Summer (1917)

I was told this book was dirty, and ...well, to be fair, I was told it was dirty "for Wharton," which I suppose is true as far as it goes, but still: oblique references to illicit trysts aren't exactly begging for the fap when you fade out after they hold hands. Remind me this though: next time I'm sitting next to a leathery woman from Lowell on the bus and she's all "Hey, what are YOU reading?" and I say "Edith Wharton" and she mishears me and thinks I said "It's for work," and gives me a lecture about reading for work on buses, which apparently is bullshit, not that I disagree, the right response is not "No, Edith Wharton, and it's gonna be cool because I heard it was dirty." You won't really get a disapproving look - I mean, wtf, she's from Lowell, that's probably the nicest thing she's ever heard on a bus - but she will decide that you're now buddies and you might want to see a picture of a cat her friend died red, white and blue for the Superbowl. Because, y'know, the cat is a Pats fan. I'm not kidding about any of this. You know I don't kid. And I guess it's working; we're up 17 - 9 in the third quarter. Dear Boston, the only reason I looked up the score is so I could reference it in this Edith Wharton review I'm writing during the Superbowl; after this I'm gonna go back to reading Nathaniel Hawthorne. I ain't gotta defend my masculinity to the likes of you. Wharton and Hawthorne were both here before the Patriots were so don't go yelling at me about loyalty, yahdood. ( )

This book failed to capture me. It's a character driven book, but for this particular book, the character didn't work for me. Charity Royall was suppose to be a independent modern woman, in touch with her sexuality. But I didn't see it. For the time period I suppose it was seen as modern and a bit scandalous, Charity was likely seen as a heroine, but I still don't think there was enough good characterization to move the book forward. She didn't have anything special to keep her apart from all the other women written in that time, save for a job, and she would try to stand up against her guardian, but even then, it wasn't to different than other books written in the time. There was some innuendo with her lover, but I'm not sure how much happened in her mind and how much actually happened with him besides a passionate kiss. Nothing stood out to impress me, especially the lead character. Which was probably why I was so bored with the book - so many others like it written at the same time have almost the same plot devices.

I did enjoy the glimpses of her background story of the mountain people, and wish that was explained in more detail, I felt like it was just scratched at the surface, and was looking for more. Otherwise, the story was bland, and not a lot kept me interested.

Also on my book review blog Jules' Book Reviews - Summer ( )

This story of a New England waif at about the dawn of the Twentieth Century who finds herself under the spell of a charming young man who is engaged to someone else, and who eventually finds herself "in trouble" could be cliché. In fact, Wharton's writing lifts it far above other stories of that ilk.

I love her portrayals of the characters. The heroine is no helpless victim. The man she is involved with is not particularly exploiting her. Even her guardian who enters her bedroom once, unbidden, is not especially evil.

I'm sure, especially with the extremely thinly veiled reference to abortion, and the underlying sexual themes throughout the book that this was a particularly shocking book in its time. Even more so in light of the fact that the heroine was able to find a kind of redemption after having gone astray.

This book confirmed, again, my love for Edith Wharton. ( )

Those who claim Edith Wharton is prim and dull are clearly missing something when"...all were merged in a moist
earth-smell that was like the breath of some huge sun-warmed animal"

I love character-driven stories. Edith Wharton did not disappoint me in this regard. Her characters were entirely, sometimes even uncomfortably, real. This was a story that you could really see happening, not just some far-fetched plot to drive a book. This corner of Massachusetts was descriptively rendered, from the melancholy small town where Charity lives to the poor mountain dwellings to the gorgeous countryside.

She loved the roughness of the dry mountain grass under her palms, the smell of the thyme into which she crushed her face, the fingering of the wind in her hair and through her cotton blouse, and the creak of the larches as they swayed to it.

In the end, Charity received what her nature had in store for her. It all happened as it ought. The reading was not easy, but the story was perfectly rendered. ( )