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A Son at the Front
"Wharton has done nothing that equals this."―New York Times Book Review (1923) “Extraordinarily poignant…Heartrending, tragic, powerful, this is not to be missed.”-Publishers Weekly Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front (1923) is a stirring rumination of family, art, and the shortcomings of possession. The story, which is set on the eve of the First World War reflects the author’s own experience living in France when the “Great War” broke out. The delineation of Wartime Paris is one of great power and evocation, yet it is the immensely personal father-son relationship that is at the heart of this tragic novel. The novel begins in 1914, where John Compton is an American Artist living in Paris; he is successful in his art, yet ill-fated in personal relationships. His only son, George, who was born in France, is living in the United States with John’s ex-wife, Julia. Having recently reconnected with his son, and intent on rebuilding a meaningful relationship, George returns to Paris only to be enlisted into the war. Julia and her second husband, the affluent Anderson Brant, try to pull all their strings to ensure that George is appointed to the safety of a post in a staff office; yet in an act of rebellion, the young man enlists himself for the front lines. Wharton, instead of following the events on the warfront with this novel, leaves her readers in Paris as the devastating effects of those left waiting in wartime unfold. For those only familiar with Wharton’s best-known books, this is a surprising and moving War novel like no other. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of A Son at the Front is both modern and readable.
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
119 people are currently reading
698 people want to read
About the author
Edith Wharton
1,428 books5,244 followersEdith Wharton emerged as one of America’s most insightful novelists, deftly exposing the tensions between societal expectation and personal desire through her vivid portrayals of upper-class life. Drawing from her deep familiarity with New York’s privileged “aristocracy,” she offered readers a keenly observed and piercingly honest vision of Gilded Age society.
Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.
Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.
Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.
Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.
Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.
Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.
In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.
Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.
Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.
Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.
Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.
Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.
Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.
In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.
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July 25, 2022
John Campton is a renowned painter, an American living in Paris for years and more French than American in reality. His ex-wife has married a very wealthy banker, and the two of them vie for the love and attentions of their only son, George. Although Julia, the ex-wife, is also American, George was born on French soil, so he is of dual citizenship.
At the beginning of the story, Campton is planning a trip for himself and George, a chance to spend some private time together, but before they can embark on their journey, hostilities reach a breaking point and World War I erupts as Germany invades Belgium. Campton considers his son an American, but the French have him on their military roles and he is conscripted into the French army.
What ensues is a story full of sorrow and enlightenment as George and his father navigate the changing, and sometimes conflicted, feelings toward the cause before them. As the casualties begin to pile up and people begin to understand the nature of the conflict, Campton must struggle with his desire to keep his son safe and his realization that this war and its demanded sacrifices belong to every man, and most particularly to every Frenchman.
The killing of René Davril seemed to Campton one of the most senseless crimes the war had yet perpetrated. It brought home to him, far more vividly than the distant death of poor Jean Fortin, what an incalculable sum of gifts and virtues went to make up the monster’s daily meal.
What is the most unique about this book is that we follow the war, the loss, the effect through the eyes of a father. There are so many other books that show us the war from the soldier's point of view, but this is the angst of the ones who cannot participate and can only watch as all they love is put at risk. We are walked through Campton’s attempts to understand his son’s experiences and developing attitudes with only secondhand information to draw on.
He says he wants only things that last—that are permanent—things that hold a man fast. That sometimes he feels as if he were being swept away on a flood, and were trying to catch at things—at anything—as he’s rushed along under the waves… He says he wants quiet, monotony … to be sure the same things will happen every day. When we go out together he sometimes stands for a quarter of an hour and stares at the same building, or at the Seine under the bridges. But he’s happy, I’m sure… I’ve never seen him happier … only it’s in a way I can’t make out…
This is Edith Wharton at her best, as she deftly tears apart the surface of these two people and shows us everything that lies beneath. All the secondary characters, as well, are fully drawn and engaging, down to the elderly landlady who loses her son and then her grandsons to this spreading horror. And, while men die in droves, Americans in Paris wait and watch for America to understand what is at stake and enter the fray.
While reading, I thought of other novels I have read that have brought WWI home to me. All Quiet on the Western Front and Testament of Youth came to mind, and I felt Wharton was a significant addition to the canon, for she reveals yet another side of the horror. However, this novel is more universal than that, because it also deals with the intimate relationships that bind and separate people, the petty jealousy that prevents sharing and the small moments of understanding that create bonds that are unbreakable. So that, in the end, you might learn to see life, not only from your own view, but from that of others.
What did such people as Julia do with grief, he wondered, how did they make room for it in their lives, get up and lie down every day with its taste on their lips? Its elemental quality, that awful sense it communicated of a whirling earth, a crumbling Time, and all the cold stellar spaces yawning to receive us…
What an excellent work of art this book is. As I have often said, Edith Wharton is one of the great writers. I am in awe of how she can deliver, over and over again, books that leave such an impression upon the heart, the mind, and the soul. I will not be forgetting this one.
At the beginning of the story, Campton is planning a trip for himself and George, a chance to spend some private time together, but before they can embark on their journey, hostilities reach a breaking point and World War I erupts as Germany invades Belgium. Campton considers his son an American, but the French have him on their military roles and he is conscripted into the French army.
What ensues is a story full of sorrow and enlightenment as George and his father navigate the changing, and sometimes conflicted, feelings toward the cause before them. As the casualties begin to pile up and people begin to understand the nature of the conflict, Campton must struggle with his desire to keep his son safe and his realization that this war and its demanded sacrifices belong to every man, and most particularly to every Frenchman.
The killing of René Davril seemed to Campton one of the most senseless crimes the war had yet perpetrated. It brought home to him, far more vividly than the distant death of poor Jean Fortin, what an incalculable sum of gifts and virtues went to make up the monster’s daily meal.
What is the most unique about this book is that we follow the war, the loss, the effect through the eyes of a father. There are so many other books that show us the war from the soldier's point of view, but this is the angst of the ones who cannot participate and can only watch as all they love is put at risk. We are walked through Campton’s attempts to understand his son’s experiences and developing attitudes with only secondhand information to draw on.
He says he wants only things that last—that are permanent—things that hold a man fast. That sometimes he feels as if he were being swept away on a flood, and were trying to catch at things—at anything—as he’s rushed along under the waves… He says he wants quiet, monotony … to be sure the same things will happen every day. When we go out together he sometimes stands for a quarter of an hour and stares at the same building, or at the Seine under the bridges. But he’s happy, I’m sure… I’ve never seen him happier … only it’s in a way I can’t make out…
This is Edith Wharton at her best, as she deftly tears apart the surface of these two people and shows us everything that lies beneath. All the secondary characters, as well, are fully drawn and engaging, down to the elderly landlady who loses her son and then her grandsons to this spreading horror. And, while men die in droves, Americans in Paris wait and watch for America to understand what is at stake and enter the fray.
While reading, I thought of other novels I have read that have brought WWI home to me. All Quiet on the Western Front and Testament of Youth came to mind, and I felt Wharton was a significant addition to the canon, for she reveals yet another side of the horror. However, this novel is more universal than that, because it also deals with the intimate relationships that bind and separate people, the petty jealousy that prevents sharing and the small moments of understanding that create bonds that are unbreakable. So that, in the end, you might learn to see life, not only from your own view, but from that of others.
What did such people as Julia do with grief, he wondered, how did they make room for it in their lives, get up and lie down every day with its taste on their lips? Its elemental quality, that awful sense it communicated of a whirling earth, a crumbling Time, and all the cold stellar spaces yawning to receive us…
What an excellent work of art this book is. As I have often said, Edith Wharton is one of the great writers. I am in awe of how she can deliver, over and over again, books that leave such an impression upon the heart, the mind, and the soul. I will not be forgetting this one.
December 20, 2016
Edith Wharton lived in Paris during World War I, and with her incredible talent she paints a picture of the city and the people, and how they adapted to the the changes the war imposed on everyone and everything. One young man goes off to war and his parents pride for his bravery and horrible fear that he may not return is a scene played out countless times with families everywhere. Wharton was a correspondent and a homefront volunteer and her insights and descriptions give the reader a feel for the emotions of the time and the people who lived through it.
July 28, 2014
Edith Wharton’s pet subjects — failed marriages, social minefields, and stymied dreams — play out against the backdrop of the Great War. As always, Wharton’s prose beautifully combines criticism with compassion, lyricism with clarity, and subtlety with wrenching drama. I found myself re-reading passages and just sighing.
The set up for this novel hooked me before I even read it: In the summer of 1914, a divorced expatriate father living in Paris is anticipating a month’s travel with his son, George. Adding a rosy glow to the prospect is the father’s recent success as an artist after years of struggle, which means he’ll finally be able to support his son financially. After all, he wants George to be “independent” and not have to work in some soul-destroying business such as the son's stepfather owns — such a nice touch to combine class snobbery and whiff-of-Bohemian artistic snobbery!
Anyway, war breaks out and prevents the father/son vacation, but the big crisis is that George can be drafted into the French army because he was born while his parents were visiting France. Oh, the twists of fate. This danger forces the ex-husband, ex-wife, and her second husband (who essentially reared George) into an uneasy collaboration to protect the son, without his knowing it, from active duty. The three parents scramble and scheme to pull every string they have to get George behind a desk, but, to everyone’s amazement and horror, George enlists. The mother is devastated; the fathers are secretly proud. (And the reader isn't surprised as that's the title of the novel.) The bulk of the story concerns the agonies of parents waiting on the home front, a situation more complex because of the divorce and the weirdness of being foreigners in a country at war.
Wharton explores the human psyche with such unrelenting perception that it’s almost painful. So many times I wanted to reach into the book and shake the characters even as I ached for them. You yearn for these people to rise above their petty concerns, but, as in real life, people usually fall short. However, Wharton is a genius at portraying the moments of connection that offer transcendence. For instance, both men know the wife isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and needs to be handled carefully (though they can’t say it aloud), both have a father’s love for George, and both have a conflicted admiration for George’s willingness to fight. I wanted the characters to burst into soulful, lushly orchestrated duets about their differing roles, but Wharton doesn’t provide musical theatre, just realistic insight, and so the result is more exploratory than cathartic.
Edith Wharton lived in Paris during the Great War and drove an ambulance to and from the front, so she writes with nuance and authority on the issues of being American in Paris during the years before the U.S. entered the war. Mostly, though, I enjoyed a personal and family saga that gives insight into both a vanished social context and universal experiences.
The set up for this novel hooked me before I even read it: In the summer of 1914, a divorced expatriate father living in Paris is anticipating a month’s travel with his son, George. Adding a rosy glow to the prospect is the father’s recent success as an artist after years of struggle, which means he’ll finally be able to support his son financially. After all, he wants George to be “independent” and not have to work in some soul-destroying business such as the son's stepfather owns — such a nice touch to combine class snobbery and whiff-of-Bohemian artistic snobbery!
Anyway, war breaks out and prevents the father/son vacation, but the big crisis is that George can be drafted into the French army because he was born while his parents were visiting France. Oh, the twists of fate. This danger forces the ex-husband, ex-wife, and her second husband (who essentially reared George) into an uneasy collaboration to protect the son, without his knowing it, from active duty. The three parents scramble and scheme to pull every string they have to get George behind a desk, but, to everyone’s amazement and horror, George enlists. The mother is devastated; the fathers are secretly proud. (And the reader isn't surprised as that's the title of the novel.) The bulk of the story concerns the agonies of parents waiting on the home front, a situation more complex because of the divorce and the weirdness of being foreigners in a country at war.
Wharton explores the human psyche with such unrelenting perception that it’s almost painful. So many times I wanted to reach into the book and shake the characters even as I ached for them. You yearn for these people to rise above their petty concerns, but, as in real life, people usually fall short. However, Wharton is a genius at portraying the moments of connection that offer transcendence. For instance, both men know the wife isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and needs to be handled carefully (though they can’t say it aloud), both have a father’s love for George, and both have a conflicted admiration for George’s willingness to fight. I wanted the characters to burst into soulful, lushly orchestrated duets about their differing roles, but Wharton doesn’t provide musical theatre, just realistic insight, and so the result is more exploratory than cathartic.
Edith Wharton lived in Paris during the Great War and drove an ambulance to and from the front, so she writes with nuance and authority on the issues of being American in Paris during the years before the U.S. entered the war. Mostly, though, I enjoyed a personal and family saga that gives insight into both a vanished social context and universal experiences.
May 25, 2019
I don’t believe that Edith Wharton wrote this.
July 21, 2025
quite stupendous. edith wharton i love you and your dedication to a challengers ass dynamic in this book. she really nails the feeling of going about your normal life in a privileged position as the world is ending somewhere else
October 25, 2010
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(Courtesy: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Way back in forgotten times, when the world was still all black and white, Edith Wharton lived in Paris. She was in Paris during World War I and through some connections was actually one of the few foreigners to be able to be on the front lines for her work as a war correspondent for Scribner's Magazine. In addition to her correspondent work she also did oodles for refugees of the war, founding hostels and hospitals for the infirm. She was a regular do-gooder and received the Legion of Honor for her efforts. ♥
A Son at the Front is one of the rare books by Wharton that deals specifically with the war. (The other being its precursor, The Marne, 1918, which I have not read or, honestly, even seen.) It's not that much of a removal from her other books, however. Readers aren't taken to the front line for this book, we don't get to see the action. We do get to see the experience through the eyes of George Campton's father, John, who is forced to give up the idea of traveling with George due to the outbreak of the war. Though American, George was born in France while his parents were visiting, and therefore became the property of the French army.
Considered an anti-war novel, A Son at the Front is the story told from a parent's perspective on war and covers the pride, the fear, the horror, and the guilt that comes with it. In classic Wharton fashion there are different layers of wonderfulness here. George's parents are divorced, so not only do we share John's feelings and emotions, but also those of his ex-wife, Julia, and her current husband. The complexities between those relationships set this book apart from other war novels of the same period.
(Courtesy: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Way back in forgotten times, when the world was still all black and white, Edith Wharton lived in Paris. She was in Paris during World War I and through some connections was actually one of the few foreigners to be able to be on the front lines for her work as a war correspondent for Scribner's Magazine. In addition to her correspondent work she also did oodles for refugees of the war, founding hostels and hospitals for the infirm. She was a regular do-gooder and received the Legion of Honor for her efforts. ♥
A Son at the Front is one of the rare books by Wharton that deals specifically with the war. (The other being its precursor, The Marne, 1918, which I have not read or, honestly, even seen.) It's not that much of a removal from her other books, however. Readers aren't taken to the front line for this book, we don't get to see the action. We do get to see the experience through the eyes of George Campton's father, John, who is forced to give up the idea of traveling with George due to the outbreak of the war. Though American, George was born in France while his parents were visiting, and therefore became the property of the French army.
Considered an anti-war novel, A Son at the Front is the story told from a parent's perspective on war and covers the pride, the fear, the horror, and the guilt that comes with it. In classic Wharton fashion there are different layers of wonderfulness here. George's parents are divorced, so not only do we share John's feelings and emotions, but also those of his ex-wife, Julia, and her current husband. The complexities between those relationships set this book apart from other war novels of the same period.
January 22, 2019
It is indeed a shame that this wonderful novel by such a great writer is so little known today. I have read many of the World War I era novels, but I had never hard of A Son at the Front until I chanced across it and I am glad I did.
Instead of being the typical 1920s novel about the war or a soldier in it, this novel focuses instead on the families back home. Campton, a now famous artist, whose ex-wife remarried a rich banker before his art took fame, is concerned about his only son George, being sent to the front. Campton, and the step-father, who despite his remoteness, cares deeply for his step-son, conspire to keep George in a safe headquarters job, away from the trenches. Along the way a panoply of other characters appear, giving a rich depiction to the social life in France as the war continued to rage and expand.
Despite his family's efforts, George feels the young man's need to serve in the action, and manages be assigned to a mission at the front, where he is badly wounded. His step father and father rush to return him to a hospital and recover, stunned to find the boy had been involved with an older married woman.
While the book's ending is predictable, and the weakest part of the story, overall this is a very good work. There are many rich sentences and passages that presage how good of a writer Wharton was. The fact that Campton is such a disagreeable character adds tremendous realism to the novel. Not every character is heroic in real life, and too many novels are too idealistic.
Anyone who enjoys the literature of the first world war will enjoy A Son at the Front and it really is a shame this book is not more widely known and read.
Instead of being the typical 1920s novel about the war or a soldier in it, this novel focuses instead on the families back home. Campton, a now famous artist, whose ex-wife remarried a rich banker before his art took fame, is concerned about his only son George, being sent to the front. Campton, and the step-father, who despite his remoteness, cares deeply for his step-son, conspire to keep George in a safe headquarters job, away from the trenches. Along the way a panoply of other characters appear, giving a rich depiction to the social life in France as the war continued to rage and expand.
Despite his family's efforts, George feels the young man's need to serve in the action, and manages be assigned to a mission at the front, where he is badly wounded. His step father and father rush to return him to a hospital and recover, stunned to find the boy had been involved with an older married woman.
While the book's ending is predictable, and the weakest part of the story, overall this is a very good work. There are many rich sentences and passages that presage how good of a writer Wharton was. The fact that Campton is such a disagreeable character adds tremendous realism to the novel. Not every character is heroic in real life, and too many novels are too idealistic.
Anyone who enjoys the literature of the first world war will enjoy A Son at the Front and it really is a shame this book is not more widely known and read.
December 22, 2022
A very touching book by a magnificent writer.
Free download available at Project Gutenberg
3* The House of Mirth
5* The Age of Innocence
4* Bunner Sisters
4* Ethan Frome
4* Summer
4* The Custom of the Country
3* The Reef
2* Madame de Treymes
3* The Quicksand
3* The House Of The Dead Hand
4* The Glimpses of the Moon
4* Afterward
3* Xingu
2* Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort
4* The Touchstone
3* Writing a War Story
3* A Motor-Flight Through France
3* The Shadow of a Doubt: A Play in Three Acts
4* Au temps de l'innocence
4* The Marne
4* A Son at the Front
TR Twilight Sleep
TR The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
TR The Writing of Fiction
TR The Buccaneers
TR The Fruit of the Tree
TR In Morocco
Free download available at Project Gutenberg
3* The House of Mirth
5* The Age of Innocence
4* Bunner Sisters
4* Ethan Frome
4* Summer
4* The Custom of the Country
3* The Reef
2* Madame de Treymes
3* The Quicksand
3* The House Of The Dead Hand
4* The Glimpses of the Moon
4* Afterward
3* Xingu
2* Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort
4* The Touchstone
3* Writing a War Story
3* A Motor-Flight Through France
3* The Shadow of a Doubt: A Play in Three Acts
4* Au temps de l'innocence
4* The Marne
4* A Son at the Front
TR Twilight Sleep
TR The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
TR The Writing of Fiction
TR The Buccaneers
TR The Fruit of the Tree
TR In Morocco
June 18, 2021
Audible.com 10 hours 55 min. Narrated by Richard Poe
I've read most of the reviews on Goodreads on A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton and some were less than positive. To me, this is the best of her five books I've read. Richard Poe was an excellent reader, and I really felt the conflicting emotions the father, John Campton, felt about his son George's experience as a soldier serving during WWl. So many of you as reviewers are very insightful, more eloquent and knowledgeable about analysing stories than I can ever hope to be. I don't even this as an anti-war book. I will remember it as a story about the personal cost of war to parents. I also understand the insecurities Campton felt about being less than a father because as a painter he had not been able to provide the financial support that Mr. Brant, George's step-father and a very successful banker gladly gave.
I've read numerous books about the World Wars fought in Europe, but none as poignant as A Son at the Front. How go parents deal with unrelenting stress of not knowing if a son away at war is living or dead? How do parents deal with the loss of a son upon whom they have pinned their hopes and dreams for good marriages, grandchildren, or the passing on of a business or farm? Can one parent love a child more than the other parent? How does an affluent, well-intentioned but awkward step-father deal with the jealous father of the only son for whom they both share abundant love? Can and do attitudes towards war change during the course of war? Should well-placed, infuential parents pull strings to keep a son away from serving on the front lines? Do sons owe parents the obligation of obedience in choosing where to serve? Why do young men in the prime of life rush headlong into military service without full comprehension of what their deaths will cause to parents and grandparents? Would George have lived out a normal life span in America had it not been for the unfortunate timing of his trip to Paris? Or would he have just died later serving as a U.S. soldier? How do we handle the grief of losing a child?
World War I caused the deaths of a whole generation of young men in Europe and the deaths so many Americans also. Edith Wharton saw first-hand as volunteer at the front the devestation that we as readers cannot begin to comprehend. As a writer Wharton tried in her own way to create a story that would open the possibility of more than one "right" answer to the above questions?
For those you who have already read this book, I suggest you listen to it as read by Richard Poe. I think this book would be great for opening any dialogue on war.
I've read most of the reviews on Goodreads on A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton and some were less than positive. To me, this is the best of her five books I've read. Richard Poe was an excellent reader, and I really felt the conflicting emotions the father, John Campton, felt about his son George's experience as a soldier serving during WWl. So many of you as reviewers are very insightful, more eloquent and knowledgeable about analysing stories than I can ever hope to be. I don't even this as an anti-war book. I will remember it as a story about the personal cost of war to parents. I also understand the insecurities Campton felt about being less than a father because as a painter he had not been able to provide the financial support that Mr. Brant, George's step-father and a very successful banker gladly gave.
I've read numerous books about the World Wars fought in Europe, but none as poignant as A Son at the Front. How go parents deal with unrelenting stress of not knowing if a son away at war is living or dead? How do parents deal with the loss of a son upon whom they have pinned their hopes and dreams for good marriages, grandchildren, or the passing on of a business or farm? Can one parent love a child more than the other parent? How does an affluent, well-intentioned but awkward step-father deal with the jealous father of the only son for whom they both share abundant love? Can and do attitudes towards war change during the course of war? Should well-placed, infuential parents pull strings to keep a son away from serving on the front lines? Do sons owe parents the obligation of obedience in choosing where to serve? Why do young men in the prime of life rush headlong into military service without full comprehension of what their deaths will cause to parents and grandparents? Would George have lived out a normal life span in America had it not been for the unfortunate timing of his trip to Paris? Or would he have just died later serving as a U.S. soldier? How do we handle the grief of losing a child?
World War I caused the deaths of a whole generation of young men in Europe and the deaths so many Americans also. Edith Wharton saw first-hand as volunteer at the front the devestation that we as readers cannot begin to comprehend. As a writer Wharton tried in her own way to create a story that would open the possibility of more than one "right" answer to the above questions?
For those you who have already read this book, I suggest you listen to it as read by Richard Poe. I think this book would be great for opening any dialogue on war.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2023
I often state that I prefer nonfiction to fiction but A Son at the Front brought me to a new realization: the fiction that captures my deepest affection is almost always written by someone living during the historical period in which the story takes place. This is a work of fiction, but Wharton includes so many subtle details about how upper-class people living in Paris spent their days during World War I that it also carries the authentic account of a keen eyewitness. You'll find my deeper analysis along with excerpts at:
https://casdinteret.com/2023/10/a-son...
https://casdinteret.com/2023/10/a-son...
July 22, 2025
i want a spin off with boylston and adele. STAT
May 22, 2024
This was a convergence of topics with which I have lately become obsessed. But the obsessions had separate origins and I've only recently understood them to overlap. When you think of the great novels that draw on WWI for source material, you don't think of Edith Wharton. That's mostly about timing and misogyny. And it's unfortunate because this is such a powerful and underdeveloped perspective on that event. Excellent from cover to cover.
May 21, 2022
Since finishing this yesterday, the story has stuck with me. I’m changing from four stars to five.
An American artist John Campton is living in Paris at the start of WW1. His ex wife is also there along with her wealthy husband. When war looms near, there is both internal and external conflict about his only son being part of that war. A moving story that explores the son’s different relationships and their reasons for & against him taking part in the war becomes a momentous chapter of Campton’s life.
This book is honest, raw and heartfelt. It is also annoying, angering and frustrating. I loved every word.
Yes, I loved this book and appreciated the characters. Like every Edith Wharton novel, each character represented an important aspect to the story. Every personality was skillfully adapted and developed to be an integral part.
It disturbed me seeing readers giving bad reviews because they didn’t like the main character John Campton. This was a man; a divorced father who has experienced both hardships and successes in life. Those experiences were both self-inflicted and induced by others, but they are his nonetheless. Was he like-able? Like all of us, sometimes he was and sometimes he wasn’t. However, I don’t understand the hate. Those experiences were what shaped him and his beliefs. Therefore, inspiring his thoughts and actions. To give a book bad reviews because you don’t like a character, their actions or the outcome is a bit disturbing to me. John Campton was a man who was struggling at times while trying to be the best HE could as a father.
To me, it’s not about wanting the story to go your way or tell an author how it should be written. If you don’t like it, write one yourself. Here’s your chance to make that perfect book in your eyes that only YOU can do.
Edith Wharton is one of my favorite writers. Her ability to lay bare her characters and their humanity is remarkable to me. Allowing a writer to take you on a journey is a choice. Lucky for you, that ride can end any time you want. Let others decide for themselves.
Funny enough, much of this book was about inflicting your thoughts and actions on others. It also explored how your worst moments can also be some of the most important - but it’s a choice. There are teaching moments throughout a persons life and this book displayed that most beautifully.
An American artist John Campton is living in Paris at the start of WW1. His ex wife is also there along with her wealthy husband. When war looms near, there is both internal and external conflict about his only son being part of that war. A moving story that explores the son’s different relationships and their reasons for & against him taking part in the war becomes a momentous chapter of Campton’s life.
This book is honest, raw and heartfelt. It is also annoying, angering and frustrating. I loved every word.
Yes, I loved this book and appreciated the characters. Like every Edith Wharton novel, each character represented an important aspect to the story. Every personality was skillfully adapted and developed to be an integral part.
It disturbed me seeing readers giving bad reviews because they didn’t like the main character John Campton. This was a man; a divorced father who has experienced both hardships and successes in life. Those experiences were both self-inflicted and induced by others, but they are his nonetheless. Was he like-able? Like all of us, sometimes he was and sometimes he wasn’t. However, I don’t understand the hate. Those experiences were what shaped him and his beliefs. Therefore, inspiring his thoughts and actions. To give a book bad reviews because you don’t like a character, their actions or the outcome is a bit disturbing to me. John Campton was a man who was struggling at times while trying to be the best HE could as a father.
To me, it’s not about wanting the story to go your way or tell an author how it should be written. If you don’t like it, write one yourself. Here’s your chance to make that perfect book in your eyes that only YOU can do.
Edith Wharton is one of my favorite writers. Her ability to lay bare her characters and their humanity is remarkable to me. Allowing a writer to take you on a journey is a choice. Lucky for you, that ride can end any time you want. Let others decide for themselves.
Funny enough, much of this book was about inflicting your thoughts and actions on others. It also explored how your worst moments can also be some of the most important - but it’s a choice. There are teaching moments throughout a persons life and this book displayed that most beautifully.
August 12, 2022
It is such a thrill to discover there is an Edith Wharton book I have never heard of - akin to discovering a new Jane Austen!
Like all her books, this one is a masterpiece of social observation and a deep-delving investigation into the human psyche.
Campton, an American artist living in Paris, waits for his son George to arrive from America. The two plan an extensive trip round Europe together, but the beginning of WW1 puts paid to their plans. An accident of birth means that George is conscripted into the French military, and no sooner have father and son re-established their filial bonds than they are separated.
Campton and his wife are divorced. His ex wife Julia has remarried - another American but this one fabulously wealthy and very influential in Paris society. The book explores the intense jealously and rivalry between George’s father and step-father, uneasily united in their efforts to keep George from the front by any means at their disposal.
The great pathos and tragedy of this book lies in the inevitability of its outcome. A son at the front rarely had any alternative outcome that his loss. But it tracks the progress of the war as experienced by people in Paris, their efforts to raise money, support refugees and tend the wounded, commiserate with the bereaved and to carry on living some kind of life in spite of the chaos that prevails. In fact, in that, it resonates very relevantly with the present day, and as a step-parent myself I recognised the delicate dance of rights and restraint that the role entails.
I love the unhurried nature of Wharton’s writing, her deft description of character, her beautiful dialogue as her characters grope towards an understanding of each other - and themselves.
Like all her books, this one is a masterpiece of social observation and a deep-delving investigation into the human psyche.
Campton, an American artist living in Paris, waits for his son George to arrive from America. The two plan an extensive trip round Europe together, but the beginning of WW1 puts paid to their plans. An accident of birth means that George is conscripted into the French military, and no sooner have father and son re-established their filial bonds than they are separated.
Campton and his wife are divorced. His ex wife Julia has remarried - another American but this one fabulously wealthy and very influential in Paris society. The book explores the intense jealously and rivalry between George’s father and step-father, uneasily united in their efforts to keep George from the front by any means at their disposal.
The great pathos and tragedy of this book lies in the inevitability of its outcome. A son at the front rarely had any alternative outcome that his loss. But it tracks the progress of the war as experienced by people in Paris, their efforts to raise money, support refugees and tend the wounded, commiserate with the bereaved and to carry on living some kind of life in spite of the chaos that prevails. In fact, in that, it resonates very relevantly with the present day, and as a step-parent myself I recognised the delicate dance of rights and restraint that the role entails.
I love the unhurried nature of Wharton’s writing, her deft description of character, her beautiful dialogue as her characters grope towards an understanding of each other - and themselves.
February 25, 2021
In this story of the home front, Paris, in World War I, we are introduced to the son who becomes a soldier, against his parents wishes. Those parents are divorced, the father an artist and the mother remarried to a rich banker. I found the portrayals of the two fathers the most interesting here. Wharton’s artist is a stereotypical artist of the working, non-genius type. He thinks about his work when he shouldn’t be, he wastes a lot of time, and he gets involved in situations to massage his ego. The banker father is played much more broadly. He is shown as caring and capable, though appears bumbling at times. The banker is there to learn from. I found the descriptions of the events in the city during wartime interesting in the kinds of things that went on, and what appears to be the same as normal times – most everything – as well as what is different – the topic of conversations is the war. It reminded me of the way much of what we talk about now in general conversation relates directly to COVID. Not a great book, but I enjoyed the historical aspects.
December 6, 2015
the first Edith Wharton novel with a character that I disliked so much it colored my judgement of the entire novel, John Campton, in my opinion, is a self-centered and disagreeable character. If Wharton intended this kind of reaction, I would consider the novel a success .. If not, I will just retreat to 'Ethan Frome'...and delight in the obvious.
May 2, 2018
I think what pissed me off most about this book is Campton randomly taking up an interest in clay at the very end, but trying to act as if he's liked it this whole time.
September 8, 2020
John Campton is an American artist who has long lived in Paris and become famous for his portraiture. It is August 1914 and his son, George, is arriving so the two of them can travel together to Spain. John has felt estranged from his beloved son since he and his wife divorced and she has remarried a banker who has actually raised his son. His jealousy of this colors many of his actions throughout the novel as he refuses to see that Mr. Grant cares as much for his son as he does himself.
Almost as soon as the young man arrives, war breaks out and all of their plans must be canceled. Because of a twist of fate, the young George was born in France and now is subject to being called up for duty. Campton and Grant, the stepfather, begin to do everything they can think of to keep him from serving in the trenches at the front, and his mother, Julia is nearly hysterical over the thought that her son may die. Unbeknownst to all of them, George realizes what they are doing and manages to transfer to an infantry battalion almost immediately but keeps this knowledge hidden from his parents.
A Son at the Front is not the usual expectation of an Edith Wharton novel although it is an examination of society. In this case, it takes a close look at all the people who are left behind especially the parents who are now paying for the war and its ideals in the flesh of their own bodies, so to speak. Many are doing what Campton and the Grants have tried, anything to keep their progeny out of the line of fire. Others are silently and stoically waiting for the inevitable word of their loss. This is a novel that looks closely at the ways the rest of society dealt with the upheaval the war caused in all lives at the time. Edith Wharton was known to believe that Culture and Beauty could save the world and that theme runs throughout. She paints an interesting picture of the way American/French society conducted itself throughout the war years.
The story of John Campton and his son, George, goes through many iterations. From jealousy over his relationship with the stepfather that he, John, comes to admire, to debilitating fear for his life, to pride in his determination to serve France we watch him grow to accept the inevitability of the end. I can understand why this was not well received when published. It has none of the glamour of earlier books and none of the "war action" of the memoirs and novels being published at that time. It all takes place behind the front. Still, it is a true gem of human personality.
Almost as soon as the young man arrives, war breaks out and all of their plans must be canceled. Because of a twist of fate, the young George was born in France and now is subject to being called up for duty. Campton and Grant, the stepfather, begin to do everything they can think of to keep him from serving in the trenches at the front, and his mother, Julia is nearly hysterical over the thought that her son may die. Unbeknownst to all of them, George realizes what they are doing and manages to transfer to an infantry battalion almost immediately but keeps this knowledge hidden from his parents.
A Son at the Front is not the usual expectation of an Edith Wharton novel although it is an examination of society. In this case, it takes a close look at all the people who are left behind especially the parents who are now paying for the war and its ideals in the flesh of their own bodies, so to speak. Many are doing what Campton and the Grants have tried, anything to keep their progeny out of the line of fire. Others are silently and stoically waiting for the inevitable word of their loss. This is a novel that looks closely at the ways the rest of society dealt with the upheaval the war caused in all lives at the time. Edith Wharton was known to believe that Culture and Beauty could save the world and that theme runs throughout. She paints an interesting picture of the way American/French society conducted itself throughout the war years.
The story of John Campton and his son, George, goes through many iterations. From jealousy over his relationship with the stepfather that he, John, comes to admire, to debilitating fear for his life, to pride in his determination to serve France we watch him grow to accept the inevitability of the end. I can understand why this was not well received when published. It has none of the glamour of earlier books and none of the "war action" of the memoirs and novels being published at that time. It all takes place behind the front. Still, it is a true gem of human personality.
May 18, 2024
I think it's entirely possible Wharton wrote at least most of this WWI novel before the war was over - at any rate, it was first published just three months afterwards, in January 1919. This book is so far from the Wharton with which I was familiar - no tale of society and class shenanigans, or romantic situations. Instead, it's the story of an American painter living in Paris, who on one fateful day in late July, 1914, was preparing to take a trip with his son only to have it interrupted by a war nobody believed would happen until the last possible moment.
Wharton, who lived in Paris at the time - and in fact had her own summer vacation curtailed by the war's outbreak - captures the disparate feelings of people at the time. Nobody could believe the powers that were would let this thing happen, and when it did happen, many were at least as upset at the way it changed their own plans as at the fact of the war itself. Campton, the main character, had been in France when his wife of the time - they were later divorced - gave birth to his son George. This made George a French citizen as well as American, and thus he was called up to the Army.
Wharton skillfully keeps Campton at the front of the story - see what I did there? - and keeps us as in the dark about George's experiences as he was most of the time. Throughout the three plus years of the novel's time frame - it ends shortly after American soldiers arrive in France to fight in summer 1917 - we experience the constantly shifting understanding of the public and especially Campton as to everybody's role in the war. I've read plenty about WWI, but I've never read anything that is so focused on the effects on civilian life in a city so close to the front.
So many times, I thought I knew what would happen next, and then Wharton made me think it wouldn't, and then it usually did, allowing me to have my breath taken away. There is an extraordinary sentence uttered by a character who was having an affair with George - I was never happy enough to be so unhappy now. Has a certain kind of loss ever been so complexly yet perfectly expressed?
Wharton, who lived in Paris at the time - and in fact had her own summer vacation curtailed by the war's outbreak - captures the disparate feelings of people at the time. Nobody could believe the powers that were would let this thing happen, and when it did happen, many were at least as upset at the way it changed their own plans as at the fact of the war itself. Campton, the main character, had been in France when his wife of the time - they were later divorced - gave birth to his son George. This made George a French citizen as well as American, and thus he was called up to the Army.
Wharton skillfully keeps Campton at the front of the story - see what I did there? - and keeps us as in the dark about George's experiences as he was most of the time. Throughout the three plus years of the novel's time frame - it ends shortly after American soldiers arrive in France to fight in summer 1917 - we experience the constantly shifting understanding of the public and especially Campton as to everybody's role in the war. I've read plenty about WWI, but I've never read anything that is so focused on the effects on civilian life in a city so close to the front.
So many times, I thought I knew what would happen next, and then Wharton made me think it wouldn't, and then it usually did, allowing me to have my breath taken away. There is an extraordinary sentence uttered by a character who was having an affair with George - I was never happy enough to be so unhappy now. Has a certain kind of loss ever been so complexly yet perfectly expressed?
February 15, 2022
"The whole thing is so far beyond human measure that one's individual rage and revolt seem of no more use than a woman's scream at an accident she isn't in."
This quote pertains specifically to WWI, but I think it applies to all the human suffering we see in historical moments. Especially the pandemic we've just lived through.
This quote pertains specifically to WWI, but I think it applies to all the human suffering we see in historical moments. Especially the pandemic we've just lived through.
September 5, 2025
This was really v beautiful, my favourite of Wharton's for sure. 🥲
'You've had him; you have him still. Nobody can touch that fact or take it from you. Every hour of his life was yours.'
'You've had him; you have him still. Nobody can touch that fact or take it from you. Every hour of his life was yours.'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2020
I wasn't even aware that Edith Wharton, one of the very best writers of her era, wrote a novel about the Great War. It's fair to say that there's a good reason why The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth are familiar to any lover of classic fiction and A Son at the Front is not.
Not that it's a bad novel. Wharton didn't do those, she was far too talented. However, she made some essential errors in this story, most notably with the choice of her protagonist, a selfish and largely dislikeable portrait painter named John Campton.
A self-absorbed divorcée, Campton is blissfully unaware of the impending conflict. His sole recognition of the pervading fear in his adopted city of Paris is noticing the "war-funk" on the faces of those he paints, but can't believe that it will happen, even up until the day of the announcement.
All he cares about is an upcoming holiday with his son George, who he hasn't seen much of in years due to the young man being educated abroad. This was another mistake by Wharton in my view; I understand that upper middle-class parents often had their children educated in the best schools overseas in those days, but the fact that he hardly even knows his son makes it hard to warm to him as a representative father fearing for the safety of his mobilisable son on the advent of war.
Wharton made a brave decision to make Campton so essentially selfish, braver still for making no bones about the full extent of his aversion to sacrifice, which at the outset went far beyond his familial desire to keep his son out of the army:
'Secretly, too, he feared the demands that would be made on him if he once let himself be drawn into the network of war charities. Tiresome women would come and beg for money, or for pictures for bazaars ... it could only result in his turning out work that would injure his reputation and reduce his sales after the war.'
Campton's ex-wife and her second husband, neither of which he has much respect for, are better placed to get George a cushy job far behind the frontline, yet he resents their interventions, even if they should manage to succeed where he has failed. Again, there is a dogged honesty to this, I can well imagine a bitter divorcée behaving this way, but it undercuts his love for his son.
George has other ideas anyway, secretly manoeuvring himself into the trenches. Campton's expatriate friends, who he doesn't even like very much (another mark against him), volunteer for the war effort, working for the ambulance service, nursing and aiding refugees.
Inevitably as the war continues and the sons and nephews of his associates begin to die, Campton begins to change his mind about the nature of a parent's sacrifice. The death of a talented young artist further leads him to reflect on his own aloofness.
Wharton undoubtedly made Campton an unsympathetic character initially in order to have events and the self-sacrificing attitude of his own son bring about an apotheosis. Maybe if the novel had been published during the war this approach would have made more sense as an exercise in shaming even the most selfish of parents to the needs of the hour, but it came out in 1921.
It's an Edith Wharton novel, so you know that tragedy awaits for the denouement. If only Campton's pettiness didn't leave a bitter taste.
Not that it's a bad novel. Wharton didn't do those, she was far too talented. However, she made some essential errors in this story, most notably with the choice of her protagonist, a selfish and largely dislikeable portrait painter named John Campton.
A self-absorbed divorcée, Campton is blissfully unaware of the impending conflict. His sole recognition of the pervading fear in his adopted city of Paris is noticing the "war-funk" on the faces of those he paints, but can't believe that it will happen, even up until the day of the announcement.
All he cares about is an upcoming holiday with his son George, who he hasn't seen much of in years due to the young man being educated abroad. This was another mistake by Wharton in my view; I understand that upper middle-class parents often had their children educated in the best schools overseas in those days, but the fact that he hardly even knows his son makes it hard to warm to him as a representative father fearing for the safety of his mobilisable son on the advent of war.
Wharton made a brave decision to make Campton so essentially selfish, braver still for making no bones about the full extent of his aversion to sacrifice, which at the outset went far beyond his familial desire to keep his son out of the army:
'Secretly, too, he feared the demands that would be made on him if he once let himself be drawn into the network of war charities. Tiresome women would come and beg for money, or for pictures for bazaars ... it could only result in his turning out work that would injure his reputation and reduce his sales after the war.'
Campton's ex-wife and her second husband, neither of which he has much respect for, are better placed to get George a cushy job far behind the frontline, yet he resents their interventions, even if they should manage to succeed where he has failed. Again, there is a dogged honesty to this, I can well imagine a bitter divorcée behaving this way, but it undercuts his love for his son.
George has other ideas anyway, secretly manoeuvring himself into the trenches. Campton's expatriate friends, who he doesn't even like very much (another mark against him), volunteer for the war effort, working for the ambulance service, nursing and aiding refugees.
Inevitably as the war continues and the sons and nephews of his associates begin to die, Campton begins to change his mind about the nature of a parent's sacrifice. The death of a talented young artist further leads him to reflect on his own aloofness.
Wharton undoubtedly made Campton an unsympathetic character initially in order to have events and the self-sacrificing attitude of his own son bring about an apotheosis. Maybe if the novel had been published during the war this approach would have made more sense as an exercise in shaming even the most selfish of parents to the needs of the hour, but it came out in 1921.
It's an Edith Wharton novel, so you know that tragedy awaits for the denouement. If only Campton's pettiness didn't leave a bitter taste.
June 5, 2017
My rating: 3.5
A compelling story about the effects of war on those who are left behind. This is Wharton's anti-war statement, but she does it in the guise of a novel which raises questions/issues to ponder. Not well received at the time of its publication, it certainly does provide a thought provoking look back in time.
A compelling story about the effects of war on those who are left behind. This is Wharton's anti-war statement, but she does it in the guise of a novel which raises questions/issues to ponder. Not well received at the time of its publication, it certainly does provide a thought provoking look back in time.
July 4, 2012
A fine novel, under appreciated for too many years (even now, almost twenty years after its republication). Wharton writes about the part of World War I she knew the best, the life at the rear of the conflict, in Paris, including the charity work, the many, many people who continually receive news that their sons have died in the conflict, and artistic and social life. The editor of this edition, in her introduction, says that in this novel Wharton lays out her idea of the role of intellectuals in wartime and, I think, this is partly true. But I also think she misreads the text by using as her main example the "Friends of French Art" charity as depicted in the book. Much of Wharton's subtle satire is, in fact, directed at this group even before it switches hands and aims toward the end. The artists and intellectuals surrounding the protagonist Campton, she makes clear, are more interested in following fads and fashions than in actually doing war work (and this includes the protagonist, who is not shown wholly in a positive light). It is this tension in the plot that provides the story arc and the eventual shifting of Campton's thoughts and opinions about the war as he experiences the agony of having his son serving at the front. This is not a novel that is on a par with some of Wharton's others, but it is a good book that deals with issues that don't often appear in the "canon" of World War I literature.
February 17, 2011
Very rarely do I come along such a beautiful novel. I loved the author's style. She was very clear and it flowed well.
This novel is about a father's priorities for his son, but once he enters WW11, those priorities explode and the father is devastated. The father is very pessimistic and anti-war and his attitude reminds me of the current feelings concern the Iraqi war.
I am in love with this one :)
This novel is about a father's priorities for his son, but once he enters WW11, those priorities explode and the father is devastated. The father is very pessimistic and anti-war and his attitude reminds me of the current feelings concern the Iraqi war.
I am in love with this one :)
October 11, 2011
This did not quite have the punch that I was hoping for. Fully cognizant that almost every man in France between the ages of 18 and 40 died in World War I, I was prepared for a sad outcome. While well written, it seemed like the characters were kept at a distance. You never really get to know them or care about them. It did not even provoke a tear at the end, a requisite for me to give four or five stars.
June 23, 2015
I love Edith Wharton. There are not enough stars to reflect what a beautiful book this is. I wish I could have experienced the gift of being in a conversation with Edith Wharton. She is, in my view, right there with Dickens, Garcia Marquez, and, yes, Steinbeck. I love them all, and am so grateful they took the time to write. The world, certainly my life, is better place for their work.
April 27, 2025
This took a long time to read for a short book. Wharton’s prose is as wonderful as always but it is dense - a lot of meaning packed into each sentence - so I had to read slowly. The story itself is a snapshot of everyday life in Paris for those “in the rear”, people with a stake in the war, such as sons or husbands fighting, but who must go on with everyday life somehow.
April 28, 2012
I liked her characters (for the most part) and her plot, but something about her writing just does not grip me. I've been coming back to this book off and on for over a year, and I've finally managed to plow through it.
Still, I'd take this over "House of Mirth" ANY DAY.
Still, I'd take this over "House of Mirth" ANY DAY.
January 4, 2016
Heartbreaking and Real
I last read Wharton in college. Found this novel by chance and remembered how I loved Ethan Frome. A perfect picture of a father's love and struggle with the man his son becomes. Too many memorable lines to cite just one. Much of a time, but not dated.
I last read Wharton in college. Found this novel by chance and remembered how I loved Ethan Frome. A perfect picture of a father's love and struggle with the man his son becomes. Too many memorable lines to cite just one. Much of a time, but not dated.
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