I’m not sure how but I’ve finished The Age of Innocence in two days rather than the planned three (in my mind, it was a longer book). So I’m here to talk about it – be warned there will be spoilers.

First, Newland Archer. He remains whiny for the rest of the book and is only slightly redeemed by the last chapter, where he’s no longer pretending to be any different from New York high society. I really did feel that in essence, he was no different from his peers; he wanted to be thought as someone unique but he’s willing to do the same things as them. I mean, he literally thinks that he and Ellen having an affair would be different from all the other men who have affairs because Ellen is different. Like… this sounds so cliched. I don’t know how Ellen and May fell in love with him.

Second, Ellen and May. I actually really admire the two women in the book, but for two different reaons. Ellen is the one who doesn’t fit in, who was allowed to wear black satin when she debuted. But she has more courage than anyone else – refusing to go back to an abusive husband when it would be easy and literally running away from Newland (to a different country) when they are about to embark on an affair. Of course, it could be argued that she was “helped” by May but I will point out that her first departure to Washington was of her own volition.

While Newland sees May as this conventional and dull woman, I no longer trust his viewpoint. From what I see, May does the activities that she likes, which happens to be what most people in her society like. It may be true that she inherited habits from her mother but Newland doesn’t do much to outwardly resist or talk to her about it. Newland is an unhappy conformer, May is the wife of a man who doesn’t love her and she knows it. I quite admire how she took steps to stop the affair from happening, and I think it speaks to her perceptiveness that she knew what was going on.

In the end, this is the story of a conventional man who wants to be unconventional (and did actually have an affair before marriage but seems to have no prickings of conscience about it). I’m not quite sure who the Innocent in this book is – I know people think it’s May but I’m inclined to think it’s Newland because he’s so un-self-reflective about how he’s really like everyone who wants to be special.

By the way, while I do find Newland annoying, I have to stress that I enjoyed the book! It’s an interesting portrayal of New York high society so if you like angst with hidden rather than overt tensions, this may be the book for you.

P.s. I just checked the Goodreads page for this book and apparently when I read it, I was still updating my status about books through the Goodreads app. It reminded me that I didn’t like Newland in 2011/2012 either (no longer sure when I first read this)