So, I read The House of Mirth for my American lit class. I liked it. I didn't really have any favorite characters, but I didn't hate anyone... except for Bertha. A lot of people H A T E Lily. I didn't hate her. I just wish she wasn't so stupid sometimes. Everything she does eventually backfires and she ruins everything for her love of Selden. Since the book opens up with Selden's point of view, I think this is why people hate Lily Bart, because the reader isn't given an opinion of her based from her own actions, but from his perspective.
Speaking of Selden... This is the one character whom I wished I loved. I enjoyed Selden in the beginning, but I just wished he gave Lily the benefit of the doubt, I mean even though he loves her. It was just annoying how he would always listen to the gossip, even though he knew the society he lived in--gossip was their job basically. However, I do love how he always comes to Lily's rescue... always, but always too little too late.
"It was pitiable that he, who knew the mixed motives on which social judgments depend, should still feel himself so swayed by them. How could he lift Lily to a freer vision of life, if his own view of her was to be coloured by any mind in which he saw her reflected?"
I just wish Selden and Lily were able to escape this world of the upper east side. This book reminded me A L O T of Gossip Girl too.
