Looking Back - The Age of Innocence

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Fiction/Classic

1920

Finished on July 24, 2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

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.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Re-read for book club. When I first read this several years ago, I fell in love with Wharton's prose and read everything by her that I could get my hands on. However, this second reading fell short of my expectations. It was a struggle to finish and I was easily distracted. I still believe it's a wonderful novel. It just didn't thrill me as it once did. Could be that I was just too busy with summer visitors. 

My Current Thoughts (2026):

I've since seen the movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder, but can't remember if I enjoyed the film. I doubt I'll read the book a third time. However, an author (Laura Spence-Ash) who I discovered last year has a new book due out on June 1, 2027. It's titled The Thing You Most Wanted. Can't wait!

The richly perceptive and moving story of a love held in secret and carried over the course of one woman’s life—a novel that explores what devotion asks us to surrender by brilliantly recentering the iconic dilemma at the heart of Wharton’s classic, The Age of Innocence.

 Definitely on my list to buy in the coming year!