Journal Entry 1 by turbostitcher from Arlington, Texas USA on Sunday, May 04, 2008

Journal Entry 2 by turbostitcher from Arlington, Texas USA on Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Journal Entry 3 by turbostitcher from Arlington, Texas USA on Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Journal Entry 4 by turbostitcher at Seoul, Soul-t'ukpyolsi South Korea on Saturday, May 24, 2008

Released 4 yrs ago (5/24/2008 UTC) at Seoul, Soul-t'ukpyolsi South Korea

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 5 by Supertalya on Friday, May 30, 2008

The book arrived safely in South Korea, courtesy of the US Military Postal system. I was surprised to the see the book so soon. Although it looks like a beautiful day in Seoul, the air quality is at "orange level" so we are all recommended to stay indoors. I will start reading "The Age of Innocence" tonight since I won't be going outside anytime soon. I hope to have it out to cobalt-tree in about 2-3 weeks. 

Journal Entry 6 by Supertalya on Monday, June 02, 2008

What an amazing book. I was able to finish it in a couple of days. The characters were so developed along with the setting I could see it all and I felt I was there. I was often getting so angry at the book that I would talk aloud to it! I found it intriguing that the book pits the hero not only against society but against himself. I loved reading about the societal responsibilities and boundaries of that era, "Old New York."

It will be sent to cobalt-tree in the next few days! 

Journal Entry 7 by Supertalya at Bookring in bookcrosser, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Monday, June 02, 2008

Released 3 yrs ago (6/2/2008 UTC) at Bookring in bookcrosser, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

It is on its way to Canada. 

Journal Entry 8 by cobalt-tree from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

arrived in the mail and started reading today! 

Journal Entry 9 by cobalt-tree from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Sunday, July 27, 2008

sorry I took so long.
I've just finished it and will be mailing it very shortly!

EDIT: I posted this book about a week ago! enjoy! 

Journal Entry 10 by LaPitchoune from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

This arrived by mail. I'm in the middle of two bookrings, but they'll soon be dealt with, so I'll take on this next. Thanks for the ring! 

Journal Entry 11 by LaPitchoune from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Monday, September 15, 2008

I don't think I had seen the film, but the cover picture does seem familiar. However, I couldn't remember any of the events, which was good. I was hesitating between 9 and 10 stars. The more I thought of the book, the more I wanted to praise it, if only for the feminism (not the annoying sort, though)! A strong 9 it shall be, or even 9½.

The entries so far have been quite brief but this book shook my world to the extent that I'm going to have to quote some pages. So if you don't want to face any

- - - - SPOILERS - - - - -

watch out, cos here they come!

I thought I'd draw a little portrait of the characters here. This is what I make of them:

ELLEN

The entitled protagonist is an introverted brunette and a bohemian by nature. She seems to be ever out of place and time, always a foreigner. Yet, she doesn't mind her share. -I suppose what I like is the blessedness of its being here, in my own country and in my own town; and then, of being alone in it. - - Newland: You like so much to be alone? -Yes; as long as my friends keep me from feeling lonely. (p.72-73). In a way, she is an equivalent of Gustave Flaubert's Emma Bovary. I guess there are, have been, and always will be these kind of characters who are defined by exclusion from society. I feel sympathy for them. I wished I had a friend in somebody like Ellen.

In high society New York active participation and refined gossiping is expected of people, but both Ellen and Archer can listen, and answer it inwardly, holding on to a moral: The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing (p.201). Drawing oneself aside from the center of it all is a virtue to Ellen. She feeds on Inner Thoughts and contrasts, and to her, the only death is monotony (p.209). The contrast lies in the truth: where there are most balls, operas and theaters, there is the most gaping void. Or maybe Olenska -like Madame Bovary- was only depressed and should have been cured in the first place? Will we let the majority decide who is wrong and depressed? What if the majority is false, hollow and plain wrong?!

Still, the romance that undulates between Archer and Olenska is so beautiful and fragile that one doesn't want to ruin it by saying they were 'just' unhappy and unlucky in love, although that's what it could have been at a bare minimum. I want to think it's something deeper. They wrapped their common difference in the blanket of silence: by being so quiet, so unsurprised and so simple she had managed to brush away the conventions and make him feel that to seek to be alone was the natural thing for two old friends who had so much to say to each other... (p.239) Don't they say that company only means being alone with somebody else?

Ellen obviously sows the virtues of silence around her. Even her grandmother says she gave so many reasons (for her leaving) that I've forgotten them all. What matters are the deeds done or left undone. And in the end, she will have things her way (which might just be the most astonishing part of the novel)! What a victory! It was truly exciting.

NEWLAND

He is the narrator of the story. He is defined by an inner contrast that's tearing him apart. The wannabe feminist in him wants women to have the same liberties as men: so they could go about, have lovers and experience the world. However, he as a makes even less use of his liberties than Ellen, in a sense. He is the one who's fooled into the wrong marriage, bound and restricted from doing things - by his own choice! Yet he's moralizing and whining about Ellen's voluntary seclusion. It's hardly a coincidence that his family name is Archer: can you remember the scene where the man was standing in the love garden, looking at the Cupid who had lost his bow and arrow, never realizing that he was the one supposed to be holding them. Nomen was not omen...

This nonsensical, aimless behavior eventually leads him into exploiting his obedient little wife: on page 266 he grumbles to her about a lamp that's smoking and what does May do? She is sorry and will not let it happen again. What a subordinate being! Would a true feminist let his wife sink into the position of a house maid? All this makes me think of him as an annoyingly weak character, and a really flat one. He may be polite and considerate, even romantic at heart, but where is the real man in him?

As for the rest of the characters, I think the book reflects sharp-sightedly the women's world with its parasols, needleworks and such, whereas the masculine world is all about discreetly pretending not to notice a friend who's having extramarital affairs in the afternoon. I was left wondering if anybody in this novel could really be called powerful? The grandmother may have sat in a throne, but there was little she could do when the stroke hit her. So: aren't we all just paddling our ways in a pond, eventually unable to change much of anything? In that respect, I can see why the novel has hit the jackpot: it succeeds in captivating the realistic essence of human life.

Thank you again, everyone, and I'll be sending the book off to the next person as soon as possible.

EDIT September 17: Wow, what a mess! Kotus123 was moved to the end of the list and Chas04 claims to already have read this so I guess the next person in line is Tubereader, who seems to be in the middle of a removal... I'm hoping to get an answer to my queries soon.
EDIT September 18: The book is on its way to Tubereader. Bon voyage !