• Title: The House of Mirth
• Author: Edith Wharton
• Genre/Subject: Trans-Atlantic literature
• Publisher: Amazon Classics
• Publication Date: 1905
• Start date: 10/12/2020
• Finish date: 10/22/2020

Review:

A classic among classics.

This is the story of Lily Bart, a product of society in the Gilded Age, that rises and falls completely from grace. Though innocent (mostly) of the charges society brings against her, she can never regain her former status and is thus excluded from the tribal group that constitutes the monied and leisured class of early 20th century New York.

It really highlights the unfair double standard that a woman faced as opposed to a man. Indeed still do in many cases. Whereas a man could run up debts and have a mistress, the same was not true for a woman. He was a lad, she was a “fast” woman.

Extraordinarily well crafted and compelling, I loved every page, but I can see that it is not to most 2020 tastes, the gap between 1905 New York society and 21st century modernity is just too big for some to easily bridge.

Loved it, and will likely read parts again.