WhartonBuddyRead

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

so-so

What happens when a teenager marries for the money? Edith Wharton wrote this novella when she was 14. It was published posthumously.

I was surprised to see something of Wharton's prose voice already. Also she was really funny. Teenager sass, but still literary.

It has problems everywhere. But it's still fun, and I enjoyed reading it. #whartonbuddyread

35 likes

Graywacke

A Backward Glance | Edith Wharton

#whartonbuddyread - how committed are you? 🙂 Here‘s the plan for Wharton‘s notoriously unrevealing autobiography. We‘ll learn what she wants us to learn about her parents and Henry James, etc - I think.

Are you in?

Plan:
Nov 22 chapter I-V Friendship and Travels
Nov 29 chapter VI-VIII Henry James
Dec 6 chapter IX-XI Paris
Dec 13 chapter XII-XIV And After

Lcsmcat, CarolynM, TheBookHippie, Leftcoastzen, Currey, jewright

Lcsmcat I‘m in! 3d

TheBookHippie Looks okay to me. I don‘t have much on my plate reading wise currently. 3d

Graywacke If you‘re tagged here and would like to join, let me know and I‘ll add you: @IMASLOWREADER @kenw3 @vikaplus321 @AllDebooks @arubabookwoman @dabbe @llwheeler @Louise @Suet624 @Tamra @willaful 3d

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Graywacke @Lcsmcat ❤️ 3d

Leftcoastzen I‘m in ! 3d

Graywacke @TheBookHippie then you must join! 😁🙂 3d

Graywacke @Leftcoastzen ❤️ yay 3d

jewright I‘m in! 2d

Liz_M @LitsyEvents 2d

Currey Yes, I‘m in 2d

Graywacke @jewright @currey ❤️ 2d

29 likes11 comments

CarolynM

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

so-so

Edith Wharton was only 14 when she wrote this, and it shows. An interesting bit of juvenilia nonetheless. #WhartonBuddyRead Thanks @Graywacke @Lcsmcat and fellow buddy readers.

Photo is Dunedin harbour from the turret of Lanarch Castle

Centique I love Larnach Castle! So glad you got to see it. I found walking up that spiral staircase a bit claustrophobic! 2w

CarolynM @Centique It‘s quite something! Beautiful gardens too. The guide was trying to put us off climbing up to the turret by going on about the spiral stairs, so it seemed ok to me versus what I was expecting😆 And the view was definitely worth it! 2w

LeahBergen Beautiful photo! 2w

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Hooked_on_books Your picture is gorgeous! 🤩 2w

sarahbarnes Wow, only 14?! That‘s crazy. 2w

Cathythoughts Beautiful spot 💚 2w

CarolynM @LeahBergen @Hooked_on_books Thank you 😘😘 2w

CarolynM @Cathythoughts It really is! We didn‘t get to spend enough time in Dunedin, hopefully we will get to visit again sometime. 2w

62 likes8 comments

Graywacke

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

So #whartonbuddyread - what did you think?

Edith Wharton wrote this novella (or novelette) in 1876/77 when she was 14. And she gave herself a man‘s name as author - David Olivieri.

I have things to say, but i‘ll wait to hear what others thought. I will leave you with one word: ‘and‘ - one of many missing ‘and‘s in the text. Please make free use of it, as needed or desired

Graywacke - @CarolynM @Currey @IMASLOWREADER @jewright @kenw3 @Lcsmcat @Leftcoastzen @TheBookHippie @vikaplus321 3w

Currey Yes, yes, yes, the missing and. A writer even at 14, finding the right word, the right rhythm and being inclusive of possible words instead of picking exactly which one was the correct one. At times it came across as “modern” and at times just immaturity as a writer. 3w

Currey @Graywacke and at times, it worked. I felt the dialogue was not Wharton but amazing that many of the themes were already beginning to show themselves. 3w

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Lcsmcat It reminded me of Austen‘s juvenilia in that the style was more “what‘s popular now” than truly Wharton. But the unhappy marriage theme started early with her, didn‘t it??? 3w

Currey @Graywacke the plot a teenager‘s melodrama but even the neutral/sad ending reflected endings to come. 3w

Lcsmcat @Currey We posted simultaneously or I‘d think I copied your opinion. 😂 3w

Currey @Lcsmcat was her parent‘s marriage unhappy that we know of? 3w

Lcsmcat @Currey I don‘t know. I need to read her biography. 3w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i want to read A Backward Glance next, and then Hermione Lee‘s biography. 🙂 3w

Lcsmcat @Graywacke The next #whartonBuddyRead? 3w

Graywacke @Currey on your first post - it struck me that the opening section (which i think was the best part of the book) had a Wharton prose feel. It was very look-at-this-clever-playful-teenager-writing. But it also felt like Wharton‘s voice doing that. I was entertained. Because it‘s actually really funny. But also fascinated at seeing it. 3w

Graywacke @Currey on your second comment - there are definitely better and worse parts. I assumed she hated Madeline, because the section that introduced her (and those Persephone flowers) felt like the worst written part of the book. The author wasn‘t interested… ☺️🙂 3w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat if there‘s interest. Definitely. Both are commitments. (edited) 3w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat and @Currey - unhappy marriages and killing off the best character - two resilient Wharton themes in nascent form. 3w

Graywacke Another thing that struck me was obviously fun this teenager was having writing this book. It‘s always playful. 3w

rubyslippersreads I enjoyed it, as an entertaining if melodramatic story, and as a glimpse of things to come. 3w

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Currey She really didn‘t seem to like Madeleine! She seems more interested in unhappy people. I wonder if she read a lot of Bronte or Dickens? 3w

Leftcoastzen Yes I just finished! Some of the melodrama was a bit eye rolling, yet , the themes that she would use in her most masterful works are already coming out . I enjoyed it . I agree there was some delightful playfulness in the book . 3w

CarolynM I‘m glad to see she was so young when she wrote it because my overall impression was how juvenile it was. It was melodramatic, predictable and often somehow just a little off the mark - someone writing about things they didn‘t really understand. But interesting to see that she was already concerned with the roles women play. 3w

Graywacke @rubyslippersreads I felt that glimpse too! 3w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat M was a nauseating Miss Perfect. ☺️ 3w

Graywacke @Leftcoastzen glad you enjoyed! And saw the playfulness 3w

Graywacke @CarolynM no question. That‘s all true - your melodramatic sentence 3w

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I can imagine a 14 yr old Wharton aiming her venom at all those sweet prissy NY debutants and naming them Mad. 3w

Graywacke @Currey 🙂 2w

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I got Brontë from this! 2w

TheBookHippie @Graywacke busy protest day sorry for the lateness! I too could see her in the beginning and I also wonder what did she see of marriage and or did it not appeal to her ? I enjoyed this look into her writing. 2w

TheBookHippie @Currey for sure .. re: venom. 2w

TheBookHippie @Leftcoastzen yes! Playfulness! 2w

TheBookHippie My reading til end of year and next is open to more Wharton. I don‘t have a huge load. 2w

Graywacke @TheBookHippie go you on the No Kings or pumpkins protests! I‘m thinking A Backwards Glance Nov/Dec… 2w

TheBookHippie @Graywacke sounds good. No Kings was amazing here. Good boost of hope and many literary signs. 2w

39 likes32 comments

Graywacke

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

Getting going… #whartonbuddyread

36 likes1 stack add

LitsyEvents

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

repost for @Graywacke

In 1877, at the age of 15, she secretly wrote a novella, Fast and Loose. (Here she is pictured at ~22) We‘ll discuss it next weekend, Oct 18. #whartonbuddyread

MuddyPuddle Not an easy book to find! Any suggestions? I've hunted...... 3w

28 likes1 comment

Graywacke

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

In 1877, at the age of 15, she secretly wrote a novella, Fast and Loose. (Here she is pictured at ~22) We‘ll discuss it next weekend, Oct 18. #whartonbuddyread

Graywacke @CarolynM @Currey @IMASLOWREADER @jewright @kenw3 @Lcsmcat @Leftcoastzen @TheBookHippie @vikaplus321 4w

Lcsmcat Looking forward to it! 4w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat so am I. Kind of amazing we have it. 3w

Leftcoastzen Yay ! 3w

Graywacke @Leftcoastzen 💙 3w

36 likes5 comments

Graywacke

Fast and Loose: A Novelette | Edith Wharton

Hi #Whartonbuddyread

How does a Fast and Loose discussion on Oct 18 sound?

Note: the only easy way to get the book is on amazon through their kindle edition of the collected works of Edith Wharton for $1 (usa - link: https://a.co/d/fdvZX12 )Otherwise it‘s hard to find.

Lcsmcat

Graywacke - @CarolynM @Currey @IMASLOWREADER @jewright @kenw3 @Lcsmcat @Leftcoastzen @TheBookHippie @vikaplus321 1mo

TheBookHippie This is the one we purchased before? And yes should be fine it‘s on my list for this week to start! 1mo

Lcsmcat I‘ll be ready! 1mo

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Graywacke @TheBookHippie possibly the same book. I hadn‘t bought it yet. And glad you can join! 1mo

Graywacke @Lcsmcat of course you will! 🙂 Looking forward to finally talking about this earlier one. 1mo

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I also am excited to be reading this early one. 1mo

Graywacke @Currey yay! 1mo

jewright I‘m in! 1mo

Leftcoastzen I will join in ! 1mo

Graywacke @jewright @Leftcoastzen yay! This will be a fun chat 1mo

CarolynM I‘ll be travelling during October. Not sure if I‘ll be able to join you but I‘ll do my best. 1mo

IMASLOWREADER if you‘re a prime member its free 🤗 1mo

Graywacke @CarolynM hope it‘s good travel. Glad there‘s a chance you will join us. 1mo

Graywacke @IMASLOWREADER save your $1! 😆 1mo

33 likes14 comments

Leftcoastzen

Collected Stories, 1911-1937 | Edith Wharton

Library book found ! Checked it out for the #whartonbuddyread of the Bunner sisters ,got mixed into a stack that I didn‘t get to the bottom of where it shouldn‘t have been anyway as I like to keep Library books separate for just this reason! 😂📚📚🙄

Bookwomble Phew! 😅 3mo

Lcsmcat I‘m glad! I hope your library is like ours and doesn‘t charge fines. 3mo

Leftcoastzen @Lcsmcat they no longer charge fines . And they automatically renew a title a few times unless someone has placed a hold request. 3mo

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