On this reread at age 42, I didn’t love the book like I did at 16 but I did appreciate it more. I also see why I’ve reread Nine Stories much more thanOn this reread at age 42, I didn’t love the book like I did at 16 but I did appreciate it more. I also see why I’ve reread Nine Stories much more than this book, and I think Salinger’s strength was in short fiction, but honestly Holden and Phoebe are great characters and this is a good book....more
It’s stunning to me I have apparently never reread this in the 15 years I’ve been on GoodReads, because I read it constantly in childhood. Reading it It’s stunning to me I have apparently never reread this in the 15 years I’ve been on GoodReads, because I read it constantly in childhood. Reading it at almost 40 was like finding all my own earliest roots as a reader and as a person, but like Francie coming back to old things and finding them shabbier, I was a little surprised at the parts of the book that felt thin or didn’t hold up. The anti semitic portrayal of Jews stands out most, of course, and some of the gender depiction, but especially the weaker last third of the book when the Nolans are lifted out of poverty as much by chance as anything.
And for all that...this book still made me. Reading it as an observant child, I learned so much about the adult world, and grew into the kind of understanding Francie has. I think it’s very valuable for the lived experience Smith brings of early 20th century immigrant Brooklyn, and I do wish it wasn’t relegated to “historical chick lit” now. It’s a very wise book in some ways, but now that I’m older than Smith was when she wrote it, I can’t help having a different view of it....more
I read the series in the initial release but it's feeling very dated on reread and I don't think I'll continueI read the series in the initial release but it's feeling very dated on reread and I don't think I'll continue...more
Rereading this series for the first time in a decade has been somewhat disappointing. The atmosphere and world are still really great, but the plot isRereading this series for the first time in a decade has been somewhat disappointing. The atmosphere and world are still really great, but the plot is so clumsy — magical items and allies appear as conveniently as a video game, and the characters just seem locked into a simplistic ride through events. Lirael and Sameth are both very aggravating teen characters in their own ways, but I will actually give Nix credit for that being intentional, because the text tends to chide them for their failings. I just wish it wasn’t usually in the form of the conveniently powerful Dog and Mogget, who only intervene at the most convenient moments....more
Still very good, but I had to edit the Sai Fong section as I read it out loud to remove the pidgin English, and it really needs a rewrite in new editiStill very good, but I had to edit the Sai Fong section as I read it out loud to remove the pidgin English, and it really needs a rewrite in new editions (mine is old)...more
This was my first reread since I was a young adult, and it produced two somewhat contrary impressions.
The first time I read the book must have been fThis was my first reread since I was a young adult, and it produced two somewhat contrary impressions.
The first time I read the book must have been fairly close in time to seeing the movie, and I recall having little patience for the lovers, even as I was sympathetic to Newland. Despite being boy-crazy as a teenager, fictional romance tended to irritate me, and with my cold-hearted "reasonable" approach to the world I had a hard time reading about people doing foolish things for the sake of love.
With almost two more decades of life under my belt, I've become a far more sentimental reader, and I was much more taken in by the story of doomed and frustrated love. Wharton doesn't describe exactly why they love each other and she doesn't have to; what she does describe well is that feeling of sudden connection that happens sometimes, and all the unspoken communication it entails. The reader can see why they're in love and, in damning detail, why they cannot be together, and easily understand why this story has become a classic.
At the same time, I couldn't help feeling that the shift in focus from social commentary to romance was something of a loss. To me, the first and most obvious comparison of the Adultery Classics is Anna Karenina, because Wharton had some of Tolstoy's deep and generous powers of observation. The opening chapters of the novel were a revelation to me, as Newland dissects every element of his staid and stale culture, especially his perception of the "innocent" women in his milieu.
I understand that the final message of the novel is those women were never as naive as he believed them to be, but it's muddied and softened somewhat by the sensitive but sentimental portrayal of his romance. One has the sense of moving from his clear-headed detachment at the time of his engagement, through a sudden ducking into warm and dangerous waters of romance, emotion, and "real life," and then emerging again for a gasp of air into the "crystalline air" of old New York, but the uneven attention paid to his revelations and state of mind in the latter portion of his life diminishes the social observations at the beginning of the novel.
In short, this feels like two books, and while I enjoyed them both, I'm sorry for the loss of sharper novel of social observation that fades as the story travels into romance. I don't care for the uglier adultery classics, such as Madame Bovary, where the romance is sordid and sad, but as this is the rare one written by a female author, it's sad to lose that glimpse of sharp perspective....more
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