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The House of Mirth
The House of Mirth
The House of Mirth
Audiobook12 hours

The House of Mirth

Written by Edith Wharton

Narrated by Wanda McCaddon

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The beautiful, much-desired Lily Bart has been raised to be one of the perfect wives of the wealthy upper class, but her spark of character and independent drive prevents her from becoming one of the many women who will succeed in those circles. Though her desire for a comfortable life means that she cannot marry for love without money, her resistance to the rules of the social elite endangers her many marriage proposals. As Lily spirals down into debt and dishonor, her story takes on the resonance of classic tragedy.

The House of Mirth is a lucid, disturbing analysis of the stifling limitations imposed upon women of author Edith Wharton's generation. Herself born into Old New York Society, Wharton watched as an entirely new set of people living by new codes of conduct entered the metropolitan scene. In telling the story of Lily Bart, Wharton recasts the age-old themes of family, marriage, and money in ways that transform the traditional novel of manners into an arrestingly modern tale of one woman's struggle to succeed.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 15, 2008
ISBN9781400180356
Author

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was an American novelist—the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Age of Innocence in 1921—as well as a short story writer, playwright, designer, reporter, and poet. Her other works include Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth, and Roman Fever and Other Stories. Born into one of New York’s elite families, she drew upon her knowledge of upper-class aristocracy to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age.

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Rating: 3.973684210526316 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lily Bart is beautiful and lives with her rich aunt. She is nearly thirty and has been trying to make an advantageous marriage, without being able to bring herself to do it, for the last ten years. We see her throw over Percy Gryce, who was about to propose, because he is wrong and because she prefers the company of Lawrence Selden. Selden loves her, but is not rich enough for her purposes. Lily is caught up in marital dispute between two friend and rumours begin to circulate about her. Her aunt dies and leaves her only a small legacy. She begins to lose her place in society and eventually is forced to try to earn a living as a milliner.The whole book reads like a car crash and is relentless and oppressive. I found myself taking breaks out of a need to escape the unfolding disaster, although it is not without humour: Lily "had been bored all afternoon by Percy Gryce ... but... must submit to more boredom...and all on the bare chance that he might ultimately decide to do her the honour of boring her for life." Wharton cleverly causes us to sympathize with Lily, but at the same time we judge her for her sense of entitlement, the way she puts status and wealth above love, even the way she cannot bring herself to make the compromise she determines to make and just marry some one. Her moral conscience is important, and I was cheering for some of her later decisions (although I would have borrowed from Rosedale to repay Trenor and set up a shop).Gerty is a helpful character to show us a life style choice Lily could have made and Selden demonstrates a choice not to take society too seriously. None of Liliy's other "friends" are truly her friends at all, except for Carry Fisher and, in a sense, Simon Rosedale. Wharton's attitude to this Jewish character is of another era, but he has redeeming qualities and again offers Lily choices which she fails to take.Very interesting, with lots to think about, but I'm glad it's over and I need to go and read something cheerful.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Edith Wharton gives a searing portrait of New York high society at the turn of the 20th century. Lily Barton is a woman captivated and immersed in the society of the super rich. She desperately wants to belong to the inner circle with its world of luxury and leisure. She is beautiful and charming and is confident in her social skills to maneuver adroitly among society’s denizens. She has two liabilities, though. She is thirty years-old and unmarried and she is not rich. Her father once had a fortune and her society-obsessed mother gave Lily an unquenchable thirst for the life style of the top echelon of class. Her father lost his money in a business failure and soon after he and her mother died. Lily is living on a small inheritance and allowance from an elderly spinster aunt. Lily’s cousin, Gert, lives a more practical life of community service that Lily thinks is not admirable and which she has no desire to emulate. Lily knows she must marry money if she is to maintain her position among the elite. She knows that love will be entirely secondary, if present at all; social status is all that matter to her. She is close to Lawrence Selden, an attorney who, while welcomed in her circle for his charm, has not the financial means that will support her needs. She is clear with Selden that while she has affection for him their marriage is out of the question. She meets Percy Gryce, a young man with a large fortune who she is sure she can capture. Percy is also dull and boring, but Lily knows she will have to bear this to achieve her greater goal.Lily makes some mistakes. After visiting Selden in his apartment (something a single woman should not do) she is spotted by Simon Rosedale, a Jewish business man who cannot be part of society due to his race, but is tolerated by the upper elite because his business acumen is useful to them. Rosedale indicates that he may use the scandal of Lily’s visit with Selden at some time in the future. While on a stay at a party in a country estate, Lily is working toward snaring Percy but he spots her in a scene of mild amorousness with Selden and he drops her in favor of another woman. Lily is desperate for money so she takes advice from Gus Trenor, the husband of her friend, on investments and there is a good return on her investment. Later she realizes that Gus has actually given her the money as part of his romantic intentions toward her. He entices her to his town house on the pretext that his wife wants to see her, where he tries to seduce her. Her visit here becomes known, furthering the scandalous reputation she has acquired.Lily is so beautiful and charming and attractive to the husbands of her friends that they begin to cut her out of their crowd. She is finally ostracized when she is set up by a rival on the false story that Lily has tried to seduce her husband. She tries a number of approaches to regaining her position but nothing works. Rosedale had asked for her hand a year before and she rejected him as socially unacceptable, but now in her desperation she approaches his with her reconsideration. To her shock he says no and gives as the reason that his entry into society’s ranks through her is not longer possible due to the aura of scandal surrounding her. Lily continues to decline in status and spirit. Her aunt dies and Lily expects to receive her modest estate, but she learns that she has so alienated the aunt that the inheritance goes to another niece. She finally is forced to take work in a millinery shop and live in a seamy boarding house. She can never reconcile herself to a life outside of the halls of society and by the end she is suffering from emotional angst and to combat her chronic insomnia she takes sleeping draughts every night. One night she unintentionally takes too large a dose and she dies.Wharton’s book is a blistering depiction of the shallow vacuousness and nastiness of society in the gilded age. The unwritten rules that govern one’s place in society were arbitrary and cruel. Lily had many attributes that she could have used to break free from this world – her beauty, intelligence and charm – but she was so drawn to it that she could see no alternative style of living. She was dependent on others to maintain her standing since she hadn’t the fortune that otherwise would have secured it. The jealousy and vindictiveness of her friends and associates made her an outcast and she could do nothing but scheme to get back in the grace of society. Lily is more than a victim, however. She is so compelled to be a part of this social class that she has closed off any alternatives to it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A beautiful and captivating depiction of the anguish of a woman under the pressures of society.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    House of Mirth is one of those classics you read to analyze society from several different angles: society and the woman's role it in; society and the pitfalls of economic status (or lack there of); society and the role of etiquette. House of Mirth is the book you read in college, in grad school and then go on to write about in your dissertation.In a nutshell, Lily Bart is an orphaned young woman desperate to keep up with the Joneses. She is in love with status and wealth. After her father's ruin and subsequent death, Lily's mother pins her hopes of future fortunes on her daughter's good looks. Only she too passes before Lily can put her beauty to good use and be married off to some wealthy bachelor. Lily is then taken in by a wealthy relation who tests Lily's morality in the face of greed and luxury. In a modern spin, Lily is a classic gold digger, looking to "land" a prosperous mate at whatever cost.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've finally finished Edith Wharton's classic novel of manners but unfortunately the tragic fate of Lily Bart didn't stir my emotions. There are some points in the novel where you think she may be coming to her senses but over all her character just frustrated me. I did, however, really enjoy the Terence Davies directed adaptation and Gillian Anderson adds much more subtlety and depth to the character of Miss Bart than the text ever did.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Definitely not "mirthful," this downer of a classic is a social commentary and primer on manners of the wealthy-elite community during the turn-of-the-century Gilded Age. It is the story of Lily Bart, a poor girl, who does her best to fit into the closed and cruel society of the rich New York aristocracy. Money and greed become the center of her universe as she spends and gambles away whatever she has. She is beautiful and witty, so she is surrounded by suiters, both single and married. She forms what she understands to be a business partnership with one of the married admirers, and the relationship leads to her downfall when she is accused of having an affair with him. Deeply in debt and even deeper in depression, she struggles to stay afloat, even turning to Laudanum to help her sleep. Her descent is heartbreaking and disturbing, but her revelations are deeply moving. This melodrama is a fantastic reading experience, and I highly recommend it to all.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Finally read an Edith Wharton. Excellent book, great writing. Enjoyed the insight into life in 1905.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Possibly my favorite book ever. As a young, single woman I never felt as close to any character in any book as I did to Lily Bart despite our widely differing circumstances. This resonated with me far more than any "chick lit" ever could. Edith Wharton is the queen and quite frankly kicks the shit out of her old pal Henry James as far as writing characters is concerned.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderfully written, engaging story which somehow is timeless and serves as a perfect time piece. I think I have been reading too more modern novels a I did find the omniscient voice highly unusual.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I LOVED this book. It was an interesting commentary/observation of femine roles & societal judgement in the early part of the century, and even though I knew better, I held out hope till the tragic end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    After seeing the movie and wanting more detail, I got this for free on my Kindle. It focused on the life of a young unmarried woman in the early 1900s and her search for a well-provided-for life. She started out with some money but eventually ended up broke, missing a few opportuniites to marry into wealth because of her erratic behavior, as well as not recognizing who really loved her.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    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.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of the most cleverly written books that I have come across in a long time. I love the way all the plotlines come together to advance the story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have no idea if I'll be able to think of anything worthwhile to say about this. It's the best book I've read in a little while.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    2000, Blackstone Audiobooks, Read by Anna FieldsLily Bart, bred to be ornamental, has known only comfort and luxury. When her family is ruined, she is keenly aware that she must marry money in order to maintain her position in 1890s New York’s elite society: “The only way to not think about money is to have a great deal of it." (Bk 1, Ch 6) And there are no shortage of suitors: Lawrence Selden, Percy Gryce, Simon Rosedale. But she dithers, seemingly wanting the impossible: Selden, whom she loves, is not wealthy enough; and while Gryce and Rosedale are plenty wealthy, she cares not a thing for either of them. Indeed, what might life be like married to Percy Gryce, that droning millionaire and “portentous little ass”:“She had been bored all the afternoon by Percy Gryce … but she could not ignore him on the morrow, she must follow up her success, must submit to more boredom, must be ready with fresh compliances and adaptabilities, and all on the bare chance that he might ultimately decide to do her the honour of boring her for life.” (Bk 1, Ch 3)Lily’s hesitation, coupled with a series of other social missteps and foolish decisions, sets in motion her descent of the social ladder. But it is Bertha Dorset, the novel’s antagonist, who ensures Lily’s expulsion from society. A nasty, manipulative woman, Bertha invites Lily on a Mediterranean cruise; but her motives are despicable. An unsuspecting Lily walks right into her deception, and Bertha uses her money and influence to bar Lily permanently from society. Wharton’s protagonist pathetically becomes one “so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.” (Bk 1, Ch 1)The House of Mirth is highly recommended. While I did not enjoy it as much as The Age of Innocence, I love to read about late 1800s New York Society, particularly as written about by Wharton – elite, ostentatious, frivolous, narrow-minded, vicious – and fascinating. Expectedly, prose and characterization are brilliant. And Anna Fields did a lovely job of narration in this audiobook edition.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My heart was broken! Beautifully written! Personally i think it is better than 'The age of innocence', but Scoress made a better film than Terence Davies.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Here's where I'd put my anthology entry.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read that Wharton was originally a 'Jones', and the "keeping up with the Jones's" referred to her parents. I do hope this is true and, if so, explains how she completely understands the upperclass, moneyed society with its freedoms and rules dissected in The House of Mirth. The main character has been brought up to be a charming, beautiful adornment to this society, but lacks the funds to manoeuvre through it without compromise.In Lily, Wharton skilfully creates a central character who is believably selfish and foolish, but that you are drawn in to finding out what happens to her. Seeing her desire for luxury and her relish in being the belle-of the-ball, I was surprised at the choices she made, but I realise that is why I am still thinking about this beautifully written novel, and hence the five stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As I read this tale of tragedy and the upper classes, I wondered who I most resembled in character: Seldon, who offers his love to Lily Bart, but is too afraid to commit to it, or Rosedale, whose love for Lily could save her but is yet unwanted. I have in mind a friend of sometimes tragic countenance who fits Miss Bart's character so perfectly that it worries me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'm not quite sure where to start with this review other than to say I thought this book was full of many moments of utter brilliance. Firstly, there was the setting of the New York upper class at the beginning of the 20th century. I've read lots of society type books from this era, but I think this is the first (for me) that's been set in the US. Out went the Downton Abbey setting of the many English books I've read from the period, and in it's place was wonderful descriptions of the early inhabitants of those fabulous brownstone buildings of streets like 5th Avenue.Secondly, Lily was the most fabulous heroine I've come across in a while. At first she seemed an unlikeable character - shallow, vain, and with aspirations focused solely on material gain and sustaining her ability to keep up with her social set. However, as the book unfolds she develops into the most complex character full of self-contradictions. On the one hand she wants to seek out a marriage into money, yet when opportunity knocks she can't take that final step. She equates marriage with the huge compromise of dull, pompous husbands, and interprets love as a fanciful dream which can never lead to happiness as it's destined to be attached to an insufficient income.She's the least well off of her set, needing to stay in favour with her group more than any of the others, yet she lets them wildly misconstrue a number of incidents which ultimately lead to her downfall. She has ample opportunity on a number of occasions to set the record straight or to quiet rumours with some well-aimed counter mudslinging, yet she chooses instead to hold her head high in hushed dignity, protecting people who ultimately expose the false veneer of her material dreams for what they really are.Ultimately Lily is a person of rare depth and character within her set, and cleverly Wharton reveals that to us whilst sadly holding Lily back for much of the book from discovering her true self. Her dialogue is razor sharp in places, and at times the book was very humorous.4.5 stars - a very clever, unique read from the period.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was wonderful in so many ways. I would recommend it as a perfect bridge book to any classics fan, especially those enamoured of Austen or the Brontës, as a great segue into reading more 20th century literature. Lily Bart's plight is exacerbated by the times in which she lives, but modern enough to still be relevant to today's readers. People too often walk away from nineteenth century literature thinking "how awful to be a woman in that time where you were not allowed to have any occupation other than serving a husband and family or sitting around all day waiting to get married off. Things are so much different now." The perils that distress Lily Bart, in spite of her wealth, are not that much different now, and many millennial feminists will see resonance in her crises. The writing style also strikes a lovely balance between the traditional and the new--not too experimental, but not as inaccessible as some older writing can be. The ambiguity in the ending is perfect and would open up great possibilities for book club conversations.If you do read this book, however, I do not recommend the Barnes and Noble edition, or else recommend that you ignore most of the ancillary material included in it. Jeffrey Meyers' introduction manages to spoil every significant detail of the plot, including the ending, along with the endings of three other major books. His assessment of the film version of the book is snobbishly dismissive, and his annotated bibliography is just arrogant and tacky. I've never read an annotated bibliography before that described works as boring or not worth a reader's time. In a review this would be fine, but in a scholarly text it seems unprofessional. Just describe what the additional material is about and let readers decide what they are interested in seeking out.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Nothing mirthful at all
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Edith Wharton belongs in my cohort of favorite authors who write about courting and marriage but not for the same reasons. In “The House of Mirth,” Miss Lily Barton is unmarried and dependent on the society of which she strives to belong. When her plans to marry go awry, she makes one failed maneuver after another and finds herself quite alone and increasingly without the means to support herself. Her life is anything but merriment. Wharton uses satire and humor like Jane Austen and Barbara Pym, but there is a darker undercurrent to her plot which makes me glad that I was born in a much different time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this! It is the first book I have read by this author and having read this, I shall definitely be reading more of her work. My sympathy for Lily grew throughout the book and though she was annoying at the start, I grew to like her as the story progressed. I didn't mind that the book had a sad ending - in fact that made the book all the more poignant.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “A runaway bestseller on publication in 1905, The house of mirth is a brilliant romantic novel of manners.” The story of twenty-nine year old Lily Bart, a single woman who lives on the edge of New York high society, is entertaining and stimulating on many levels. Lily is aware of how few options are available to her-life as a lonely single woman, marriage for love without money, or marriage for money. Lily dreads the first two-she loathes what she calls the “dingy” lifestyle of those who are not rich. But Miss Bart’s repeated sabotaging of her own opportunities to marry rich suggest that Lily, for all her self-absorption and need for comfort, is a deeper and more thoughtful woman than many of her contemporaries.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Found Lily's sense of honor and personal code admirable but strange that it did not extend to those ordinary people around her who made a life of luxury and indolence. But then maybe I'm looking at it from a 21st century perspective
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Although not as well-written as The Age of Innocence, Wharton does a fabulous job of filling the reader with a sort of admiration for Lily Bart, despite her selfish and self-serving attitude and ambitions. I found myself disgusted by her inability to choose happiness over comfort, but perhaps I simply don't understand enough about what it meant to her circle to achieve a position of importance. The ending was certainly tragic, but lacked the acute irony that resonated at the end of Age of Innocence. Overall, a splendid book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was another book from my 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, & I can see WHY it became such a sensation in it's day, & why it endures as a classic tale today. Lily is an example of the upper echelon of the class system in early New York. She was trained to do absolutely nothing but be decorative & was brought up to do nothing but marry well. Lily has a few character flaws, which prevent her from doing the thing she was brought up to do, especially since she was raised by a relatively stingy rich aunt after her parents died when she was young. As her life reaches 29, then 30, she falls out of favor with the high society crowd, & is invariably pushed down a rung in the ladder each time till she hits rock bottom after her aunt's death & she was disinherited in favor of another cousin. Lily is at heart not a bad person, she just makes bad choices. If she had married Selden when she had the opportunity, her life would have been richer in SO many more ways than simply financially.....sad ending, but not altogether unexpected..
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I usually really like Wharton, but I found this to be too damn depressing. How dare this beautiful woman with her tiny income show independence of spirit and flout convention. She must be brought to her knees by societal convention and destroyed. Eff that crap.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My first Wharton, and I can see why so many people love her. The writing is excellent, the social commentary is strong, and the female characters especially in this book feel authentic. I found myself equal parts annoyed by and enamored of Lily. Her movements within ‘society’ as an independent woman, and her fall from that society, make for a compelling story. Lily Bart will stay with me for a long time. So many feels.