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[quote=Anonymous]I read The Age of Innocence long ago but remember the general story well.

The ending was haunting. Archer refuses to meet with Ellen and instead sits on a bench outside while his son visits with Ellen. His son later reveals that his mother, May, had asked him to take his father to visit Ellen. So it turns out May had known all along about the love that had developed between Ellen and Archer. Archer had turned his back on that love because he was betrothed to May. In the insular social world in which they existed, he would have done May a grievous wrong to leave her in the lurch and run off with Ellen. So he married May, despite his love for Ellen. When he was tempted to leave May and join Ellen, because he couldn't bear to be separated from Ellen any longer, May told him she was pregnant. That was it. He never left May. Ellen had left for Europe. A few decades later, on her deathbed, May asks their son to take his father to visit her cousin Ellen in Europe. Their son doesn't know the full story but dutifully takes his father to see Ellen, only Archer refuses to see her. He walks away from the opportunity to finally be with his long lost love.

Such a haunting ending. It calls to mind all the people who can't forget their first love, but build their life in the here and now. It calls to mind King Charles, a less faithful and more selfish man caught in a similar predicament. King Charles is a modern rendition of a high society man, but light years different from a man like Archer.

I felt the old WASP NYC society to be rather similar to a modern Latino gang in the sense they have parallels, such as a strict code of conduct you abide by. It's kind of ironic to compare the old WASP society, pinnacle of American high society, with the new Latino gangs, city rats.

Excellent book. A few books make a big impression, and this is one of them.[/quote]

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