The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

It's no secret here on the blog the Edith Wharton is one of my absolute favorite authors. I've read several of her novels over the years and have thoroughly enjoyed most of them. As such, when I was putting together my Classics Club list, I ended up including four of her books sprinkled among the different categories. The Custom of the Country, a book I picked up so long ago that I can't remember the circumstances I acquired it under, was one of those four. I knew nothing about it prior to starting my reading, but I went into it expecting another novel lampooning early 20th century American society and exploring women's issues. I was not disappointed. 

The novel follows Undine Spragg, a young woman living in New York with her parents. The Spragg family are newly wealthy and Undine has her heart set on worming her way into high society and enjoying all the material pleasures life has to offer. She becomes frustrated, however, when she hasn't managed to insert herself into the right social circles after two years of effort. Even more tiresome, her father is constantly trying to curtail her spending on expensive dresses, restaurants, and travel. She always manages to wheedle the money she wants out of her parents in the end, but the process of doing so is deeply annoying to her and she has no concept of why her father doesn't immediately acquiesce to her requests.

Her fortunes finally take a turn, however, when she catches the eye of Ralph Marvell. Ralph is a young man with literary ambitions from a prominent old New York family. He is immediately entranced by Undine's beauty and views her lack of familiarity with upper-class manners and customs to be refreshing. He notices her tendency towards the superficial, but he chalks this up to her youth and believes that he can elevate her interests and behavior over time. He eventually proposes to her and the pair marry.

It doesn't take long for Ralph to realize that Undine's love of society and material wealth is an integral part of her personality and is not going to change. He is unable to get her to take an interest in art, literature, or music and her continual need to be at social engagements and have the latest fashions is depleting their money much faster than he can replenish it. He is forced to give up his ambitions to write and take a job in business, which he dislikes and is terrible at. Undine is similarly unhappy in the marriage. Much like her attitude towards her father, she does not understand why Ralph is incapable of providing her with unlimited funds. Furthermore, she finds his respectable family to be stuffy and his intellectual interests insufferable. The pair has a son in the first year of their marriage, and even this doesn't soften her feelings towards family life. Undine sees the boy as little more than an inconvenience to her social calendar. She regrets the marriage and begins to set her sights on securing a different husband--one with more money that can boost her further up in the social scene.  However, she badly underestimates how her friends will react to her obtaining a divorce and she soon finds herself struggling to maintain the lifestyle she so desires. Undine is a ruthless climber though, and she won't go down without a fight.

This novel was fantastic, and as is typical in an Edith Wharton novel, it delivered a lot of social commentary. Wharton explores several topics, including the difference between old and new money, the role of women in marriage, the effects of divorce, the superficiality of the upper classes, and the cutthroat nature of the social game. By following an unscrupulous character for most of the story, she is able to use sarcasm and irony to great effect. Undine's successes are clearly society's failings, and she is merciless in her depiction of the nouveaux riche and the vulgar, frivolous atmosphere they cultivate. 

At the same time, however, Wharton gives her characters depth and nuance. Undine is selfish and careless to an incredible degree, but she is also shown to be a product of her rather toxic environment. As one of the characters explains, the "custom of the country" is for American businessmen to devote all of their passion and effort to their various money-making schemes without including their wives as equal partners in it. It is the man's job to make the money and the wife's job to spend it. Under these conditions, women become completely fixated on acquiring dresses, eating at fashionable restaurants, and traveling all over the world. It's how they fill their hours and show their strength. Undine's zeal to climb to the top is not so different from any of the ambitious male characters around her, it's just that a woman's path to success during this time lies in what she can get through strategic marriage and friendships instead of business acumen. Despite her missteps throughout the novel, she excels more often than not at this game and it's fascinating and scandalous to watch it develop. Undine is not likable at all, but I didn't hate her. I couldn't wait to see what she'd do next.

In addition to the strong themes and characters, the pacing in this novel was excellent. There were enough twists and turns to keep things interesting and I stayed engaged all throughout my reading. I've read a lot of classics that I appreciated for their literary importance, but was personally bored by. This was not the case here. The Custom of the Country is excellent reading on its own. It doesn't need allowances or excuses made for it due to its age. The language was beautiful as well. I've always admired Wharton's style, and this novel is a fine example of her wit and wordplay. Of course, I'm biased, as Wharton has long been one of my favorites, but anyone who is a fan of Wharton's other works, like The Age of Innocence, or The House of Mirth, should definitely give this one a try.

So obviously, I really enjoyed The Custom of the County. It's a new favorite for me and I'm so happy that I made it a part of my Classics Club list. This was a special delight because I got to enjoy a writer I love in a totally new way. Rather than focus in on a sympathetic protagonist struggling against the unfair rules of society, I got to spend time with a character who was decidedly part of the problem. Undine was such a monster, and I loved it, start to finish.

Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#36 on my list): 77/100 books completed

Total Books Read in 2020: 60