The Mother's Recompense

pick

Wharton messed with us in this book. Kate is both highly frustrating and yet to be pitied. Chris is the worst villain since Lovelace of Clarissa infamy, and Anne strikes me as fairly selfish herself, or at least spoiled and immature. Fred, well Fred just made me sad. He deserved so much better. Yet through it all Wharton‘s wit and humor and sparkling prose make this a pick. If you like moral dilemmas and no easy answers, this one‘s for you.

Graywacke

Lcsmcat #whartonbuddyread and No 7 for #24in2024 9mo

Daisey Wharton is rather hit or miss for me, but all the reviews I‘ve read today make me curious to read this one. As bad as Lovelace!?! 9mo

Lcsmcat @Daisey Almost! 9mo

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CoverToCoverGirl Great review! My favourite by her is

The Age of Innocence

9mo

Suet624 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 to everything you‘ve said. I felt very badly for Fred. And what a fascinating read. 9mo

batsy Great summary. I, too, felt for Fred. Something about him—principled and steadfast. 9mo

jewright @Daisey This book is so much shorter, and the evil guy isn‘t nearly as evil as Lovelace. 9mo

45 likes7 comments

Graywacke

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

pick

Well, I still haven‘t figured this one out. Kate Clephane comes home 20 years after running away from her husband and her daughter. The lost mother is found, and a brief perfect happiness ensues. But who is this Kate, now returning to a different New York of different landscapes, speeds and values, but with some things preserved perfectly? I still don‘t know. EW is messing with her reader, while providing masterful prose. #whartonbuddyread

Lcsmcat

TheBookHippie 🙃 9mo

Graywacke @TheBookHippie 🙂 9mo

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Lcsmcat

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

“His manly chest seemed outspread to receive the pectoral cross, and all his gestures were round and full, like the sleeves for which they were preparing.” I know that the Rev. Dr. Arklow is a minor character, but this quote was too good not to illustrate. (Above is an actual bishop of the era.) As CarolynM points out, this is a book of moral dilemmas. But was Arklow‘s advice moral? Or conventional ? Did Kate do the right thing toward Anne? Frank?

Lcsmcat And was the inevitable “sterile pain” the result of her first flight, or her return? #whartonbuddyread (edited) 9mo

Lcsmcat @KathyWheeler @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie 9mo

Lcsmcat @mdm139 @graywacke @jewright @AllDebooks @amysisson @Ann_Reads @arubabookwoman @batsy @BookishTrish @CarolynM @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @Cathythoughts @Crazeedi @Currey @dabbe @emilyhaldi @IMASLOWREADER 9mo

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Lcsmcat Now for all the other quotes. 😂 9mo

Lcsmcat “The Drovers and Tresseltons were great at acting in concert, and at pretending that whatever happened was natural, usual, and not of a character to interfere with one‘s lunch.” 9mo

Lcsmcat “A real mother is just a habit of thought to her children.” 🤨 9mo

Lcsmcat “she had plied him [Frank]with uncomfortable questions, and detected in his kindly eyes the terror of the man who, all his life, has tried to buy off fate by optimistic evasions.” 9mo

Lcsmcat “He had overcome his strongest feelings, his most deep-rooted repugnance; he had held out his hand to her, in the extremity of her need, across the whole width of his traditions and his convictions; and she had blessed him for it, and stood fast on her own side.” 9mo

Graywacke I‘m struggling with how to process this one. What was Wharton doing? Is this about flawed Kate and/or a condemned Kate? Is Kate a victim or cause? I can‘t imagine abandoning Anne. But she did it twice. So is this her character flaw, to run away? Or are these completely different circumstances? 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I too am struggling. I know that in that era children “belonged” to their fathers legally. So had she tried to take Anne they would have hunted her down. But, finding the atmosphere too stifling to abide herself, she left a _daughter_ to be raised in it? And then, by withholding information on Chris, was she saving A or herself from pain? Because I don‘t trust him to keep quiet once the honeymoon is over. 👇🏻 9mo

Lcsmcat 👆🏻The first fight they have I can just hear him fling out “You‘re just like your mother was!” And then how doubly betrayed would Anne feel?! 9mo

Graywacke Of course, Kate avoided facing that. (But then even Fred said, after he knew, that he wasn‘t worried about Anne. She could take care of herself.) 9mo

Graywacke I should add, I‘m struggling to understand what Wharton was doing to us, the reader. She left us in a tough spot. Me can simple say, well Kate was Kate and that‘s what she does. But in doing that, we are making a Kate of ourselves, avoiding all the hard questions in the book about social constrictions, women‘s positions, evolving and lost values, moral responsibilities … So, is she challenging us? Intentionally making us uncomfortable? 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke The title makes me think Wharton wants us on Kate‘s side. But was allowing Anne her way and then ducking out truly making amends? I don‘t know. I think Wharton is always trying to make her readers uncomfortable in some fashion, and she raised some serious questions in my mind, but I don‘t have the answers. 9mo

batsy I feel that all outcomes would lead to the same situation: Kate alone, unable to be with her daughter. Had she told Anne she would have been banished from Anne's life by Anne herself, and now Kate has had to remove herself from Anne's life by not saying anything. Is this Wharton's way of saying Kate will always be punished for her original mistake—leaving her daughter? Isn't it great that Wharton makes us suffer this way? 🙃 9mo

batsy Chris is total red flag. An absolute red flag. Of course he should have walked away regardless of what Anne wants. She'll be heartbroken, and then she'll be fine. I'm sort of aghast at how the circumstances made it so that he "wins". But then again, that's a window into the kind of world Wharton was writing about... 9mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat the title is bitter! 9mo

Graywacke @batsy Agree about Chris, a creep. But like Fred, I trust Anne. She‘ll manage. And Kate certainly should have told Anne. Whatever consequences would have been temporary. Anne would forgive. Kate‘s affair wasn‘t criminal in Anne‘s world the way it was in Kate‘s. (Still, i appreciate the minister‘s flexibility, even if maybe being a stern inflexible Catholic priest might have been what Kate really needed.) - oops…too much in one comment 😁 9mo

Graywacke Any thoughts on Kate thoroughly breaking her world‘s morality while still clinging desperately to it? 9mo

TheBookHippie Not everyone wants to be a mother even when one becomes one- back then what was her choice, even now to say it or leave to pursue a life for yourself is okay for a man, not a woman. Kate would end up alone not fitting anywhere, in all the scenarios, maybe not fitting in anywhere and not longing to is the struggle. But I think Anne would have forgiven her. Shame regret and fear ? A woman‘s struggle.. I‘m still processing obviously ..Chris is 🤮 9mo

TheBookHippie @Graywacke desperate for belonging or love ? I‘m still mulling it all over. 9mo

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I think Kate did want to be a mother - just not enough to put up with her husband. She talks about having to fill her mind with other thoughts to avoid thinking about Anne. 9mo

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I wonder though if she had a choice, since she didn‘t like him. At any rate children belonged to the father, probably why so many women left their children, sanity and distance from their husbands. It‘s all awful choices. Some women loved their children so much they put up with anything just to be with them. But she didn‘t. (Not that I would do any better. ) and children were seen differently than now- yes?⬇️ (edited) 9mo

TheBookHippie @Graywacke the flexibility was refreshing. 9mo

TheBookHippie ⬆️ you can love your child and not want to be a mother. The two aren‘t necessarily connected. I feel sorry for Kate and not Anne I think it‘s what the reader gets from this one is fascinating to me. 😮‍💨 9mo

TheBookHippie @batsy did your intro to the book talk about this? Mine did. The window into the world being so accurate. 9mo

Lcsmcat @batsy Yes, it felt inevitable that Kate would end up alone again, and (to me at least) that she would hurt others in the process. So is the “recompense” of the title meant to be “this is the thanklessness of being a mother” or “this is what you get as a woman trying to live your own life” or something else entirely? 9mo

Currey @Lcsmcat Great discussion. I also was left largely confused about what Wharton wanted from us other than that confusion. Kate seemed to have left Anne twice for what she thought were the right reasons but which, at least the second time, felt totally wrong. Chris is ugly, Anne is tough, if you are going to be alone anyway, why not tell the truth before running? Why did Kate think she had done a noble thing? Punishing herself is a piece of it 9mo

Lcsmcat @Currey It didn‘t feel noble to me either. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 9mo

Graywacke Psst - this was our 18th book by Wharton !! 👍 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke She was indeed prolific! 9mo

Graywacke @Currey @Lcsmcat i really hope no one thought it was noble. Well, maybe except Kate. Don‘t be a Kate. 🤭 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke 😂 9mo

Graywacke @Currey Anne tough - like strong or like you found her difficult? I found her tough in the sense of independent and resolute, and undeterred. I‘m an Anne fan. 🙂 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Really? I found her difficult to read. EW kept comparing her to her grandmother and I felt a bit of that selfishness coming through. She was loving and charming- until she wasn‘t getting what she wanted. I‘m Team Frank on this one. 9mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat team Fred? No, I understand Fred. But I‘m team Anne, our stately tough Greek goddess. 9mo

CarolynM There‘s a lot to unpick isn‘t there? I‘m with @batsy re Chris - I didn‘t buy the reformed character thing at all. If Kate had accepted Anne‘s money there‘s no way he‘d have come back, reputation be damned. I give it maybe a year before he seduces some other woman & Anne throws him out, because I agree she‘s tough. But I also think Kate had to let Anne find out about him for herself. 9mo

Lcsmcat @CarolynM Do you think that if Anne found out on her own after they were married, that she would seek out Kate? Because I don‘t. I think she would be furious that Kate hadn‘t told her and it‘ll be another 20 years before they speak. 9mo

CarolynM I think Kate was trying to be noble by shielding Anne from the truth, but as @Lcsmcat said I can also see Chris telling her, especially once he realises she‘s really finished with him. I also think she was trying to be noble in leaving Fred. I kind of think that giving up what he offered her - social position, security, but most of all steadfast love - was the “recompense” of the title. (edited) 9mo

CarolynM @Lcsmcat I‘m not sure. It might depend on the circumstances in which he told her, and also what he told her. But I don‘t think she‘d have forgiven Kate any faster if she had told her. 9mo

arubabookwoman i think Kate left the 2nd time for 2 reasons. The first and most important was she was trying to follow the reverend's precise advise--if the daughter was not told before the wedding, the mother must be sure to keep her mouth shut forever. Since Kate did not tell Anne, I think she knew that if she had to spend time in the company of Chris & Anne, some word or action would let the truth be out. The only way to follow that advice was to leave 4ever. 9mo

arubabookwoman She also left because she could not take Fred's pity. (Despite his sometimes purposeful obliviousness, Fred was my favorite character). I think that's why she rejected Fred, even tho' he was willing to leave NYC and live anywhere with her. 9mo

arubabookwoman Does anyone know what "sterile pain" is? I really liked this entry into our Wharton reading. I was kept guessing til the very end about what Kate was going to do, whether the wedding would come off, and so on. I think after her return Kate realized how much she disliked the society & its rules, & the only thing keeping her there was her daughter. If, as it turned out, she lost her daughter there was no reason to stay, with Fred or otherwise. 9mo

Lcsmcat @arubabookwoman That was one thing she did right (although she ought not to have given him hope in the first place) because no matter how long he‘d been crushing on her, I don‘t think they‘d have been happy together. 9mo

batsy @TheBookHippie Sadly, no. I got the ebook off Gutenberg so no intros 🙁 9mo

batsy @Currey I agree with you, it's not noble but Kate has that tendency to self-pity in her. My read of her character is that she would enjoy being a kind of martyr, and would want to punish herself whilst thinking it was noble. I don't mean that as a judgement on her character so much as how she has become, under the circumstances. 9mo

Lcsmcat @batsy Yes, she does seem a bit martyrish. 9mo

batsy @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I'm not so sure if I'm team Anne, either. Tough yes, and maybe admirable in some ways, but also ruthless in other ways, I think. The potential to be harsh is there. A part of me will forever be curious about how she would have reacted to what Kate told her. I'm not convinced she would have forgiven in time. But it would be nice to be wrong! (🕯️ Edith, we need a sequel 🕯️) 9mo

Lcsmcat @batsy Call in the spiritualists! 😂 9mo

batsy @Lcsmcat 😁 9mo

Graywacke So interesting, the different takes. 9mo

Currey @Graywacke Yes, tough as in strong and persevering and quite able to take care of herself. 9mo

Currey @batsy but a touch of cold too. I think Anne would have forgiven Kate for the truth but in the same way she forgave the first running away. If Kate comes back and plays the perfect mommy then she will play the perfect daughter. 9mo

jewright I feel like Kate leaves Fred to protect him, but she also doesn‘t want to be tied down again to any man. I can‘t decide about Anne and Chris. They do really seem to love each other, but it‘s just so icky. 9mo

Graywacke @jewright Kate and Fred has me thinking. She was not attracted to Fred. He represented an ideal she didn‘t actually want. In a way, he was the best the NY crowd had to offer. And spurning him, she was really fully rejecting that whole world. And maybe we can appreciate that. Certainly we must assume Wharton could. 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke That‘s an interesting take on Kate and Fred‘s relationship. I tend to agree, although I‘m not sure Kate had anything to replace that world with, which leaves her detached or unmoored, depending on how you look at it. 9mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat that is maybe the main tragedy here (??) 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I think it could be. Fred and Anne are hurt by her actions, but they have each other (& the rest of society) but Kate? Only other disconnected people who don‘t seem to have created anything substantial. 9mo

Leftcoastzen I think Kate didn‘t have a good choice. If she stayed near Anne & Chris , it would hurt so much if they were happy, and hurt as much if Chris turns out to be a cad , hurts so much as well. Fred‘s gesture was nice, but I feel she had to escape the situation. Back to her comfortable exile! 9mo

Leftcoastzen Wharton is such a wonderful writer , I guess I shouldn‘t be surprised that she was up to date with the younger set . You see the old standards seem to still apply to the older generation, the younger ones not so much. 9mo

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CarolynM

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

pick

#WhartonBuddyRead

Edith Wharton revels in the tension between the mores of Old New York‘s high society and the emotional lives of the people within it. In many ways this novel is a series of moral dilemmas for its main character, testing the limits of her love for her child and her ability to maintain her own self respect. Looking forward to hearing how the other buddy readers saw it.

Lcsmcat, Graywacke

batsy Nice review, Carolyn! Agree with your point about Kate being morally tested. 9mo

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batsy

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

pick

Once the book passed over a certain juncture in the narrative, it was hard *not* to keep reading! I just had to see how it was all going to pan out. High drama and psychological acuity—it's what Wharton does best. The ethics of the situation are grey in the sense that Wharton makes you question which outcome is the most just and to whose benefit? Wharton is so good at showing you the costs: both of being in society and out of it. #WhartonBuddyRead

Suet624 Great review. You hit the nail on the head. 9mo

CarolynM Great review. I‘m only half way through, but I‘m looking forward to seeing where she takes it. 9mo

batsy @Suet624 @CarolynM Thank you! I'm looking forward to to seeing everyone's thoughts during the discussion. 🙂 9mo

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BarbaraBB I must read this one too 9mo

batsy @BarbaraBB It's a good one! Lots of brewing internal drama and her usual fantastic prose. 9mo

BarbaraBB Yes she writes so well, I loved every book I read by her 9mo

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Lcsmcat

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

Post WWI and a couple of affairs, Kate is “allowed” to return home to the US and her daughter. I don‘t think she likes what the US has become, especially the younger generation. They seem to get the most pointed (and witty) comments from Wharton‘s pen. Impressions of Kate? Anne? Chris? I‘ll post some favorite quotes below. #whartonbuddyread

Lcsmcat @KathyWheeler @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie 9mo

Lcsmcat “They had all, she gathered, far more interests and ideas than had scantily furnished her own youth, but all so broken up, scattered, and perpetually interrupted by the strenuous labour of their endless forms of sport, that they reminded her of a band of young entomologists, equipped with the newest thing in nets, but in far too great a hurry ever to catch anything.” 9mo

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Lcsmcat “the little dinner with the Horace Betterlys and their dull noisy friends, who wanted to “see life” and didn‘t know that you can‘t see it unless you‘ve first had the brains to imagine it …” 9mo

Lcsmcat “It was one of the young men who came to the house; his fresh blunt face was as inexpressive as a foot-ball; he might have been made by a manufacturer of sporting-goods.” 9mo

Lcsmcat “She saw again, with gathering wonder, that one may be young and handsome and healthy and eager, and yet unable, out of such rich elements, to evolve a personality.” 9mo

Lcsmcat “Nothing shocks the young people nowadays—not even the Bible.” 9mo

Lcsmcat “Every moment of such purposeless lives was portioned out, packed with futilities.” 9mo

Lcsmcat “There they all were, the faces that had walled in her youth; she was not sure, at first, if they belonged to the same persons, or had been handed on, as part of the tradition, to a new generation.” 9mo

batsy That "inexpressive as a football line" is such a hoot. A perfect description and you immediately know the "type" ? In contrast, I loved this description when Kate sees Anne in person—"Anne was slightly the taller, and her pale face hung over her mother's like a young moon seen through the mist". At the moment, I dislike and don't quite trust Chris, but I've no idea if I'm being fair to him. Kate may be given to self-pity, Anne as yet a mystery... 9mo

Graywacke Oh, great quotes. And weird Litsy, I‘m just now seeing this. Book 1 is full of lush prose. I understand Kate so well after this. But it‘s a character attack on Kate, no? 9mo

Graywacke @batsy I think Chris is a creep, charming as he may be. 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Yes, Litsy was misbehaving this morning. And it is a character attack on Kate in a way. But a sympathetic one, if that makes sense. 9mo

Lcsmcat @batsy I loved that quote about Anne too! It makes her seem so ethereal and a little unreal. Definitely not like her contemporaries. 9mo

Currey @batsy @Lcsmcat Wonderful quotes. I found myself happy to be back in Wharton‘s prose if not in her New York world. I also do not trust Chris and Kate is strangely missing some insights into herself which you think she would have acquired after so many years. 9mo

Graywacke It‘s interesting how thoroughly Wharton creates Kate‘s background. Her life in Europe. Her re-experiencing New York after her 18 yr absence. The story doesn‘t need this, and yet it‘s so wonderfully done 9mo

Graywacke Kate‘s European world: “Not one of them, men or women, if asked where they had come from, where they were going, or why they had done such and such things, or refrained from doing such other, would have answered truthfully; 👇 9mo

Lcsmcat @Currey I don‘t trust Chris at all. As soon as he found out whose daughter Anne was he should have disappeared from her life. 9mo

Graywacke 👆 not, as Kate knew, from any particular, or at any rate permanent, need of concealment, but because they lived in a chronic state of mental inaccuracy, excitement and inertia,which made it vaguely exhilarating to lie and definitely fatiguing to be truthful.” 9mo

Graywacke Fred Landers is interesting too. This poor description could be me! 😁 “As he blinked at her with kindly brotherly eyes she saw in their ingenuous depths the terror of the man who has tried to buy off fate by one optimistic evasion after another, till it has become second nature to hand out his watch and pocket-book whenever reality waylays him.” (edited) 9mo

Currey @Graywacke Marvelous quote - that “inaccuracy, excitement and inertia” is such a quirky summation. It is difficult to put excitement and inertia together in the same being but Wharton does it 9mo

Graywacke @Currey right. She has a way. Her pen was rolling here. 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Landers is such an innocent, in his way, that I worry about what Wharton has in store for him. 9mo

Lcsmcat @Currey I have major jealousy over Wharton‘s prose. She‘s amazingly talented! 9mo

Graywacke Chris on Kate: “He told her she had run away from her real duties only for the pleasure of inventing new ones, and that to her they were none the less duties because she imagined them to be defiances. It was one of the paradoxes that most amused him: the picture of her flying from her conscience and always mneeting it again in her path, barely disguised by the audacities she had dressed it up in.” 9mo

Graywacke Having said all that, Kate‘s (muted) bond with Anne, and Anne‘s rediscovery of her mother is quite beautiful and moving. Imagine finding your mom again! That‘s special 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke We all know people like that, don‘t we? (At least anyone who raised a teenager does. 😂) (re: the duties quote) (edited) 9mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i read a spoiler on Fred. 🙁🤐 (edited) 9mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat yes - teenagers! So true. 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I found that the least believable part. I feel like Anne would have absorbed enough of her father and grandmother‘s attitudes to be a bit resentful. And that the feeling of having been abandoned would show up more. I‘m kind of expecting a show-down along those lines in the next bit. Especially if she finds out Chris left at her mother‘s insistence without finding out about his affair with Kate. 9mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat interesting. I think Anne lived in this rich false NY world and always imagined something pure and associated that with her missing mother. I think she saw Kate as a salve for all that, something she felt she needed desperately. So i bought in! And it worked as long as Kate didn‘t communicate anything…and didn‘t do anything really really destructive 🙈 (edited) 9mo

Graywacke So my take at the moment is this is a novel of something beautiful turning bitter. ?? 9mo

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Interesting. I can‘t wait to read the rest and see how it shakes out. 😀 9mo

TheBookHippie The prose!! She‘s really in her stride. I think Anne had a fairytale version of her mom in her head, which happens a lot in children whose parent is absent, so it‘s not about them. The Bible quote made me giggle hasn‘t that been said every generation? I do not trust Chris. Kate intrigues me. Now I‘m interested to see what happens to Fred! Sorry so late, insomnia and went for a late morning nap. 9mo

Suet624 I love all the quotes from the book that folks are posting. I finished the book a while ago and one of the things I still think about is when Kate talks about people filling their days in such a way that they didn‘t have too much free time. I assume they wouldn‘t want to have to think about how vacuous their days were. I was also surprised by Anne‘s complete acceptance of her mother, but a mother‘s love is always sought so I let that slide. 9mo

arubabookwoman my computer wasn't working this am so sorry for the delay in posting. The quote about "football faces" tickled me--I saw a lot of the frat boys from my college days. Definitely don't trust Chris. He does not seem like a nice guy. I think Anne is and hopefully continue to be a strong and independent-minded young woman. I'm hoping that if (when?) she learns the truth about Kate, she will still love and accept her. 9mo

Lcsmcat @arubabookwoman I hope it doesn‘t mess up their relationship too. 9mo

Leftcoastzen I am late to post because Litsy was wonky! I couldn‘t help but think of F. Scott Fitzgerald who made so much money writing about the vacuous young things that Wharton describes so well in this book.He was getting 1K each for his Saturday Evening Post stories. 9mo

Leftcoastzen I knew that Kate‘s “what happened in Europe stays in Europe “ luck would not last. Don‘t trust Chris either. 9mo

Leftcoastzen I can see both sides with a daughter who doesn‘t have her mother. Either wanting to do anything to have her back, like Anne , or a complete rejection, she didn‘t want me so I don‘t want her. Now with Chris in the mix , it could get more complicated. 9mo

batsy @Graywacke @Currey Agree about the prose. Felt that immediate comfort of being in a master's hands. "Readable" sounds like faint praise, but that's how good she is at drawing the reader into her world. To succumb to Wharton's narrative powers is always a treat. 9mo

batsy @Lcsmcat Yes, there is something ethereal and otherworldly about Anne at the moment. Part of it is the mystique of seeing her through a formerly estranged mother's eyes, but it also lends the character a certain kind of intrigue. It makes me like Anne, even if I don't really know her (yet). 9mo

Lcsmcat @batsy Yes, Anne feels like the least known character at this point. I feel like I know Nollie and Lilla better. 9mo

batsy @Lcsmcat I read on today & things escalate quickly. And we get to know Anne quickly, too 😅 9mo

Lcsmcat @batsy 😀 9mo

Graywacke @batsy we certainly do! Phew 9mo

jewright I feel super judgmental, but I can‘t imagine leaving my kids, so I judge Kate harshly. That part about her daughter crying for her and her not answering…so sad. And Anne takes her back happily? This is the honeymoon phase. It‘s going to get ugly over a stupid man. They both fell in love with the same man? Yuck. 9mo

Lcsmcat @jewright Yeah, I agree. Yuck. (edited) 9mo

CarolynM Interesting discussion. I‘m keen to see where this is going. How is Anne going to react when the truth comes out? What attitude will Nollie and Lilla take? 9mo

Graywacke @jewright I think that about nails it 9mo

Graywacke @CarolynM glad you‘re joining! And no idea (per those questions) 9mo

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Lcsmcat

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

Just a reminder that the #whartonbuddyread of Books I and II is next Saturday the 17th

Lcsmcat @KathyWheeler @kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie 9mo

Graywacke Reading it now! 🙂 9mo

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Lcsmcat @Graywacke 🙂 9mo

TheBookHippie I loved the intro and I am enjoying it quite a bit. 9mo

Leftcoastzen I started it & hope to be part of the discussion next week 9mo

batsy Thanks for the reminder! Will start tonight. 9mo

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie @Leftcoastzen @batsy Yay! I‘m happy to get back to Wharton. 9mo

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Graywacke

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

Getting started #whartonbuddyread

Lcsmcat

BarbaraBB Great artwork. And a great book! 9mo

Graywacke @BarbaraBB oh, you‘ve read it! Good to know you liked it. 9mo

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Suet624

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

pick

The #whartonbuddyread group selected this for February but due to work schedules & Hoopla I jumped right into it. Written a century ago this felt so current. Kate, who left her husband & young daughter behind is called to return to live with her grown daughter. Kate‘s panic as she finds who her daughter intends to marry jumps off the page. Does she reveal secrets or save her daughter from the pain of knowing. This was well written and relatable.

Lcsmcat

Gissy Sounds good stacked 10mo

Suet624 @Gissy curious to hear what you think of it. 10mo

BarbaraBB Sounds very good indeed. I have loved everything I‘ve read by Wharton so far. Stacking! 10mo

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Dilara You can't leave us with this cliff hanger! Now I'll have to find the book and read it to know 😄 10mo

batsy I know I was forgetting something! 😅 Thanks for the reminder and glad it was a pick. Sounds so good... Wharton is so good with ratcheting up the interpersonal tension! 10mo

Suet624 @BarbaraBB I was surprised by how much I liked it. Considering when it was written I'd be curious to see what people thought of it when it was published. 10mo

Suet624 @Dilara LOL. If your library has Hoopla, you could probably find it there. 10mo

Suet624 @batsy Happy to help. That's so true - the interpersonal tension kept me riveted. 10mo

Dilara @Suet624 I've found it on Project Gutenberg, so I'm all set 😁 10mo

BarbaraBB Indeed, her books don‘t feel outdated at all! 10mo

Leftcoastzen Wow , just about to start it. 9mo

56 likes2 stack adds11 comments

LitsyEvents

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

Repost for @lcsmcat

#Whartonbuddyread schedule for February
February 17 - Books I & II
February 24 - Book III

See original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2689882

37 likes

Lcsmcat

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

#Whartonbuddyread February it is. I‘ve got a work trip the first weekend, so the schedule will be:
February 17 - Books I & II
February 24 - Book III

LitsyEvents

Lcsmcat @KathyWheeler
@kspenmoll @Leftcoastzen @LitStephanie @llwheeler @Louise @rubyslippersreads @SamAnne @sarahbellum @Sparklemn @Suet624 @TheBookHippie 10mo

Suet624 Great! 10mo

See All 8 Comments

AllDebooks Thank you x 10mo

Graywacke Terrific. Thanks! 10mo

IMASLOWREADER never heard of this book until today tnx 10mo

batsy Thank you! 10mo

Leftcoastzen Awesome! Gotta find my copy again! 😄 10mo

47 likes8 comments

Lcsmcat

The Mother's Recompense | Edith Wharton

So, #whartonbuddyread crew, this one is up next, since we seem to agree that Wharton is at her best in her novels. This is short (under 300 pages) and divided into 3 “Books” so I anticipate dividing it into 3 discussions. Are we ready? When would you want to start? After a crazy couple of months between work and the holidays when I was pretty absent from Litsy, I‘m rested and ready for 2024! Comment below if you‘re in, and Jan. or Feb. start date.

Graywacke