Published 14th October 1905
Ranked #69 of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th Century by the Modern Library
Yes, this front cover rubs the ironic feminism in your face just a bit too much but it was the prettiest one on Google so there. Yet again this is another why-the-hell-have-I-not-seen-this-film entry, reminding me of how badly I need to visit our good old pal amazon.com
A fabulous modern classic: when F. Scott Fitzgerald meets Jane Austen –a heart wrenching conventional tragedy with significant feminist issues. Wharton presents the instinctive lust towards hedonism, as well as the tug-of-war between animalistic desires and material want. With deep characters and major issues such as love, jealousy, social class and exposure, Wharton’s novel is empathisable to any reader at any time in any culture, making this a timeless piece of artwork.
Throughout this novel I was constantly reminded of the quotation in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey whereby his character Henry Wotton says:
Entirely relevant to current day with regard to jealousy, beauty is beautiful in itself. It is delicate and should be treasured, it shouldn't evoke such ugly reactions from those who are envious, nor those who are dubious in a Shallow-Hal "oh she's pretty so she can't possibly be nice" type philosophy. This novel realistically presents the reader with the true horrors of jealousy.'People say sometimes that beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.'
I also like this book because Edith Wharton was born exactly 130 years before me, yay!
4/5
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