"The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton: Newland Archer seems to have the world in the palm of his hand. He's a successful young solicitor, handsome, popular, and a right proper example of the American gentleman circa 1870's New York. His girlfriend, May Welland, is dazzlingly beautiful and the product of a prominent old family. The two plan to marry and live happily ever after. Aw, things have never been so swell. But into every life a little love must fall.
On the night when Newland and May intend to announce their engagement, Archer is attending the Opera, as is the custom of the social elite, when he notices a beautiful woman sitting in the Welland box. It's Ellen, May's cousin, fresh from Europe. Having ventured abroad in her teenage years, Ellen married a Polish Count and is now known as the Countess Olenska. Unfortunately, Madam Olenska's fairy tale existence didn't come equipped with a happy ending. Her husband was a cheat and all-around weasel, causing her to leave her wealthy world of privilege behind, returning home a somewhat disenchanted woman of 30, desperate for acceptance and finding little in the harsh, haughty world of high society.
The idea of a woman leaving her husband, under any circumstances, was frowned upon in the days of yore, especially when her departure was rumored to include a tryst with her husband's secretary. Complicating matters is that Ellen was always her own woman, whether it was wearing the wrong dress at her coming out party or speaking her mind when others expected quiet assent, thus naturally placing her outside the realm of "polite" society.
Archer, who knew Ellen as a child, is quick to befriend the outcast, hurriedly announcing his engagement with May so both their families can support Madam Olenska during her time of need. Of course, Archer begins to feel more than just familial compassion for his cousin-to-be. Madam Olenska is worldly, mysterious, defiant, individualistic, complex, yet vulnerable; basically, she's everything the innocent, puerile May is not. But making the jump from your longtime fiancee to her cousin is tricky, especially under the watchful eye of 19th-Century moralists.
I had "The Age of Innocence" pegged as a three-shot book from the start. Even though it was a bit slow and plodding at first, Madam Olenska is a remarkable character who brings life to her every page, easily securing at least three-shot status. But the book actually went through a bit of a transformation along the way, becoming less of a stuffy period piece and more about an ill- fated romance, completely independent of era or locale. Even with the societal element removed from the equation, the fear and anxiety Archer and Madam Olenska feel towards one another and their potential future together still rings true today.
Ms. Wharton does some marvelously subtle things in depicting their relationship, chronicling each false start and moment of weakness with a deft hand. Three moments, in particular, stand out. The first comes when Archer and May pay a visit to her grandmother. Madam Olenska is also visiting, but she fortuitously goes for a walk moments before their arrival. When Archer is sent to try and find her, it leads to a quiet moment of profound sacrifice. In the final chapter, which is set 30 years later than the rest, there's also a beautifully subdued scene where Archer learns something about May that forever alters how one thinks of her. And finally, the closing paragraphs are so poignant and true to life that they deserve mentioning with any of the great romantic endings in literature.
Hey, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And "The Age of Innocence" definitely closes like a champ.
RATING: 