Another tale of woe from Wharton. I can forgive anyone who spends their life writing about one theme when they do it well. This wasn't her best but it was certainly entertaining. Lily Bart isn't Bovary or Karenina but she flirts with becoming one. If you're familiar with Wharton you'll feel very at home in this novel. If not, prepare yourself for an individual's conflict between desire and society. As usual with her, society comes off worst.

Lily Bart, the protagonist, is looking for a husband. As usual, she's schemes and manipulates the men around her, using her charm and beauty as the tools of her trade. But her 'fortune' isn't as large as it she wants it to be (sound familiar?) She thus sets out to capture someone who can make her a society woman and thus beat her rivals into the dirt.

Of course, it all goes wrong, she ends up with mud on her face and eating humble pie after a series of unexpected events leave her in worse circumstances than when she had the world at her feet. Having hesitated to marry because she was enjoying the thrill of the chase, she now finds herself the victim of a class system that closes the door on her.

I think Wharton tries, again, to show that society has no room for the independent self-determined woman who has value in her own right. But there's a problem with this. Society is the sum of its parts and therefore reflects the dominant views current at the time. There's little an individual can do about this without swimming against the stream and, if you do that, there's no time for sulking and pouting when everyone hates you; it's par for the course.

So, while Lily is totally happy to use the system when it suits her, this doesn't earn her any friends when the system works against her. That's the way it goes and I can no more feel sorry for her than I can that Hitler had to kill himself, poor dear. And was society stuck up and snobbish to a cruel degree in early 20th century New England? Yes, but if it hadn't been, Wharton wouldn't have had a market for her books and enjoyed the extremely privileged lifestyle that gave her the education and freedom to write in the first place. It's all kind of circular really and while I did enjoy the writing and the story and the characters, the moral's a bit lost on me.

It's a tragedy that will have a few weeping and is worth a read as an important image of the world in that place at that time. ( )

It was the audio version I "read" and at times found it a little hard to follow but that was due to the format. I have to agree the book was depressing. I kept hoping for a happy ending but that was not to be. However, it was well written and worth reading even if over a century old. ( )

This was one of the most depressing books I have ever read. There was no bright moment in sight. Nowhere to 'rest your eyes' so to speak, from deep darkness.

Lily Bart is one of the most tragic heroines in literature. There was absolutely no way of a happy ending for her. She was doomed from the start. She wanted a life that never really belonged to her. She couldn't stand the thought of 'lowering' herself to anything less than the upper class, and that led to her downfall. Bart was naive and vein and sometimes just downright stupid. She sacrificed everything instead of taking that one happy opportunity that was right in front of her face.

The House of Mirth shows the cruelty of the upper class New York society at the beginning of the 20th century better than any non-fiction book could. Wharton crafted a beautifully tragic story showing that the upper class isn't what it's cracked up be. She tore off the blinds and shows us the vile and ugliness. ( )

The House of Mirth is about Lily Bart, a socialite in early 20th century New York, that lives richly when she is in fact poor. By the time the book starts, she has been on the marriage market for ten years, not having yet landed the husband that will allow her have the luxuries she requires. However, in spite of her famous beauty, Lily always seems unable to close the deal. Struggling between the values and skills she was raised to have and what she really wants, Lily can't commit to any one life, which makes it difficult for her to accomplish anything that makes her happy.

The House of Mirth is a very good book. It suffers from the usual flaws reading Wharton a century after it was written: it's melodramatic in places and it's hard at times to understand and identify with the bizarre social rules her characters live by. Having said that, the story and characters Wharton creates are timeless, insightful, and engaging. The point the author makes about Lily's sad life is interesting and says something about both the lot of women in Edwardian society and how one's upbringing can be at odds with one's real wishes. The House of Mirth only received four stars from me rather than five as Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence did merely for its length: at 400 or so pages the novel isn't inordinately long, but Wharton could have wrapped things up a little more quickly and made a bigger impact. ( )

Seeing this title as a Playaway audio book at my library finally convinced me to read(?) it. I also downloaded a print(?) version from Gutenburg.org for "backup." I kept getting frustrated with Lilly but finally realized my vexation was because she wouldn't do things my modern, middle class, socially liberated way. Then I got frustated with Edith Wharton for the "I can see it coming" cop-out ending, then realized it might have been quite stunning for her era, class, and upbringing. She further redeemed herself by making me wonder what the mystery "word" was.Angie: Ethan Fromme, Age of Innocence, and House of Mirth! ( )