Book One: The Age of Innocence

Right, so I meant to do this post yesterday but then instead I bought Professor Layton and the Curious Village for the Nintendo DS and if you've ever played that game, you know exactly what I'm talking about and I need not say more.

Anyway, on late Saturday or early Sunday I finally finished reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, which was my first book finished this year (in all fairness, I started reading it last year but then joined a book club and it got put at the end of the list).

The following review may contain spoilers, but this book is 90 years old. If you have not read it by now it is more or less fair game for spoilers.

I really think I am glad that I took the time to think about this before I posted a review of it. When I first read it, I was kind of confused and disappointed. Having taken a few days to ponder it (and solve word problems for fun), I've come to the conclusion that it's one of a certain genre of books that are better with an unhappy ending.

There, I came out and said it, but you know it's true. Sometimes, stories are better when the ending is bittersweet, because there is no way that the characters could be happy in their situations, like Great Expectations. You know what kind of books I'm talking about.

Anyway, I spent the entire book hoping that Newland wouldn't leave May to try to run off with Ellen, because I knew that running wouldn't solve the problem. His bigger problem was that he lived in the time he lived in. Running away wouldn't have made his life any better, and Ellen was right to leave when she did.

But by that same token, I was really bummed when he refused to go visit her in Paris and sat outside instead, because at that point there was no reason he couldn't go to her. But I thought about it, though. He couldn't go in, because going in would have ruined his fantasy. At that point, it was more about what she represented to him than it was about her anymore, and he knew that going inside would destroy that fantasy.

It was also unusual how much I really liked Newland, though. I liked everyone, which always makes a book better.