trinity’s Reviews > The Age of Innocence > Status Update

there is something so incredibly real about this book, despite how far away it feels to read about NY Gilded Age. Reminds me of this quote:

"You read something which you though only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important."

been reading so much that i feel a slump coming on... attempting to alleivate it by reading some of my 'greats'. this book does something to me...

wow.

I fear the next time I update this, I will be finished and writing a review. I fear for the end, and I miss reading this book already.

'What a life for you! -' he groaned.
'Oh - as long as it's a part of yours.'
'And mine a part of yours?'
She nodded.
'And that's to be all - for either of us?'
'Well; it *is* all, isn't it?'

Would've felt better if I was shot. I keep writing down quote after quote of this book because I didn't buy it, I'm borrowing from the library. I may have to say fuck it and buy myself a copy.

"I'll say anything you like; or nothing. I won't open my mouth unless you tell me to. What harm can it do to anybody? All I want is to listen to you." pg 199

Every section of Ellen and Archer together I want to copy, print out and read forever and ever. I know their situation so intimately, I know exactly what they feel and are thinking. God. This book is so good.

"I can't love you unless I give you up." pg 147

That last chapter before book two was fucking killer. I've never read anything like it in a classic novel. It's strange that even 100 years later, I feel for Ellen Olenska so deeply.

Also May? Many thoughts on May but wow... What a sweet woman.

It's interesting to read about the customs of New York. At first, I couldn't tell how Wharton was satirizing American life, but it is beyond clear now with the way that Ellen is and how Archer responds to her.