The House of Mirth

Review

A captivating, deft character study of Lily Bart, this novel has a richness to it that signifies a classic. I really enjoyed it, although I felt that the ending was a bit too drawn out and the anti-Semitism was jarring.

They would welcome her in a new character, but as Miss Bart they knew her by heart. She knew herself by heart too, and was sick of the old story. There were moments when she longed blindly for anything different, anything strange, remote and untried; but the utmost reach of her imagination did not go beyond picturing her usual life in a new setting. She could not figure herself as anywhere but in a drawing-room, diffusing elegance as a flower sheds perfume.