repeatedly and timelessly only in their own vision they supplied a shrill sort of political statement believing that their godmother would somehow approve.

I know that I somehow got off track of reviewing this mostly excellent book--four and a half stars more likely for its constant and beautiful evocation of a world gone by, rounded down, simply, because so many other people attempt to prove the validity of their own inhibitions based on a personal connection to something vague they misread in a book that had nothing to do with them.

Recommended with a huff of enthusiasm and an irritable reply to anyone who imagines they truly understand the rage Ms. Wharton was speaking of--

"The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton could not have been drier, slower, or more hypnotic-as in being able to put one to sleep. This is a knock-off of Jane Austen's novels, which I also find tedious. There seems to be no substance nor a discernible plot.

I went into this book knowing nothing except that it took place in NYC and was published in 1920. I can say it was the most surprisingly wonderful book I have read in a long time. The world that Wharton creates is so vivid, and her observations so sharp that there were times I couldn't believe what I was reading. The plot is well documented and it is true that character development is more important in her work than plot development, but that is not to diminish the interest and pacing of the story. Every scene advances the plot while at the same time reveals more details about the characters, their world and Wharton's opinions about humans in any time. The two page preamble about "Old New York's" social codes when traveling abroad is absolutely hilarious, written with such warm and forgiving sarcasm that there is almost no character that you are not interested in. As the book gets deeper, the relationship between the individuals and society become so much richer and intricate that the central story between Newland, Ellen and May is overlaid and almost marginalized by the actions, stresses and diplomacy of their New York Society. Its hard to describe how wonderful this book is, with every page teeming with sentences you will want to read over again and moments you will want to stop and think about. From the first page it manages a tone that is light, sure and sharp. Amazing, amazing book.

It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty.

Could not download it. Have not used my kindle for several years and found it no longer accepted downloads. Followed all updating directions unsuccessfully, multiple times, a couple of frustrating hours! Therefore I'm stuck, for now at least. However, SILAS MARNER is a great book and I recommend it.

An engrossing world depicted so masterly I can still see the paintings on the walls, the flowers on the piano and feel the thick carpet under my feet as I enter the Wellands' drawing room. Or, I can feel the bohemian untidiness and comfort of Countess Olenska's sitting quarters. More than that, one can hear hearts beating wildly and breath sucked in in an emotional startle. Edith Wharton is a master artist and the Age of Innocence is deep and thought provoking for what it evokes about the ravages of time, the restraints of duty and the incomprehensible logic of the human heart. It is also a perfect window into the class and culture of New York's elite at the turn of the century.

Edith Wharton was the first woman author to win a Pulitzer Prize.She won for this novel in 1920.If you do not like period pieces, detailed language, and vivid descriptions I urge you to stay away from this masterpiece.It is a thoroughyly engrossing read.Edith Wharton herself endured an unhappy marriage, and it has been speculated upon that Newland Archer is actually herself.This book has held up completely well.Not recommended for the nonromantics, or the lovers of action, this novel is sheer genius.You feel the inertia of the times, the ridiculous wanting to fit into the New York society filled with hypocrisy.Truly a gem I could not put down.In my opinion, the film does depict the book rather well.

Edith Wharton is one of a handful of authors blessed with an extremely rich writing style. Her command of the English language is extraordinary. However she does not put this talent to its best advantage with this novel. More economical wording and, sorry to say, a better story would have been appreciated.
Having said this, I found her attention to detail on New York and its (forgotten) upper class society to be very absorbing. The film version of The Age of Innocence didn't (and probably couldn't) reflect this detail and, in comparison to the novel, seemed two-dimensional.
Finally, I would recommend The House of Mirth over this novel. While it doesn't discuss NY society in such detail, the overall story is much more moving and ... *personal* to the reader.

I knew I was going to like this novel when I read, on page 3, "...an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences."

And it did not disappoint. I won't repeat the detailed analyses here by others; I will only say that this novel is by common consensus a classic of literature, and that is no accident. It is worth your time, and then some.

Incidentally, as I write this (March 2010), the Folio Society has just issued a beautiful new edition of this book. If you like fine books, you can't do much better than a classic work in a Folio edition.

This book took a while to read as it's rather dry in places. As a matter of fact it was my not too exciting to keep reading before bedtime book. That is untill about half way through, then it got fairly exciting.. I believe it was written in the 20s and it is easy enough to read with having to toil through incomprehensible dated dialog and what not. Over all it paints and enjoyable image of late 1800s New York; what a foreign place it seems today!

I think the novel is simply brilliant and the story plot has been intricately weaved. I greatly admire the courage of Countess Olenska. Falling short of the glory of being socially accepted in New York society because of her divorce with the Count, she had the strength to stand firm in spite of the gossips going on around her. Always real and true in character, she never put on a facade to cover up her situation. One wonders what was really going on between her relationship with the Count. And society would tend to put the blame on her. But all these were clearly exemplified in how she dealt with the situation concerning Newland Archer. She refused to be the one drawn into a deceit of love, perhaps she gave in once due to the pressure given by Newland. Yet, in all these, she stood by integrity and fought against every possible temptation.
Edith Wharton did a excellant job in the potrayal of a woman of substance in Countess Olenska.

Even given the time in which it was written, Innocence still has relevance today. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the book, but it is described as a classic and I'll give any book a try. To my surprise I enjoyed the book immensely. I did struggle with terminology that is no longer used today, but the over all themes of love and choosing between happiness and obligations/responsibility/public appearance are ones we can relate to in the present. For people today it may not necessarily be choosing between two women/men, but rather love and career and the resentment you might feel over choosing one over the other.
The book can make readers feel anger, but also understanding towards the male character. I would hope I would be my spouses Olenska and not his May.

Edith Wharton gives us a glimpse behind late 19th Century American society and it mores. Newland Archer is torn between his fiance, May Welland, and the woman he loves, her cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska. May represents all that is proper and right but dull and loveless while Ellen flouts convention and is exciting and daring. Newland is prepared to leave it all behind when at the last minute Ellen departs for Europe. Newland stays with his now pregnant bride and decides to "fake it until he makes it" with his relationship with May. The final chapter occurs some 26 years later and as Newland reflects back over those 26 years, he finds that he has no regrets. When presented with an opportunity to re-connect with Ellen, Newland decides on a different path.

In our age of instant gratification and "if it feels good, do it" mentality, we have much to learn from Newland Archer.

This beautifully written book is definitely one of the best books of twentieth century as well as Edith Wharton's masterpiece. It is engrossing and exciting. The story is in Old New York, where life is so much different from our present life. The main charachter, Newland Archer, is engaged to marry his beautiful cousin May Welland. Then ,Countess Olenska , May's Europeanized cousin, steps into their life and stirs the educated sensivity of Newland Archer. Newland finds out his passion for the Countess, however it is too late now : the wedding is only a month off. The charachters are very interesting just like the plot!. May is identified with "Lilies -of -the-valley" , whereas Ellen Olenska is identified with more exotic flowers:Yellow Roses. Lilies of the valley symbolize May's innocence and purity while yellow roses symbolize Ellen's infidelity. As you travel through the pages of the book ,you'll visit another world: A world where women are wearing corsets, order their dresses from Paris and live in a world of velvet ,silk ,satin and finest cashmere. Where people go to Operas in carriages and watch them with their jewelled opera glasses.A world filled with balls and dinner parties.A world where people are unbelievably afraid of the smallest disgrace... Where society has rules as rigid as womens' corsets... The age of innocence will teach you that there is no age of innoscence.

Written about a time when form was far more important than substance. The stuffiness of the "society" and Archer's imprisioned life make it a tragedy...living his life out, but deeply caring for someone else. Yet t the end, his cup was filled, if not completely full.

This is a book that every generation should read, of a time that has long passed into obscurity.
Young and old alike can find enjoyment in the book.

The Age of Innocence is an exercise in ironic nostalgia. While ridiculing the hypocrisy, strictures, and sense of entitlement of turn-of-the-century New York aristocracy, Edith Wharton ends her novel with a modern world that is free of such twisted morality, but also devoid of passion, noble restraint, and appreciation of the human experience.

Couched in the first unappealing context is a tale of awkward love, with rough edges and misunderstood silences. Newland Archer, although married to May Welland, is drawn to her cousin Ellen Olenska. Ellen has a casual relationship with the petty proprieties of aristocratic New York, and his disillusionment with his marriage and society is matched by hers. Although rebels in spirit, Newland and Ellen are ultimately guided by a simple morality based on the very real consequences of human interactions.

The Age of Innocence provokes discussion by raising questions but rarely suggesting any answers. After savaging the strictures of old New York, Wharton leaves us with a gem of an observation that love, in fact, may be diluted by the modern freedoms we now enjoy:

"`The difference is that these young people take it for granted that they're going to get whatever they want, and that we almost always took it for granted that we shouldn't. Only, I wonder - the thing one's so certain of in advance: can it ever make one's heart beat as wildly?'"

Similarly, she not only questions those who pretend to be virtuous, but also the very virtues themselves.

"Archer felt irrationally angry. His host's contemptuous tribute to May's `niceness' was just what a husband should have wished to hear said of his wife. The fact that a coarse-minded man found her lacking in attraction was simply another proof of her quality; yet the words sent a faint shiver through his heart. What is `niceness' carried to that supreme degree were only a negation, the curtain dropped before an emptiness?"

May is virtuous by contemporary standards: she is modest, humble, soft-spoken, and kind. Yet these virtues form but a veil to hide the vacuity of her character. Intelligent enough to see through the hypocritical morality of her time, she has neither the desire to do so, nor the will to do anything but adhere to it herself. Yet the partially gender-segregated structure of society, combined with her evident virtues, make her an ideal spouse.

Definitions of virtue may have changed for us in our time, but the struggle between virtue and vacuity is a constant. Perhaps we should take a page out of Wharton's playbook: let us incessantly question that which we hold dear, lest it slip away.

Edith Wharton's novel is so rich with detail of the streets, customs, social anxieties, expectations, and quirks of late nineteenth century New York City that you feel as if you are transported back into the world of Newland Archer and the upper-crust society in which he dwells. Alongside of that, Wharton has written a moving portrait of a man who realizes too late that he wishes to break away from the customs of this society, and of the woman whom he feels is his spiritual equal, but whom he cannot ultimately have. It's timeless and quite simply, bittersweet and beautiful. Completely deserving of the Pulitzer.

This prolific writer was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize for literature. "The Age of Innocence," her twelfth novel, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921.

This well-formatted and beautifully illustrated novel is one of her most insightful analyses of the upper classes in New York's golden age. A story that is romantic and tragic, often ironic (as is the book's title), this is a fascinating record of another time.

Wharton is at the height of her powers here, this book affected me profoundly. I have read many of her others and while I throughly enjoyed House Of Mirth....Age of Innocence far surpassed it.

The prose and storyline has such a haunting,nostalgic and sad qaulity. Her using of Newland to protray just how much society had changed in since 1870 was masterful and done exceptionally.

The description of the way of life she records is breathtaking and at times almost unbelievable when a 21st century reader devours it. A novel not to be missed, to be savoured and read slowly.

Edith Wharton has a way with language that no other author ever has. Her tone and imagery is amazing. Her characters and subject matter lead you down a path that is memorable and entertainging. Newland Archer is a well mannered and sophisticated while still interesting. His marriage to well-breed May is expected, but it's those expectations that makes "Age of Innocence" so wonderful. The addition of the Countess is what drives this book. The senery is just wonderful and the description of every detail brings so much more to this fabulous novel. It's one of the best ever.

The Age of Innocence takes place in an elitist society in New York City. When I say "elitist", I don't mean that they were more educated, more gifted, or more able than others in society. This elitist society had nothing but pompous arrogance. It consisted of wealthy folks who were so caught up in appearance and reputation that they didn't know how to live. They become so preoccupied in their efforts to stay within the cultural norms, that they had no sense of discovery or originality. These attributes of society are displayed throughout the book, and Newland Archer is part of it. Young Archer is set to marry his sweetheart, May Welland, when May's cousin, Ellen Olenska enters their stuffy little community. Ellen does not conform to the "unspoken" rules of society, which makes her an immediate outcast and deviant. However, Newland Archer becomes infatuated with this "strange" young woman and begins to question the society in which he lives. Newland experiences a great internal struggle. He loves May, but his love and admiration of Ellen is of a different kind. His choices: stay with May and society or go off with Ellen, whom he truly loves, and be ostracized from society. To those of us who are free spirited the choice seems easy, but I wonder if we would have the courage to go against something that we have followed and upheld our entire lives. I'm about to spoil the story for those who have not read it yet...Though Newland feels an urge to step outside of the society which holds him hostage, he decides that he must stay within the boundaries of the society. He marries May and lives regretfully ever after. What can we learn from Young Archer's experiences? We are our own people and we are here to have joy and happiness. If we get our minds so clouded with what people think of us, we will become slaves to their opinions, hostages to their "unspoken" rules. This is not the way to find happiness. We find happiness through following our dreams, through being individuals. A society like the one in which Newland Archer lived is sure to fall, but an individual who has his own ideas, his own conscious, can stand forever.

Edith Wharton was (and still is) one of the greatest American authors to have lived. Her ability to capture the the ridiculous of the traditions her society clung to so desperately shows her forward thinking and liberal attitude towards life. The conflict Newland Archer goes through after meeting the Countess, the decision he must make between freedom and tradition is incredible. This book is not a blatant attack on society, but rather it is a foray into the interworkings of a man in a certain place at a certain time who must decide the course of his life; the choice between what is right in his head and what is right in his heart. The countess offers a world where there is the chance of something more, something different, at the expense of leaving his fiance, his family, his whole previous way of life. His struggle with this choice is eartbreaking, as is his decision in the end--and yet it is exactly what should have happened.

At the same time, it's also a story of a woman trying to find happiness in a world she does not completely understand, nor perhaps wish to understand. Countess Olenska is not a rebel, she is merely a woman ahead of her time. She desires a life where she makes the decisions, where she can have options beyond those traditionally given to her. Wharton's book is beautifully written and so incredibly natural, she doesn't preach, she doesn't push her agenda. She merely presents the facts as they are, the way life really operated in her time and her New York society and shows how people would truly and honestly react in these situations. Overall, this is one of the greatest books ever written and should be in everyone's library.

I preface this review with an admission: any and all of Edith Wharton's works so far are like candy to me. Once I start one of her books, it will take quite a while before I put it down.

Age of Innocence to me is like a good Monet painting. It is surreal, interesting and sad, and yet there are so many layers to it. How you interpret it and how you decipher it's layers, is the key to enjoying it. Her verse is also intricate, careful and precise.

Note of caution: The movie is much better after you've read the book. There is great meaning in the pregnant stares and the social layers of society, something that is not easily expressed in a two hour long movie.

A must-read if you're interested in New York's evolution from a provincial enclave to the bustling and diverse megalopolis it is now, although when you analyze the mentality of the elite, they weren't so different.

My last experience with Edith Wharton was "Ethan Frome" in high school nearly 40 years ago, a book I've forgotten entirely. On a hunch and because of its modest price ($20), I recently bought the "Age of Innocence" to listen to during my morning commute. What a stunningly sublime accident my small purchase turned out to be: This is beautifully rendered reading of "Innocence" that will captivate, thrill and, yes, even elevate the most literate. From the opening paragraphs you're immediately drawn into a 19th century New York opera house and dazzled with Wharton's rich, adroit descriptions of the performance and, most keenly, members of the audience sitting in their private boxes many of whom will become the novel's leading characters. Wharton paints chapter after chapter wtih brilliantly nuanced scenes filled with sharply etched characters whose words stay with me throughout my work day. Wharton's lush lanuage and precise dialogue never flags. You'll hear words pronounced you may have read before but have never heard anyone speak until now. This is a marvelous audio book- the reader does all the voices with aplomb, male and female, including accents. I can't recommend it highly enough; I enjoy re-listening to favorite scenes each day before going on to new chapters. If you buy only one audio book this year, "The Age of Innocence" should be it.

The Age of Innocence Book Review
By Gavin Glover
3-7-16

Edith Wharton was born on Jan 24, 1862 and died on Aug 11, 1937 at the age of 75. During here time Edith wrote many novels and short stories including todays review “The Age of Innocence” as well as others like “The house of Mirth” and “Roman Fever”. Edith was nominated for many awards and came away with many great ones such as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. The Genre of Edith’s story “The Age of Innocence” is considered to be fiction but could also be considered as realistic fiction being that although the story isn’t true there is nothing unrealistic about it and I’m sure that many people have been in a similar situation to the characters in the story. I would also like to include the idea that the cover and back of the book may be miss leading. The cover photo coupled with the title and no preview on the back gives me the thought of a book on women’s rights but that was not true. This is a pretty detailed read and not only does Edith write a pretty good story but at the beginning of the book there is also a detailed intro to her life as well as to the story. The book is broken into to book within one and consist of 34 chapters. Edith Wharton’s novel “The Age of Innocence” is an old story being written 1920 and even with a few changes made over the years you still feel like you are ready a book from a long time ago. This novel is really just a good old fashioned love story were an engaged man repeatedly falls in and out of love with another woman but in the end does the right thing and decides to stick with his wife. It really keeps you interested with the affair but ends in a better or happier place with the affair ended. Over all Edith Wharton’s book “The Age of Innocence was a pretty good book and I would rate it about a six out of ten on the rating scale. It had some high points and some low points which is not surprising to me considered that the original version was originally published in 1920, a time when the daily news paper would have still been a hot read. I also want to say that I’m not a big book person and I think that and avid or serious reader would find this book a lot more appealing then I did so I think that if your one of those people who really enjoy reading as a whole then I would highly recommend this book to you.

This book can be purchased at almost every place that sells books, I checked about half a dozen more popular sites and they all had it.