Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Make love, not polite conversation.

Current book: The Age of Innocence
Pages read: 186 - 270 (end)

So, May and Newland get married and do ok, though he's often annoyed at her simplicity and lack of adventurousness. Eventually, Ellen comes back and Newland is tempted by her, but in the end, resists the temptation. Well, sort of. Mostly, they don't do anything because May tells Ellen she's pregnant and Ellen feels duty-bound to leave Newland alone. There's also some drama about Ellen's husband wanting her to come back, but it comes to nothing. In the end, we skip forward 30 years to Newland's future life. His children are all grown and May has recently died, and he has the opportunity to see Ellen in Paris. He gets all the way to her hotel, but cannot make himself go upstairs because he's afraid that finally seeing her again will burst the bubble of his lifelong fantasies.

Society is bullshit and gets in the way of true love.

Succinct, no?

It was all right. It was fairly predictable and not particularly interesting, but the writing was good and the point well made. The end was surprisingly poignant. Not bad, but not one of the best 100. I've had a long day, once again, so you don't get much analysis.

Tomorrow, Schindler's List. I'm hoping to avoid Holocaust nightmares.

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