The Reef by Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton’s The Reef (1912) tells the story George Darrow and his former love Anna Leath. Darrow was interested in Anna when he was young, but she married another man. After the death of Anna’s husband, they resume contact and plan to meet in Paris.

As Darrow is ready to travel from London to France to see Anna, she postpones their meeting with a short note, giving him no explanation. Darrow feels angry and humiliated, but decides to go to France. He meets a young woman named Sophy Viner. Sophy is a poor and sincere woman, and while Darrow cares little for her, he enjoys charming her and treating her to fancy meals and nights at the theatre. Darrow also wants to put Anna out of his mind. Darrow and Sophy have an affair.

It is unclear how their affair ends. Months later, Darrow is at Anna’s home, where she lives with her daughter, former mother-in-law, and stepson Owen. The plot thickens when Darrow meets Sophy again. She has taken a job as the governess of Anna’s daughter. Darrow and Sophy hide their relationship from the others.

Meanwhile, Anna and Darrow plan their wedding. Anna talks to Darrow about Owen’s interest in a young lady, and Darrow eventually learns that Owen has proposed to Sophy. His sympathy for Sophy conflicts with his opinion that she is not a suitable wife for Owen. Darrow and Sophy’s affair is eventually revealed in this perfectly executed plot.

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The Aspern Papers by Henry James

The Aspern Papers (1888) by Henry James is the story of an American editor obsessed with getting his hands on letters written by a dead poet named Jeffrey Aspern. This unnamed editor narrates the story. He arrives in Venice to meet Aspern's former lover, Miss Juliana Bordereau, who is now an old woman. He believes that Aspern’s last missing letters were to Juliana, and he aims to obtain them.

The narrator weasels his way into boarding at the Bordereau home under a false name. Juliana is aloof, but he makes some progress in flattering her younger sister Tina. Tina misunderstands his intentions, and the narrator is so focused on getting the letters that he deceives and romances her. Through all this, the narrator seemingly fails to realize his effect on the two women.

What is key to this story is the honesty of the narrator. Since we know he is both unscrupulous and amoral, we must wonder if the narrator is also deceiving us.

Related Review:
Daisy Miller by Henry James
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The Girl Most Likely by Rebecca Sparrow

Lately, I have been trying to add more modern authors to my mix of books. I spotted The Girl Most Likely (2003) on a weekend visit to the library. I knew nothing of the book or its author, Rebecca Sparrow. It was the Fruit Loops on the spine that caught my eye, and I decided to check the book out. Luckily, this spontaneous decision led me to read a charming novel.

In The Girl Most Likely, Rachel Hill returns to her childhood home in Brisbane at the age of 27. She’s soon to be divorced, but has only confessed her mistake of a marriage to her friend Zoe. Her parents and sister are still in the dark, and her divorce papers are left sitting in the fridge with a jar of Miracle Whip.

Facing her quarter-life crisis, Rachel reflects upon all the things she excelled at when she was 17 and on where she thought she’d be by 28. She wonders what her younger self would think of how she’s ended up. She finds a list of things she wanted to do by age 28. The list includes learning a movie theme song, which she begins to practice incessantly.

Slowly, Rebecca begins moving in wider circles outside of her mother and father’s yard. By reassessing her idea of happiness, she begins to accept herself again.


Check out Rebecca Sparrow's website. After writing three fictional novels, she’s focused on writing non-fiction for tween and teenage girls to help them have better experiences in high school. She’s a lovely person. I sent her a thank you message after reading her book, and she sent me the sweetest response.

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World is a dystopian novel published in 1932 by the English writer Aldous Huxley. The novel describes a disturbing "ideal" society in the future. In this future world, humans are manufactured in production lines, and then placed at a designated social level.

In the novel, there is no love or commitment, and no sadness. If a true feeling emerges, then a dose of the comforting drug soma cures the feeling. John (the Savage), the novel’s protagonist, cannot understand this world. He defends the right to suffer over feeling false, enforced happiness.

Brave New World is a startling look at what can happen when science is misapplied by a totalitarian government. Moreover, it’s a warning that the public should take an interest in science. I consider this a must-read book.

Favorite Quotes:
"Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery."

"It's curious," he went on after a little pause, "to read what people in the time of Our Ford used to write about scientific progress. They seemed to have imagined that it could be allowed to go on indefinitely, regardless of everything else. Knowledge was the highest good, truth the supreme value; all the rest was secondary and subordinate."

"Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears – that’s what soma is."

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A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

Willa Cather’s A Lost Lady was first published in 1923. Cather describes the bustling, young city of Sweet Water, Nebraska and the subsequent decline of the booming frontier town. It's the story of Marian Forrester and her husband Captain Daniel Forrester, the town's leading citizens.

Young Niel Herbert is captivated by Marian Forrester. She is a gracious, charming, well-loved hostess, who is a generation younger than her husband. Niel seems to be in love with Marian, or he considers her his ideal woman. While revealing little of himself, Niel shares his observations of Marian with the reader, and the reader learns parts of Marian's story through his filtered viewpoint.

Marian respect and loves her husband, Captain Forrester, who is an honest and successful railroad builder. They have a happy marriage, but it is difficult to pinpoint her exact feelings towards him and his towards her. The narrator says that the Captain, “knew his wife better even than she knew herself.” The reader learns that Marian is having an affair with Frank Ellinger, a man from Colorado Spring, but Niel is unaware of this. Later, Niels is stunned to discover Marian in her bedroom with Ellinger, and his long-held admiration for her turns into contempt.

Meanwhile, the Captain’s strong conscience in business causes him to lose money. The Captain then becomes ill, and Marian is lost without him as her anchor. Coping with her sick husband, Marian is shocked to read that Ellinger has married another woman. Marian tries to call him, but she is saved from gossip when Niel cuts her phone line.

The Captain’s dies, and Niel describes the effect on Marian, saying, "since her husband's death she seemed to have become another woman...without him, she was like a ship without ballast, driven hither and thither by every wind.” The novel’s title may refer to Marian being lost without her husband, and it may also refer to Niel’s altered perception of Marian because he considers her to be morally lost.

Later on, Marian gives a slimy lawyer named Ivy Peters power over her finances. Ivy is a young man and the same age as Niel. Marian hopes Ivy will make her rich again. Near the novel’s conclusion, Niel sees that Marian is romantically involved with Ivy, and he never makes an attempt to meet her again.

Marian’s later history is described in the novel’s final pages. Marian left Sweet Water, and was seen in Buenos Aires, where she had married a rich, English rancher. Ultimately, Marian is resourceful and continued to live and change, while others around her did not. Was Marian lost, or not? Cather leaves it up to the reader to decide.

Related Reviews:
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

External Link:
Essay on A Lost Lady by James Woodress

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Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003) is a book by Azar Nafisi that mixes fiction and reality and combines autobiography and literary criticism. Set in Tehran, Iran in 1995–1997, it tells the story of Nafisi, who is a teacher, and a group of her seven best students. They meet to discuss literature at Nafisi’s home. The women’s inner lives and identities are hidden and suppressed in public, but their minds are free and active. Woven throughout the book are analyses of famous works of literature, which are given new breath in the context of Nafisi’s literature group.

Azar Nafisi has a different and beautiful way of writing. I wish I could read, quote, and retain what I read the way Nafisi does. I enjoyed the way her love of books permeates her thoughts and how she gives so much care to her words. Maybe I'll be like that one day.

Throughout the story, Nafisi brings you in close and then holds you off at just the right moments to make you miss a full understanding. In reading this book, you can feel that strange way that humans interact. We want people to know us and have intimacy, and at the same time, we hold back, not wanting people to know certain things. I don't think I've read a book where that strange sensation is depicted better. At the same time, because the author uses this method, the story often felt cold to me. If you are not close to any of the characters and are held off purposefully from understanding them, then your connection to the story is minimal.

To me, the best parts of the novel involve the seven students and their life stories and goals, but unfortunately, there is minimal information provided to differentiate the women. They are forgotten for much of the story. Their identities are guarded, and it is unclear how much of their stories are even true. This obscurity results in a lack of characterization and is a major downfall of the book.

I especially liked Nafisi’s magician, how he was guarded, and how they both loved and hurt one another. They must have had a great relationship, but I wish we could have learned more. However, if we did, perhaps the relationship would not have seemed so charming and mysterious. We learn little of the magician, and we learn even less about Nafisi’s own family. The purposeful emotional obscurity makes me wonder why the book is titled “memoir,” when the author conveys herself in such an impersonal manner.

Overall, this book was thoughtful, different, and interesting. It allows the reader to think about many topics: literature, history, feminism, censorship, the role of teachers, and politics. It is definitely worth reading.

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