2017 Reading Challenge discussion

I'm slightly torn on this book. While I appreciated the beautiful language that Wharton uses, sometimes she tended to drag on with her lamentations. I both liked and hated Lily Bart as a character. She made so many mistakes and as a reader you could see she was about to make another misstep and you wanted to just shake her and make her see the right way. But she was also redeeming in that she understood exactly who she was. She knew she was making mistakes as well but couldn't stop herself from doing it. She also knew she was basically useless at life, raised to be an ornament of high society. It helped ingratiate her. There is no denying that Wharton had a knack for delving into the lives of New York's richest set at the turn of the century. It really was an eye-opening view of the constant struggle to stay on top. She also didn't sugarcoat and give the readers a happy fairy-tale ending. The prince did not save the princess.