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Title: The Custom of the Country by Diane Johnson, Edith Wharton ISBN: 0-375-75807-0 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.32 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "If only everyone would do as she wished..."
Comment: In CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY Edith Wharton created a most unlikable protagonist that is certainly easy to deplore. Undine Spragg is the epitome of a spoiled individual who doesn't bother to care how her financial demands negatively affect those around her. After moving to New York with her parents she has the full intentions of entering the ranks of high society. She studies the society columns in the local newspapers and dreams of residing in a splendid home on Fifth Avenue. Undine is both charming and beautiful and she doesn't hesitate to rely on various schemes and methods to get what she wants.
During the course of this book the reader follows Undine as she strives to enter the fashionable social circles of New York at the beginning of the 20th century. She studies the prominent players in the upper classes and desires to join them during their dinner parties in New York and their annual spring trips to Paris. Unfortunately her father doesn't possess the type of financial resources to accommodate Undine's wishes so she seeks to marry a man who can provide. Undine's climb to the top of New York society is not without incident. At times her ascendancy is marked by setbacks and controversies that aim to keep Undine away from the social limelight.
Edith Wharton provides insightful commentaries on how Undine Spragg is so self-centered and ignorant and the general superficiality of high society during this time period. Undine completely ignored the concerns of her husband(s) and her child as she strived to join the fashionably conscious social circles. The social and religious sentiments towards divorced woman are also explored during this era of general disapproval of broken marriages. CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY provides a revealing glimpse into the workings of the upper society circles of New York before the Great War. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: A story not told often enough
Comment: A beautiful woman trapped by her own superficial values, riding her beauty along a path to all the expected goals. Society encouraged her (or didn't condemn) in these pursuits until she ultimately reached the end the novel demands of itself. Wharton manages to entrap the reader despite a host of (realistic) characters all too human to respect or admire. As always, Edith Wharton has done a marvelous job for her readers. Every woman cursed with beauty should read this work, but so should everyone else.
Rating: 4
Summary: Appalling!
Comment: As a random selection from my massive backlog of 'To Read' books, this one was more than worth the effort. In addition to simply being a good read, I recommend this as a gift to those shallow and grasping people on your gift list. A very gripping novel overall but it loses a star for the very slow buildup. Not a good place to START your survey of great literature but wise investment for the well-established reader well into their reading list.
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Title: Summer by Edith Wharton ISBN: 0553214225 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1993 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Anna Quindlen ISBN: 0451527569 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Old New York by Edith Wharton ISBN: 0020383142 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: French Ways and Their Meaning by Edith Wharton, Mary Ann Caws, Diane De Margerie ISBN: 0936399872 Publisher: Berkshire House Pub Pub. Date: July, 1997 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: A Backward Glance : An Autobiography by Edith Wharton, Louis Auchincloss ISBN: 0684847558 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 15 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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