Things I didn't get to say in The House of Mirth discussion

I didn't finish House of Mirth in time for our book discussion last Saturday. When I stepped into the venue, I had only read up to 72% of my ebook. So I was thinking of keeping quiet as I hadn't finished the book (though I did know the ending), but then I'm not the kind who keeps quiet in any kind of discussion.

It was interesting that many people from the club identified Lily Bart as a gambler. I didn't see that at all. I mean, sure, she had gambling debts. But you don't really see her engage in gambling in the novel. Being the romantic kind, I pegged her as a rebel. The poor girl seemed to want to get away from the kind of life she was weaned into. Though at the same time, she knows that she'll always value money and beauty highly.

Nevertheless, though she had a great number of opportunities to finally marry someone to secure her future, she never saw any plan through. And though she could've fought dirty like many of the people in her set, she never did. Lily, the poor girl, wanted to "go beyond" the life and practices of her set, as Lawrence Selden tantalizingly offered her on a couple of occasions. So she opted not to do what people expected of her, or even what she expected of herself, because of her own set of principles. And of course, there was the thorny issue of her actually falling in love with Selden.

I seem to have used the phrase "poor girl" to refer to Lily twice in this post. That's because I finally did finish the book today. And yes, poor girl. A few people in the club said they hated Lily Bart (the kinder ones said they were extremely annoyed by her). I admit, I did find her annoying at the start. She reminded me a lot of Rebecca Bloomwood from Confessions of a Shopaholic, what with all her shopping and getting into debt. But what turned me around is the realization that Lily Bart is incredibly self-aware. She knows what kind of creature she is. She is capable of analyzing what she feels, what she thinks, and why she does things. And she isn't dismissive about her motivations. The girl really tried to become better. And in the end, I think she did.

So I disagree that this is a cautionary tale about the folly of trying to live a superficial life devoted to being decorative. I think The House of Mirth is a tale about a product of the society that pursues wealth and glamor--Lily Bart--who nevertheless tries to escape said society but is hindered by upbringing and the values of that same society. And in all the misfortune brought about by her failure to escape, Lily Bart finds that, at her core, she values honor. Not a bad girl at all, I'd say. Tragic figure, yes, but the Hamlet kind, not the Macbeth kind. (Read: the kind you fall in love with, not the kind you want to behead.)

I'd like to thank Peter, the discussion moderator, for pushing this book to our book club, Flips Flipping Pages. It's a great read. Yesterday, at 72%, I rated the book at 4 stars. But after having finished it, I'm changing that rating to a 5. Well-deserved, I'd say. And all because of Lily Bart.

This is my first Wharton, by the way. I've had The Age of Innocence for years and even watched the movie, but I've never read it. I was telling book club mate Iya about that and the fact that I've never read Anna Karenina nor Madame Bovary, though I've had both books for years, too. I was trying to figure out why, and I think it's because I'm prejudiced against these books for having eponymous female characters who "fall."

Whoops. And just now I figured out why I'm prejudiced...

Wonderful how thinking (and writing) about books makes you realize a lot of things about yourself, isn't it?

I shall stop there. Good night!