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graywacke's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.0
Felt light to me. Entertaining, but was she pushing any boundaries, other than maybe a man being attracted to a 15-year-old girl, almost Lolita-aged. The book is centered on this relationship, Martin's attraction hinted at in the text in various ways. We are always wondering whether Martin will cross the line, become creepy. Without that tension, I'm not sure there's much a book here. But Martin makes an interesting character, a psychological mess of self-misunderstanding and rationalization. His fiancé, Rose Sellars, is something more along the lines of a cold reason, an unreachable goddess who never makes a wrong step. We learn to admire her. But not sure we like Martin much after all is done.
matturay's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ricefun's review
4.0
I was immediately drawn to the main character of this lesser-known and later Wharton novel. Boyne felt authentic and interesting as a 40+ year old bachelor traveling to re-connect with a close friend. His interest in a large family of boisterous children belonging to former acquaintances is believable. And I'm even impressed by his conflicting emotions about their eldest daughter.
However, about half way through the novel I just couldn't keep the motivation to continue reading. I stopped caring about this never ending question of what will become of the children. And all of the various romances played out in unsatisfying ways. While I don't believe that a happy ending = a good ending, I do believe that Wharton ran out of steam and turned a very interesting leading character into a sad old man who isn't satisfied with his life choices. Not a favorite.
FUN NOTE: My personal copy, which I purchased through Better World Books, was bound at the Heckert Bindery located in N. Manchester, IN where I attended college. Many family and friends have worked for this now defunct bindery over the years and finding that connection was like gold in the midst of a pandemic.
However, about half way through the novel I just couldn't keep the motivation to continue reading. I stopped caring about this never ending question of what will become of the children. And all of the various romances played out in unsatisfying ways. While I don't believe that a happy ending = a good ending, I do believe that Wharton ran out of steam and turned a very interesting leading character into a sad old man who isn't satisfied with his life choices. Not a favorite.
FUN NOTE: My personal copy, which I purchased through Better World Books, was bound at the Heckert Bindery located in N. Manchester, IN where I attended college. Many family and friends have worked for this now defunct bindery over the years and finding that connection was like gold in the midst of a pandemic.
strrygo's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
felt so detached up til the end, i wish i cared more ! kept having to force myself to pick it up nd liked it less n less each time i did (or the more i got to know martin rly). i do think it was objectively well-written, but it didn't make me feel anything, the biggest let down in a book centered on the lives of children, and i don't see myself ever thinking about it again
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia
abookolive's review
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Children is a different kind of novel for Edith Wharton, but then again, it's the quintessential Wharton novel. The main character is Martin Boyne, a bachelor who's on his way to see the woman he's been in love with from afar for many years, Rose. She was in an unhappy marriage, which kept them apart, but her husband has fairly recently died, and Martin is thrilled to finally be able to be with her.
That is until he meets a group of unparented children aboard the boat he's traveling on. Most are blood related, a couple are not. They range in age from a toddler to a fifteen-year-old, Judith, who acts as a mother to the whole group. Since they don't all belong to one set of parents, they're at risk of being separated at any moment, something they dread. And so Martin allows himself to get dragged into their dilemma and uses their dramas to distract himself from figuring out what he truly wants for his life.
As Wharton normally does, she creates characters who are, all at once, their own people and representations of ideas or ways of life. Martin must choose between Rose, the personification of Old New York, and Judith, the child of the nouveaux riche. Judith is a teenager, which makes it uncomfortable reading for the modern eye, but once you see how deeply confused Martin is and what Wharton is actually trying to communicate, it's easier to understand why she made such a choice.
I was frustrated at the characters through most of this book and even though it's definitely a more approachable read writing-wise and revolves around a troop of funny, generally sweet kids, Wharton sill manages to make things tragic and hopeless. As I said, this one is both unlike and precisely like all the other Wharton novels I've read. She makes you love to hate her characters and encircles you with breathtaking prose while she does so. She was a master at her craft.
That is until he meets a group of unparented children aboard the boat he's traveling on. Most are blood related, a couple are not. They range in age from a toddler to a fifteen-year-old, Judith, who acts as a mother to the whole group. Since they don't all belong to one set of parents, they're at risk of being separated at any moment, something they dread. And so Martin allows himself to get dragged into their dilemma and uses their dramas to distract himself from figuring out what he truly wants for his life.
As Wharton normally does, she creates characters who are, all at once, their own people and representations of ideas or ways of life. Martin must choose between Rose, the personification of Old New York, and Judith, the child of the nouveaux riche. Judith is a teenager, which makes it uncomfortable reading for the modern eye, but once you see how deeply confused Martin is and what Wharton is actually trying to communicate, it's easier to understand why she made such a choice.
I was frustrated at the characters through most of this book and even though it's definitely a more approachable read writing-wise and revolves around a troop of funny, generally sweet kids, Wharton sill manages to make things tragic and hopeless. As I said, this one is both unlike and precisely like all the other Wharton novels I've read. She makes you love to hate her characters and encircles you with breathtaking prose while she does so. She was a master at her craft.
lberestecki's review against another edition
3.0
Well-written, but I really disliked Martin, and the age difference between Martin (mid-40's) and Judith (16) was difficult to ignore.
mattyyreadsbooks's review
4.0
After hearing both Zadie Smith and Esi Edugyan recommend books by Edith Wharton I decided to try her work out. I chose to read The Children first, though not her most famous book it seemed light and simple, a nice one to start with. Light and simple is true, though in hindsight I shouldn’t have started with it.
It is a story of the moral conflict between old New York and the new “nouveau rich”. Wharton endeavours to condemn the stifling morals of her time whilst also criticising the ‘vulgar’ manners of those in 1900. Her writing is straightforward and old-fashioned yet appealing and expressive. It follows the adventures of a boisterous band of children and a bored bachelor who decides to help them. Wharton paints a sweet, melancholy picture apart from the significant issue of an older man desiring a teenager.
The children are funny and endearing, each a memorable character on their own, and Rose Sellers is quite glamourous and sophisticated. However, I do not love the main character Martin and feel completely unattached to him. Apart from the obvious reason being his gross tendency to fancy little girls, I found him boring and insipid. He has no actual characteristics and gets on my nerves for most of the book. I think it’s entirely his fault I rate this book 3.5 stars instead of higher because all my disappointment lies with him. He is rude and emotionless with the woman he has supposedly been in love with all his life, and though knowing he shouldn’t desire Judith, doesn’t seem to feel guilty about it.
I did enjoy the practicality of this book, there is no jubilant happy ending: the story merely ebbs as everyone gives up on the hopes they had. Not necessarily as dreary as I’ve made it sound, more bittersweet. It isn’t a story with great depth but it's easy to read, emotive and as tasteful as a story like this can be. Despite scoring this 3.5 stars it has not put me off reading Wharton and next I plan to try The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth.
It is a story of the moral conflict between old New York and the new “nouveau rich”. Wharton endeavours to condemn the stifling morals of her time whilst also criticising the ‘vulgar’ manners of those in 1900. Her writing is straightforward and old-fashioned yet appealing and expressive. It follows the adventures of a boisterous band of children and a bored bachelor who decides to help them. Wharton paints a sweet, melancholy picture apart from the significant issue of an older man desiring a teenager.
The children are funny and endearing, each a memorable character on their own, and Rose Sellers is quite glamourous and sophisticated. However, I do not love the main character Martin and feel completely unattached to him. Apart from the obvious reason being his gross tendency to fancy little girls, I found him boring and insipid. He has no actual characteristics and gets on my nerves for most of the book. I think it’s entirely his fault I rate this book 3.5 stars instead of higher because all my disappointment lies with him. He is rude and emotionless with the woman he has supposedly been in love with all his life, and though knowing he shouldn’t desire Judith, doesn’t seem to feel guilty about it.
I did enjoy the practicality of this book, there is no jubilant happy ending: the story merely ebbs as everyone gives up on the hopes they had. Not necessarily as dreary as I’ve made it sound, more bittersweet. It isn’t a story with great depth but it's easy to read, emotive and as tasteful as a story like this can be. Despite scoring this 3.5 stars it has not put me off reading Wharton and next I plan to try The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth.
whitneyborup's review
4.0
There is something very unsavory going on here. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet, except to say that it is expertly crafted.
sweetsequels's review against another edition
5.0
I sort of meandered through this book, which was suitable. It's a book to savor; reading it was like immersing myself a dreamland of sorts, but of course - in typical Wharton fashion - the ending was heartbreaking.
.
.
SYNOPSIS:
Old bachelor Martin Boyne meets the Wheaters, a band of parentless children, on an Atlantic cruise and befriends the , eventually sort of taking them in. Their parents, old acquaintances of Boyne's, have been bouncing them back and forth between homes during their numerous breakups and reconciliations - and all the children want is to simply be together. Poor Boyne. He becomes a father figure to them, something he obviously (subconsciously) yearns for in his lonely middle age. Of course, things don't go well for him.
.
.
This book was beautifully written and bittersweet. Children rarely play a key role in Wharton's fiction, so this book had a really different feel than her most - dreamlike, nostalgic, comic, youthful. Wharton wrote it in 1928, after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Age of Innocence and after her divorce from husband Edward Wharton (she had no children of her own). She was living in France at the time, which shows itself in the foreign setting of this novel. As ever, this novel is biting in it's critique of society and is shockingly modern, considering it was published over 90 years ago. The effects of divorce on children remains sadly the same, and is artfully exhibited here.
.
.
SYNOPSIS:
Old bachelor Martin Boyne meets the Wheaters, a band of parentless children, on an Atlantic cruise and befriends the , eventually sort of taking them in. Their parents, old acquaintances of Boyne's, have been bouncing them back and forth between homes during their numerous breakups and reconciliations - and all the children want is to simply be together. Poor Boyne. He becomes a father figure to them, something he obviously (subconsciously) yearns for in his lonely middle age. Of course, things don't go well for him.
.
.
This book was beautifully written and bittersweet. Children rarely play a key role in Wharton's fiction, so this book had a really different feel than her most - dreamlike, nostalgic, comic, youthful. Wharton wrote it in 1928, after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Age of Innocence and after her divorce from husband Edward Wharton (she had no children of her own). She was living in France at the time, which shows itself in the foreign setting of this novel. As ever, this novel is biting in it's critique of society and is shockingly modern, considering it was published over 90 years ago. The effects of divorce on children remains sadly the same, and is artfully exhibited here.