Age of Innocence Review

Fiction

Author: Edith Wharton

305 pages

Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.”

This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it.

Completion: Boy did this story drag. There is something about plots involving rich characters that just makes the pacing go out the window.

Writing/Style: The novel read like an old woman telling a story, unable to feel the pulse for the interesting details and events. Line by line the writing isn’t bad, but, when you look at the overall picture, it feels as if the author was unable to decide what details mattered and thus everything is included in the same drab fashion. If the writing had been trimmed down, it would have solved a lot of the pacing issues and perhaps the writing would not have been as grating as it was.

Characters: I found it so hard to relate and sympathize with Archer, the main character, and his rich, white non-problem problems. Half the time I didn’t even believe in Archer’s character. He oscillates back and forth from understanding and being critical of the flaws in his society to mindlessly taking them in stride. While I know this is possible for people to do in real life, it appeared that his opinions and attitude changed not in a progression of his character, but for the convenience of the author. This and his insistent thoughts about Olenska just made him a nauseating character.

Plot/Pacing: The leisurely pacing makes the plot suffer. While perhaps realistic for these Archer and Olenska to be separated by society and travel, it was not written in a way that compounded my interest and tension but instead diluted it. Scenes of conflict and tension were isolated in bubbles littered sparingly throughout the story. Like air out of a balloon, the more time they spent apart the less I cared. Partly due to the story dragging, but mainly because of Archer’s insipid inner dialog and obsession with Olenska. However, without giving anything away, I found the ending quite surprising which I give Wharton credit for. I marinated in it for days afterward and I’m still not quite sure what I make of it. As much as I enjoyed the ending for not going where I thought it was, I'm still not quite sure if it made up for the slog to get there. I spent a long time wondering if this story would have been better suited as a short story, and I think in a lot of ways it would have been. A lot of what bothered me in this novel became more prominent due to its length.

World-building/Atmosphere: While the meandering plot dilutes the tension, it certainly adds to the world-building. By the end of this, I felt I very much understood how people of higher society looked, felt, and spent their time during this period.

Sub-genres (Romance, Humor, Mystery, etc.): If there was humor, it went over my head. There’s not much in the way of mystery except to find out what happens to these characters. Sadly, I did not believe in the romance one smidgen. Archer and Olenska have no chemistry, and, despite the pacing of the overall plot feeling slow, their romance feels oddly accelerated beyond the point of believability. They have quite a few scenes together, but those scenes never add up to love to me.

FINAL VERDICT: For the casual reader, I would give this a pass. It is too much of a struggle to get through for such little reward. For those who appreciate Wharton’s writing, I believe you will be satisfied with this story, and the ending will resonate deeper with you than it did for me. As for me, it looks like I am not much of Wharton fan and will be leaving this book behind me.

This Side of Paradise Review

Fiction

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

288 pages

This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald's romantic and witty first novel, was written when the author was only twenty-three years old. This semi-autobiographical story of the handsome, indulged, and idealistic Princeton student Amory Blaine received critical raves and catapulted Fitzgerald to instant fame. 

Completion: I finished it. I suppose that's a good thing? I did read this for school though so that helped me get through it.

Writing/Style: You can definitely tell this is Fitzgerald's debut. You get glimmers of his gorgeous imagery and style, but it's not there nearly enough.

Characters: Tired of all those angsty YA heroines? Meet Amory Blaine. He'll make you want those YA heroines back as he goes through his privileged white boy life. The other characters aren't anything to write home about either.

Plot/Pacing: What plot? What pacing? But, seriously, we follow Amory through a large chunk of his life from childhood to post-college, and the pace meanders through as Amory slowly discovers himself. If Amory was more likable, this might not of been as much of a negative, but as it is, the slow pacing makes the book even more of a struggle to finish.  

World-building/Atmosphere: When you are able to look over Amory's big egotistic head, you can really see what it was like in the 1920's. In particular, I wish college today was more like it was in Fitzgerald's time where you went to class but didn't worry about tests or homework and just went on wild adventures. Well, like college back then but minus the racism and sexism, of course.

Sub-genres (Romance, Mystery, Humor, etc.): No mystery, for sure. If there was humor, I didn't catch it. As far as romance goes, Amory is in several romantic relationships, but I never felt emotionally attached to any of them. This is probably because the relationship he shared with the "love of his life" was a very narcissistic relationship for the both of them. It's very melodramatic, and it technically fits what the story is going for, but it lacks that investment from the reader which is a shame because it could have helped to make Amory more likable. 

FINAL VERDICT: If you are a huge fan of Fitzgerald's, then you'll probably want to check this book out. Or rather, you probably already have. From a certain angle, it is interesting to see how Fitzgerald progressed in his writing, and to see bits of his own life mixed in the fiction. However, for most of you, if I were to recommend a Fitzgerald work, I would recommend The Great Gatsby. There's just more of everything there because Fitzgerald has figured out his own writing and polished his ideas.