Custom of the Country

[Runcrazy]

I finished last night! Wow! WHAT A GREAT BOOK! There really is people like her out there. I love the way she is portrayed. I won't say much more until I know where everyone is as I don't want to spoil anything.

 

[LauraMax]

OK, I've got 20 pages to go. I swear, Undine is like some kind of robot or alien. She has no remorse, no feelings, nothing but selfishness. Poor Ralph! Poor Paul!

I do love the way Raymond treats her though. Even though she's so freakin self absorbed she can't manage to see it's her fault, not his. Oh & the conversation she had w/her friend towards the end of the book actually made me LOL--when she returned to Paris & tried to re-enter society, & told her friend so many of these people were "bores." And her friend told her the social set actually considered Undine a bore, not the other way around. So she goes to an art gallery & tries to discuss it at a dinner, winds up making a complete fool of herself.

God what an a$$hole!

 

[andtckrtoo]

I'm not reading any of the notes here yet. I am in the process of finishing another book (will finish tonight) and then I'll move to Custom of the Country - reading the first responses here made me HAVE to get it.

 

[Janis]

Ok. I am done.

I agree - wow, what a great book. I am definitely reading more Wharton. Not sure why I haven't.

Poor Paul.

Undine - Phew. Self absorbed.

Early on I noticed Moffat was the only one who could penetrate her.

(I finished last night, but the forum was down this morning and I was out of town all bloody day!)

 

[Runcrazy]

Ok. I am done.

I agree - wow, what a great book. I am definitely reading more Wharton. Not sure why I haven't.

I know me too! This is the first book I've read by her and I want to read more! She's got great style! No wonder its a classic!

 

[LauraMax]

Early on I noticed Moffat was the only one who could penetrate her.

Is that a euphamism?

I'm done too. The ending was fabulous! It left me asking the same Q I was asking throughout the book--what exactly did Undine want from life? Every time she got what she thought she wanted, she discovered it wasn't. To the very end. Makes you wonder what kind of life she'd have made for herself today, where there is no longer a "custom of the country" for women.

BTW, I read the intro by some Chapel Hill prof when I finished (hate reading intros first, sometimes they give away the story). I hadn't realized Undine was named after the hair perm product her father had invented. So I guess that mystery's solved.

 

[Janis]

Is that a euphamism?

lol.

Yes and no. I do mean that definition as well as the other definitions. Elmer was the only one who saw through her games and her crap and called her on it time and again. With him she would drop her act and be herself. In the hotel in Paris he got her to yield to him. What's that saying, you can't game a gamer. They are two peas in a pod.

(damn it, I wrote a whole bunch more but some random key stroke wiped it out. )

I agree, the ending was fabulous. I was still hoping for some humiliating life changing come uppance, but I guess her exile and temporary shunning will have to suffice. Interesting how Wharton gave Undine what she wanted, billions, material possessions, social status, title, yet Undine was still not capable of giving and receiving love, nor feeling entirely happy. She was bound to always seek for more, and always feel slightly anxious that there was more that she felt entitled to but wasn't aware of what it was - just yet. (and her ignorance on all matters that were outside of being worshipped - ! lol Well, maybe that is Wharton's lesson.)

Poor Paul. A sequel would have been good, picking up Paul's story, how he grew into a man despite his mother's aloofness and his loneliness. How he dealt with his spasm of anger over her lies.

Great read. Great choice of a book-club-book.