Reading Update 1
THE BUCCANEERS By Edith Wharton.
I am always excited to read a book representing American upper class lifestyle. It feels like I am in an another world and this book helped me to quench that thirst. When I took the book I was very much eager to get to know about the Victorian society of America and it didn't let me down. It is a fantastic story of five upper class American girl and their ambitious married life.
The Buccaneers starts of introducing the most evolving character of the novel and she is Annabel St. George and her highly ambitious sister Virginia and mother Mrs.St.George. The beginning of the story also introduces us the family of Mrs.Elmsworth and her trashy daughter Conchita whose life goal is only to get married. Mrs.St. George forbids her daughter to be with that another mentioned family because she believes it will harm their daughters' life to get hitched with a reputed family of England but Annabel aka Nan is determined to make friendship with Conchita and she does that.
In the Victorian society the governess plays a very crucial role and here too we find a governess named Miss Laura Testvalley against whom Nan has initial annoyance but gradually it melts into a friendship and latter we find Nan to admit the governess as her 'step mother'.
The most interesting part of the novel I find is that Miss Testvalley declares herself as the cousin of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and she listens to Nan the famous poem of Rossetti "The Blessed Damozel" and Nan starts to love the poem and the poet gradually. Rossetti appears so many time in the novel and Nan was so much excited to meet him. Meanwhile Conchita gets married with an aristocrat family of Europe and Virginia too marries Lord Richard Marable , an upper class family of England. All the family long for an aristocrat life of England for their daughters but ultimately the marriages result in an unhappy one including Nan who marries Ushant , the Duke of Tintagel for social position. But Nan's miscarriage and the dominant nature of her husband turn the relationship into an unhealthy and unfruitful bond. Nan evades away from this marriage and is blamed for her infidelity.
Actually Nan was in love with Guy Thwarte , son of Mr. Helmsley Thwarte , owner of the Honourslove house. Although initially Guy and Nan have severe misunderstanding but at last they get patched up and run away from England. Even Nan does not dare to return to America.
The novel actually represents to its reader the difference of Culture between America and England. America which was colonised by England can not take up. The manners , curtsey an English man follows can never be adopted by an American easily and I think Edith Wharton started the novel with the intention to present the reality beyond the longing of an English life but her unfortunate death tempts her literary executor , Gaillard Lapsley to finish it.
In this novel only Nan among all the five women has been presented as a strong character who ignoring all the infamy dares to flee out from the duke and expresses her extra-marital affair.
though she often thinks of going back to America, start a new job as a governess but Guy Thwarte shows her a new dimension of life like a normal being far away from America , from England.
Apart from Nan the governess also has an important role here. she is presented by the writer as a god mother who arranges all the marriages of those ambitious girls. Not only that her most favourite student Nan is when in trouble in her conjugal life , she shows Nan new way to live life. Not only that when Nan leaves the house of duke Miss Testvalle hides Nan in Denmark and finally she helps Nan and Guy to leave England and go to a new country to start everything anew.
Hey guys hopefully you will like this review and you also can watch the movie of this novel that is also awesome.
The Buccaneers starts of introducing the most evolving character of the novel and she is Annabel St. George and her highly ambitious sister Virginia and mother Mrs.St.George. The beginning of the story also introduces us the family of Mrs.Elmsworth and her trashy daughter Conchita whose life goal is only to get married. Mrs.St. George forbids her daughter to be with that another mentioned family because she believes it will harm their daughters' life to get hitched with a reputed family of England but Annabel aka Nan is determined to make friendship with Conchita and she does that.
In the Victorian society the governess plays a very crucial role and here too we find a governess named Miss Laura Testvalley against whom Nan has initial annoyance but gradually it melts into a friendship and latter we find Nan to admit the governess as her 'step mother'.
The most interesting part of the novel I find is that Miss Testvalley declares herself as the cousin of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and she listens to Nan the famous poem of Rossetti "The Blessed Damozel" and Nan starts to love the poem and the poet gradually. Rossetti appears so many time in the novel and Nan was so much excited to meet him. Meanwhile Conchita gets married with an aristocrat family of Europe and Virginia too marries Lord Richard Marable , an upper class family of England. All the family long for an aristocrat life of England for their daughters but ultimately the marriages result in an unhappy one including Nan who marries Ushant , the Duke of Tintagel for social position. But Nan's miscarriage and the dominant nature of her husband turn the relationship into an unhealthy and unfruitful bond. Nan evades away from this marriage and is blamed for her infidelity.
Actually Nan was in love with Guy Thwarte , son of Mr. Helmsley Thwarte , owner of the Honourslove house. Although initially Guy and Nan have severe misunderstanding but at last they get patched up and run away from England. Even Nan does not dare to return to America.
The novel actually represents to its reader the difference of Culture between America and England. America which was colonised by England can not take up. The manners , curtsey an English man follows can never be adopted by an American easily and I think Edith Wharton started the novel with the intention to present the reality beyond the longing of an English life but her unfortunate death tempts her literary executor , Gaillard Lapsley to finish it.
In this novel only Nan among all the five women has been presented as a strong character who ignoring all the infamy dares to flee out from the duke and expresses her extra-marital affair.
though she often thinks of going back to America, start a new job as a governess but Guy Thwarte shows her a new dimension of life like a normal being far away from America , from England.
Apart from Nan the governess also has an important role here. she is presented by the writer as a god mother who arranges all the marriages of those ambitious girls. Not only that her most favourite student Nan is when in trouble in her conjugal life , she shows Nan new way to live life. Not only that when Nan leaves the house of duke Miss Testvalle hides Nan in Denmark and finally she helps Nan and Guy to leave England and go to a new country to start everything anew.
Hey guys hopefully you will like this review and you also can watch the movie of this novel that is also awesome.
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