The Age of Innocence (Norton Critical Editions)

Wonderful. The perfect antidote to the impoverished text speak of the digital era.

the book is great itself.the supplemental are very well chosen.. highly recommended.

A great classic, with first class professional annotation and discussion.

Je fais partie d un club de lecture en anglais. Cette édition est extraordinaire, avec un apparat critique très développé et de nombreuses notes contextuelles explicatives qui enrichissent la lecture.Le rêve...

I had to read this book for my film analysis class and it was very very very good. It's a story about a man who can't make his own decisions when he has the chance. It's somewhat of a love story, so if you're a romantic then it's good for you. Plus in the back of the book there's all this extra information and opinions about it from other people.

The book looks fine on the exterior BUT the inside was full of blue highlighting, as well as post-it notes. I can't use it. Very frustrating.

First of all, the Norton edition is probably your best bet if you're studying this book in university. It has extensive footnotes, a glossary, and a compilation of related works and commentary in the back of the book. If you have any trouble at all with ye olde english, then this book makes your life a lot easier. That being said, it doesn't entirely hold your hand. You will still have to contend with Wharton's somewhat dense and flowery prose.With regards to the plot, there's a lot to be examined on the subject of gender roles and the contrast between men and women in the high society of New York in the 1870's. It doesn't exactly have the most compelling protagonist in Newland Archer (I ended up rather despising him by the end) but the book's message is a bit more important than its characters. For all its flaws, it's an enjoyable, if sometimes exhausting read. Much detail is poured into things that are ultimately unimportant or could have been said more succinctly. If you can get past that kind of writing, it's not bad.