The Custom of the Country in Never too Late to Read Classics

Dec 22, 2020 Chrissie marked it as to-read

Shelves: hf, classics, usa, audible-uk, long, nyc

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*The Marne 3 stars
*The Reef 3 stars
*The House of Mirth 3 stars
*The Glimpses Of The Moon 3 stars
*Coming Home 3 stars
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*The Eyes 2 stars
*The Age of Innocence 1 star
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*Madame de Treymes TBR
*The Custom of the Country TBR
*The Fruit of the Tree TBR
*The Touchstone. by: Edith Wharton TBR ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2010 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-books, victorians, classics, read-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 02, 2023 Kate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: france, england, read-in-2023, 20th-century-literature

"Mr and Mrs Spragg are hoping to forge an entree into society and arrange a suitably ambitious match for their only daughter. As she unfolds the story of Undine Spragg, from New York to Europe, Edith Wharton affords us a detailed glimpse of what might be called the interior decor of upper-class America and its noveau riche fringes. Through a heroine who is vain, spoilt and selfish as she is irresistibly fascinating, and throu8gh a most intricate and satisfying plot, she conveys a vision of socia ...more

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Jan 28, 2021 Ellen Librarian rated it liked it

I can understand why this book is considered a masterpiece as Wharton so believably depicts the social climbing of Gilded-Age parvenu Undine Spragg, the book's heroine/anti-heroine. Also, while Wharton beautifully brings to life the New York and European society Undine moves through, she's the kind of social climber who would fit right in with today's world, too.

That said, I kept thinking of Undine as a boring Scarlett O'Hara without a Civil War for suspense. (view spoiler) ...more

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Aug 07, 2023 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-group

The writer of the introduction to my edition of Custom of the Country suggests that it's no accident that protagonist Undine Spragg's initials are also those of the United States. The year the book was published was also the year that Wharton divorced her husband and moved to Europe for ten years, and I'm guessing that real life events figured in the creation of a stunningly unlikeable character as a symbol of what was, and still is, bad about the U.S.

I hadn't read Wharton in a while and was kin ...more

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Sep 22, 2019 Zuly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction-identity, non-fiction-psychology, around-the-world-challenge

Undine, the main character in this novel, is so in love with herself and with dresses and amusement that it's truly horrifying. Reading this at the same time as I'm listening to Talking to Strangers lends an interesting explanation for how her husband Ralph got her wrong for believing she had any redeeming qualities, and how this affected him. I don't want to leave spoilers because this one is so well done. I really loved Wharton's The House of Mirth when I read it some 20 years ago. This novel ...more

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