Book Review- Age of Innocence

 Aah! The Age of Innocence! We decided to read this book in my 2 person book club when my friend's daughter was visiting town, joined us as an honorary member and came book shopping with us to help our future picks. I wanted to pick either The Great Gatsby or Age of Innocence but since she too wanted to read this we picked up AOI despite getting much resistance from her Mother. Since the TV show (and one of my ex guilty pleasures) Gossip Girl had referred to this book a few times, I knew it was about New York society, but I didn't really know too much else about it and hadn't seen the movie.
When I started reading the book I found it a bit difficult to get into as I hadn't read a classic for a while (it was written in 1920 but is set in the 1870's) and I found the language a bit difficult to get into. Once I realized to not get bogged into the descriptive element of the book and get the gist of the story line and narrative instead, I found the language to be incredibly beautiful and one of the main reasons why I loved the book so much. As I mentioned already, the book is set in New York City in an era that is governed by convention and appearances. In the first chapter itself I was thoroughly amused by these descriptions and figured the book could very easily be based in Modern Dubai! For example Wharton describes a woman who is at the opera in the setting scene, whose presence is even more noted as she is hosting a ball at her house later that evening, so wants to make a statement as to how well trained her staff are and how often they entertain that her presence is not even required at home. Now make that opera be set at the Madinat and the lady's home at the Emirates Hills and we've got a modern day fairytale! But, I digress...
The book is about a young man, Newland Archer, who is engaged to be married to the young May Welland when her cousin, Countess Olenska comes to town after leaving her husband and causes a stir in the conservative society of New York. Of course, Newland is completely besotted with May are men were expected to be, and May in turn seems to be at first glance the perfect "wife material"and a bit of a mindless bimbo to be honest, but that soon changes. Wharton has a wickedly delicious sense of humour that doesn't always come through at first, but soon you realize she's laughing at the nuances of the society along with you. Her language though shines halfway through the book when it comes to the romance between the characters and the sheer brilliance of her use of words kept me absolutely hooked on to the book. My most favourite line was when Newland Archer tells the Countess about the effect she has on him every time they meet- “Each time you happen to me all over again. ” And another one I absolutely loved- “I shan't be lonely now. I was lonely; I was afraid. But the emptiness and the darkness are gone; when I turn back into myself now I'm like a child going at night into a room where there's always a light.”
 The romance in the novel is beautiful, breathtaking and heart breaking at the same time. And if you think it's a typical romance novel with a predictable end, think again. And as I said earlier, especially if you live in Dubai you may find yourself drawing quite a few parallels... “It was the old New York way...the way people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes", except those who gave rise to them."
I absolutely loved the book and found myself savouring it towards the end as I enjoyed the writing so much. And of course if that's not reason enough, the fact that it won a Pulitzer in 1921 may be enough to tempt you?
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