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renardthefox's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Read for A233.
mdarceyhall's review against another edition
5.0
Everything wonderful about this novel and Edith Wharton has already been said, so I'll just say Undine Spragg is one bad bitch. Wharton always crafts some of the wildest female characters, full of desire beyond their station in life. Undine has the social climbing dreams of Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, the manipulation skills of Isabella Thorpe in Northanger Abbey, and the diva demands of Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl. I always enjoy Wharton's ruthless criticism of consumerism, capitalism, and our image-obsessed culture, and it's scarily relevant today. 4 stars for plot + 1 bonus star for Wharton's cheeky zingers every other page.
erickibler4's review against another edition
3.0
This is another dip into the Lifetime Reading Plan well.
Undine Spragg is a beautiful but spoiled little Midwestern bourgeois princess. She goads her parents into relocating to New York City, where she hopes to realize her dream of marrying well, entering "society" as she sees it, and living a life of ease and entertainment, surrounded by all the things lots and lots of money can buy.
A succession of marital adventures (each with an aristocrat of a different type) teach her nothing about living a truly fulfilling life. Undine is sort of a proto-Scarlett O'Hara. But unlike Scarlett, she never undergoes any refining hardship, and thus, never develops her character into someone the reader can truly like.
This is a didactic book, in which Wharton shows us how the prevailing definitions and behaviors of success in business create such "perfect monsters" as Undine. A perceptive mouthpiece of a character states this theme outright in the first third of the book. "The custom of the country" has created her. The remainder of the book merely hammers the lesson home over and over again. Although there are some surprises and reversals, Undine is allowed to remain the same spoiled Undine she was from the beginning.
Undine Spragg is a beautiful but spoiled little Midwestern bourgeois princess. She goads her parents into relocating to New York City, where she hopes to realize her dream of marrying well, entering "society" as she sees it, and living a life of ease and entertainment, surrounded by all the things lots and lots of money can buy.
A succession of marital adventures (each with an aristocrat of a different type) teach her nothing about living a truly fulfilling life. Undine is sort of a proto-Scarlett O'Hara. But unlike Scarlett, she never undergoes any refining hardship, and thus, never develops her character into someone the reader can truly like.
This is a didactic book, in which Wharton shows us how the prevailing definitions and behaviors of success in business create such "perfect monsters" as Undine. A perceptive mouthpiece of a character states this theme outright in the first third of the book. "The custom of the country" has created her. The remainder of the book merely hammers the lesson home over and over again. Although there are some surprises and reversals, Undine is allowed to remain the same spoiled Undine she was from the beginning.
champers4days's review against another edition
3.0
Our dear Miss Wharton creates a perfectly unrepentant, narcissistic anti-heroine in Custom of the Country. Undine Spragg's father rises from social and economic obscurity to wealth, and during that rise creates a daughter who has the utterly fantastic ability to get whatever she wants, only to be wretchedly dissatisfied after her desires are met.
Undine's blindness to the fact that she ruins the lives of everyone around her while on this path of dissatisfaction is staggering - hence the narcissism. But it's an uncertain self-love, as she desperately tries to fit into whatever society she perceives to be better-off than her current circle. She reminds me of what an ignoble version of House of Mirth's Lily Bart would be if Bart got everything she wanted (which, of course, she does not).
I won't ruin the ending here, but suffice to say, Undine never learns from her past mistakes and makes everyone else around her miserable, while being mostly miserable herself. It's Wharton, so of course the book is expertly written, but the characters' downfalls are pretty painful to read...
Undine's blindness to the fact that she ruins the lives of everyone around her while on this path of dissatisfaction is staggering - hence the narcissism. But it's an uncertain self-love, as she desperately tries to fit into whatever society she perceives to be better-off than her current circle. She reminds me of what an ignoble version of House of Mirth's Lily Bart would be if Bart got everything she wanted (which, of course, she does not).
I won't ruin the ending here, but suffice to say, Undine never learns from her past mistakes and makes everyone else around her miserable, while being mostly miserable herself. It's Wharton, so of course the book is expertly written, but the characters' downfalls are pretty painful to read...
dannb's review against another edition
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Undine Spragg is a loathsome, deplorable narcissist... in an unhappy life. Wharton captures it all.
sleepingsaha's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, Undine — Lily Bart aspires to be her, Blair Waldorf grudgingly respects her, Daisy Buchanan understands her. I went into this novel knowing very little about it and I think that’s the way to do it, because I really could not predict what Undine, as well as the men she’s puppeteering, would be capable of. Wharton is brilliant at setting, and especially at varying setting based on the narrator’s POV. That’s part of what makes the book so compelling. I was also captured by the ferocity of Undine’s feelings, from her resentment to her longing to her self-interested curiosity. I feel like this would fit well into an “I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs” theme, and I also feel that the book raises intriguing questions about nationalism / Americanness, narrativizing one’s own life, and what we owe to not just our partners but our parents, our children, and the people we have once loved. The only thing I wish were different about this novel is the ending, which I felt wrapped things up too neatly and was a bit heavy-handed (I liked this better than “The Age of Innocence” but the ending of that one has stayed with me!). Still, I’m so glad I read this and I think it’ll be one of my favorites of the year!
sarahanneaz's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
marianne_clh's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
donaldleitch's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The Custom of the Country is a well written novel. Edith Wharton weaves together a story of excess wealth, shallow people with melancholy humour and well drawn characters.