The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

Published as an audiobook by Librivox, read via Fabuly.
Narrated by Brenda Dayne.
First published 1920.

Whoa. This book is intense!

And not in the usual way you might think of.

The Age of Innocence is the third Pulitzer Prize-winning novel I have read, and is the most unexpected so far. I wasn't expecting a novel written in 1920 and set in the 1870s to be so heavily about the main character considering an affair... but there you go!

It is very emotionally charged, with our main character, Newland Archer, growing obsessed with the married-but-separated Madame Ellen Olenska even as he pursues an engagement with the more traditional and (in Newland's eyes) almost ignorantly 'innocence' May Welland. It is apparent from the start that it is not only that Newland finds Ellen 'fascinating', but that he is thrilled and tempted by the very fact that Ellen is unconventional, perhaps a little bit dangerous, and therefore - to him - more 'exciting' than his conventional choice of a bride.

Author Edith Wharton only ever gives us Newland's point of view, which cleverly suggests what others may be thinking, but only as Newland perceives it. At a certain point, later in the novel, when Newland becomes aware that others have been more aware of his thoughts and actions than he realised, the title of the novel stops applying only to May and hangs itself on Newland as well.

This is the sort of novel that, written in a more modern time period, would probably end up with Newland leaving May and running off with Ellen to have a passionate affair. In fact, the level of emotion in the book caused me to look up the plot ahead of time to assure myself it wasn't going to become too tawdry (I am not interested in reading books like that, and probably wouldn't have even started the book if I'd known the plot). However, the creation of the book in the 1920s and setting of it in the 1870s helps it to be a far more complex, nuanced, and interesting work than the 'trashier' version a modern setting could become.

It is not the sort of book I would usually read, and I certainly won't be starting to read this genre any time soon(!) but I can see why this one won an award - it is a very 'realistic' account of how someone could lose their innocence by gradual stages...

...it is quite powerful, in its own way.

Completed 27 March 2026.

Previous Book ~ Next Book


(Pulitzer Winning Fiction)

Previous Book ~ Next Book

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Top 5 Books of 2025

Image
This is the first time I have done a 'yearly' top 5 (although I did a ' Top 5 Top 5s ' previously, after my 5th book list), but it seems to fit with the year ending in a 5. Anyway, this is entirely subjective, and is an indication of where I currently sit in regards to these books. The list might even be different if I was asked on a different day. The following are not reviews of these books per se, but each one has been reviewed, and that review can be found by clicking on the title of the book in question. Also, these are ranked in the order that I read them, rather than specifically 1-5 or 5-1. That would take a while longer to sort out! The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I will give this one the award for 'Best Audiobook of the Year' and 'Best Whodunnit of the Year'. I listened to this over the Summer holidays last year, and enjoyed it enough that I listened to the rest of the series in the same year. Twisty, humorous, a bit unpredictable (a...
Read more

The Bullet That Missed - Richard Osman

Image
Published as an audiobook by Penguin Audio, 2022. Narrated by Fiona Shaw. Book 3 in the 'Thursday Murder Club' series. Preceded by ' The Man Who Died Twice. ' Followed by ' The Last Devil To Die. ' The third book in the Thursday Murder Club series begins to shift the status quo a little. Not only does it include a potential love interest for Ron and an old-flame for Elizabeth (there is also a potential love interest for Joyce but that is less unusual), but certain background realities - like Donna and Borden's developing relationship, and Steven's battle with dementia - are made more prominent, and particularly with the latter, begin to impact our characters (and the readers!) more than they have previously. The murder investigation and main subplot are both less important on the whole than the ongoing growth and development of the main characters, and yet both of the plots also have interest. The gang is investigating the murder of Bethany Waites, a rep...
Read more

The Pōrangi Boy - Shilo Kino

Image
Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021 (2020). Niko Te Kainga-mataa lives in the small town of Pohe Bay, a predominantly Māori community where the New Zealand government is planning to build a prison. Niko's grandfather, Tangaroa, is opposed to the prison, saying that it is going to be built on Māori land that is being watched over by the taniwha Taukere. Unfortunately, Tangaroa is known as the "pōrangi man" (crazy man), and throughout the book we see that he has lost some of his mental faculties - even to the point of urinating on people. As his grandson, and as someone who also wants to stand up against the prison being built, Niko too is labelled as pōrangi. Through the book, Niko has to wrestle with his own beliefs regarding Taukere, as well as learning to take a stronger leadership role in the community, particularly in the area of protesting the prison. Being written by a Māori author, Shilo Kino,  The Pōrangi Boy has a very authentic M...
Read more