Pause for thought

"Even now, however, she was not always happy. She had everything she wanted, but she still felt, at times, that there were other things she might want if she knew about them." Undine in  Edith Wharton's 'The Custom of the Country'

Wharton's novel follows the 'circle without progression' that is Undine's life. On the surface, Undine develops social grace provided by the experiences her 'upwardly mobile' mariages bring. But I kept waiting for her 'moment of redemption' while hoping her downfall would be extremely painful.

Undine destroyed so many people's happiness. Even when she thought she had found her 'ideal husband at last, she failed to recognise that he could not provide her with everything she 'deserved' because of her own behaviour and attitude.

I gave this book five stars.