The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Final Rating: 4.4/5

  
"Say I'm old-fashioned..."

   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.

-read and purchased on nook