The House of Mirth Book 2, Chapters 4 and 5

The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton

So, I really like The House of Mirth and I think that Edith Wharton is a great writer, especially as a female at the turn of the century.  My annotations of the book include little smiley faces for the parts of the plot I enjoy, "haha"s for the funny parts, various notes, and little check marks for the passages I think are really well written or organized--there's almost always at least one on every page.  Some of my favorite passages from these two chapters are "The fragrance of the late blossoms seemed an emanation of the tranquil scene, a landscape tutored to the last degree of rural elegance (Wharton, page 38), "Society is a revolving body which is apt to be judged according to its place in each man's heaven; and at present it was turning its illuminated face to Lily" (Wharton, page 39), and "Ned Silverton was probably smoking the cigarette of young despair in his bedroom" (Wharton, page 46).  I just like the way she writes and the words she chose for certain scenes in the novel.  The plot of the story is also very good and entertaining, especially the scenes with Lawrence Selden and Lily.  However, there is one aspect of the novel and Wharton's writing that I do not like: the absence of a preface to some scenes.  The reader does not often expect what is coming next, and I think that most people want to be able to guess a little of what is going to happen so that they are more intrigued with the novel.  One specific instance of this is where Lily goes out to walk to church and Selden just appears.  After he arrives, Lily acts as if she was expecting him, but Wharton had given no indication that we should expect him in that scene.  I guess it's a part of the author's style, but I would prefer if we got a little bit of what's coming next in the plot.  Regardless, I think it's a great novel and am excited to read on.