Here is what I wrote in my journal at the time I read it: >>Once I started it, I plodded through it to the end. I had to read it in graduate school. I must say that I found the ending to be a poignant one. I initially resisted the novel because it appeared to be a "teacup tragedy." And the image of the tea cups along with the formal dinners and the social gatherings seem to confirm this. Yet I found Edith Wharton to be more readable than Henry James [I had to read James as well for that class]. One thing I found interesting about the novel was the depiction of social codes and language. Characters would converse but often what was left unsaid was more significant.
