The House of Mirth is a really great peek into high society in New York during the early
Twentieth Century. Early in the book Wharton does a great job of exploring the unique symptoms
and complications of being a woman in that society. It's an expert dissection of the roles and
expectations of a young woman living in this book's setting. The main character, Lily Bart, is
a victim of circumstance. Her every decision is motivated by the social expectations set around
her and her deep desire to remain a part of the upper stratum she has known her whole life,
although she really has no money to her name. Being without money is impossible in her situation
as she's trying to set herself up for life, her only means of doing so being to marry a wealthy
man. Marrying into wealth, however requires being a prominent character in an upper class social
group which itself has an extremely high cost of entry.
This book is just wonderful and it's so
full of drama, not so much in the theatrical sense but in the modern valley-girl sense of the
word. Words passed between characters in this book can carry such a stinging bite. The potential
consequences of a social misstep could have disastrous consequences for our protagonist. The
precariousness of her circumstance creates a lot of excitement and tension but the best part is
that it didn't really matter to me as a reader if she failed or succeeded. Wharton created a
character in Lily who is so easily likeable, relatable, and at the same time despicable, and
shallow. Part of the reason for this is how unfavorably she writes about the society and smaller
social groups the story is set in. If the book resulted in Lily ascending to a position of unmet
social power and riches you would revel in seeing the other social actors be taken down a peg
and embarrassed for the cruel things done to Lily and the bitchy gossip passed around by all of
them. Lily is mostly free of this gossiping trait and thus she has an air of righteousness above
the others. You also get to see some of her inner turmoil and her self awareness of her flaws
and where they came from. You almost believe she really has no control over her high tastes and
standards. These things pull you into her character and make you want to love her. There's
another side to our understanding of Lily however, she is so shallow and fake or put on. This
part of her character is so much in the forefront that her character becomes essentially one
dimensional (she's deeper than this but so overpowered by this side of herself). Seeing how she
doesn't really care about anyone except for in how they may be of benefit to her situation and
how the only things she cares about are materialist and vapid it makes you totally fine with
seeing her fail. Throughout the book Wharton makes a roller coaster of Lily's situation; things
seem like they're going great and then something happens to totally derail everything she's
worked for until she is saved by great fortune only to have the rug puled out again. It's
positively thrilling to follow and reassuring knowing that whatever happens to Lilly you'll be
satisfied. Overall the book is a great portrait of the upper class (it even reads as a criticism
and self-aware admission of how toxic social engagement was at the time) and a fun series of ups
and downs in a young woman's life. Great characters, beautiful use of language, wonderfully set
scenes and circumstances, and great narrative observations peppered throughout.
