WeBuzz

Reader discussion: The Custom of the Country

Public reader discussion about The Custom of the Country in the WeRead Catalog by Edith Wharton.

What are some novels that you want to see adapted into period dramas?

By SealSpring

Is there any book (or series) you’re surprised hasn’t been turned into a movie or show yet that you’d actually want to see? It feels like almost everything gets adapted these days, some of it good and some of it not so much, but there are still plenty that haven’t. What books do you personally want to see on screen, and do you think they’d end up being successful? Also, if there are ones where the rights still haven’t been snagged or the whole project seems stuck for now, I’d love to hear those too.

I know this might get philosophical, but where do you think Meghan’s greed comes from? Obviously she’s an empty pit- & maybe she’s trying to find some kind of way to fill it, but I don’t think she understood that she basically won when she married Harry and was welcomed into the BRF…. It’ baffling.

By basil1976

Honestly it feels like she’s done with the “proof” part—like once she’s up there in the upper crust, that’s just it, forever. It made me think a little of that Twilight Zone episode “A Nice Place to Visit,” where a career criminal is convinced he’s in heaven, but then he realizes he’s just stuck with nothing to do once he’s gotten all he wanted… Like, he’s basically saying he doesn’t belong there, and then the guardian guy is like “this is the other place, not heaven.” I don’t know, the whole vibe is just this trapped, frustrated person who never really got a break—except now he finally has everything… and still has to deal with it forever.

WAW for gold digger but in the 1900s?

By bronzepanda

Is there an older word people used instead of “gold digger”? Like back in the 1920s to 1940s. I’m working on a book set in a German-French kind of region, and I was wondering if there’s a German or French term from that era that would fit, if that’s even a thing.

Sofia Coppola-Kirsten Dunst Movie Scrapped

By fuzzy_cougar

Why does it feel like every thing I’m into gets cancelled, shelved, or “paused” lately? Kinda been a rough couple weeks.

[Discussion 4/4] The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, ch xxxiii to END

By Summer-Listens

Alright, this is the 4th (and last) discussion for Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country. I’m pretty sure we’re all ready to jump into the ending, so I’ll skip the long intro. If you want it, there are detailed chapter summaries here: Detailed Summaries And the schedule’s here: Schedule There’s also marginalia here: Marginalia The discussion prompts are in the comments too, but please feel free to bring up whatever you want as well!

I need the next Dancing On Broken Glass, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or something similar...Fiction that I can't put down!

By AmberPanther

I’m a big reader and I’m honestly just trying to find a really good fiction book I won’t be able to stop reading. I love thrillers with shocking twists (like The Silent Patient or Never Lie), but I’m also into really strong regular fiction—things along the lines of All The Broken Places, Evelyn Hugo, Lessons in Chemistry, Room, etc. I don’t specifically need something super depressing like Dancing On Broken Glass, I just want it to grab me and keep me hooked the whole way through. Thanks in advance!!

Getting my Gilded Age fix via Edith Wharton

By ivycreek

I’ve been meaning to read Edith Wharton for ages, and The Gilded Age is such a great way to jump into her whole world. Also, I love that The Age of Innocence starts with Christina Nilsson doing Faust at the Academy of Music—instantly feels like I’m getting dropped into “the lore,” lol.

Have you ever read a book that you consider to be flawless?

By redFrog50

If that’s the case, which one are you thinking of? I’ve read a bunch of books I really liked, but none of them feel totally perfect to me. I’d be curious to know what you think though.

Overlord’s premise is engaging at first, but it struggles hard to stay interesting

By UnfetterWrites

This sub was basically made off /r/whowouldwin. There’s been a ton of meta stuff already complaining about characters or explaining why X is overrated and all that, so I guess the point here is just to let people vent about a character or a series. Join our Discord! Rules: - Don’t be a jerk: it’s fine to talk about characters since they can’t get offended, but stuff like “fanboy” and other negative labels is frowned on, and it also just breaks Reddit’s Content Policy. Swearing to make a point is okay, but if it’s obviously aimed at a user in a nasty way, there’ll be consequences. - Don’t make things up: no fabricating stuff. If you’re claiming something against a source that’s been shown, then you need to bring counterevidence. If someone asks for proof and you don’t provide it, the mods can remove the claim whenever they want. And if you keep doing it or seem like you’re trolling just to bait people, the mods can decide what happens. - Don’t downvote: if you disagree with a post or comment, use Rule 2 and argue the point, or just admit you don’t care that much. Downvotes just push popularity over actual argument quality. - Don’t ask for votes or try vote manipulation. Don’t make alt accounts to dodge punishment or restrictions. You’ll get banned immediately, even if they just suspect it. - Don’t link to other communities or posts in a negative or even neutral way: pointing to specific posts from r/whowouldwin or elsewhere can be taken as brigading and can get you banned. If you really need to show something, use a screenshot and blur usernames and links. - Allowed thread topics: check this post to see what can and can’t be posted on CR. You can talk about why you like or dislike a specific character, why you think one is overhyped or underrated, clear up misconceptions about a character or setting, or talk about a fictional event or a concept like ki, chakra, or speedforce. - Don’t reply to a thread by making a new thread. Reddit already notifies the user when you reply, so there’s no reason to make a whole separate post about it. - No NSFW content. This isn’t a NSFW subreddit and Reddit doesn’t recognize it as one. Don’t post threads with explicit sexual content. NSFW stuff is okay only if it’s used as relevant evidence and marked properly, like nudity in a source. - General questions count as meta, including vague stuff, opinion questions, “all of fiction,” or fan theory questions. Those need mod approval and will get removed without warning. Also, any rant that is only a question has to actually make a point or start a discussion; just asking something with no stance belongs in AskReddit or AskScienceFiction. Questions about a specific feat or context are fine. If your post gets removed and you think that was unfair, message the mods. - Don’t post super low effort threads that are just a quick opinion (“I don’t like this character, bye”). People are expected to bring at least a little discussion. Memes, bait, trolling, and joke posts also don’t belong here and can be removed whenever. That said, low effort posts are allowed on Sundays. If yours got removed for that, just wait until Sunday or add more. - Spoilers: don’t post or comment spoiler stuff without a spoiler tag. A spoiler here means anything from media that hasn’t had enough time to be reasonably seen by everyone. That’s 4 weeks for a movie, 3 weeks for a video game, 2 weeks for a comic chapter, manga chapter, or TV episode. Use [Text here] or [Your words here]. - Overdone rants: if a topic gets way too common and keeps showing up without bringing anything new, it can be temporarily banned. Topics on that list can’t be posted until they’re removed: pedophilia - Titles: posts need the media name in the title. There can be exceptions if the rant title already includes a character the series is named after, or if it’s about a broader topic or uses multiple series as examples. Abbreviations don’t count, like JJK instead of Jujutsu Kaisen. Guidelines: - Meta posts: ask the mods before posting one. They’ll probably say yes unless you’re advertising. - Reposts and copycats: if your thread is about the exact same topic and same opinion as a post from less than 6 months ago that got over 100 upvotes, it’ll be removed. - Making a battleboarding post? Check out r/respectthreads for solid feat compilations for characters!

The Undine Spragg of Montecito

By hareStill1977

The Custom of the Country is probably my favorite Edith Wharton book. Watching the main character sort of play out in real life and totally mess it up is kind of a train wreck moment—I just can’t look away.

[Schedule] The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

By ashforest3

Alright, here’s the plan for our next Gutenberg read: *The Custom of the Country* by Edith Wharton. I’m a huge Wharton fan, so I’m really excited to jump into another one of her books with you all. I’ll be running it along with u/lazylittlelady, u/Less_Tumbleweed_3217, and u/randoman11. The marginalia link is here. And here’s the Goodreads blurb: **Considered by many to be her masterpiece**, Wharton’s big novel is basically a sharp (but personal) look at the modern upper class—how they act, what they get up to, and all the weird stuff that comes with it. It follows Undine Spragg as she moves from New York to Europe, and you get this detailed look at the “interior décor” of America and the nouveau riche crowd. Undine herself is vain, spoiled, and selfish, but somehow also strangely fascinating, and the story tracks her marriages and affairs with a pretty twisty, satisfying plot. Overall it’s a pretty informed take on social behavior, but also pretty disenchanted. **Discussion schedule:** I split the book into 4 parts, and we’ll be doing check-ins on Mondays. - Monday 6th October – ch i to xi - Monday 13th October – ch xii to xx - Monday 20th October – ch xxi to xxxiii - Monday 27th October – ch xxxiv to end Hope to see you all in the discussions!

The Custom of the Country miniseries

By Mirror_Late

Just wrapped up The Custom of the Country—my first Edith Wharton thing—and I really, really liked it. I saw they’re supposedly working on a miniseries and now I can’t stop wondering who people would cast. Also curious what everyone thinks about Sofia Coppola’s adaptation, if that’s still the plan, and just in general how the book landed for you all.

[Discussion] The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton| "Pomegranate Seed", "The Looking Glass" and "All Souls'"

By followsForest60

Glad to have one more round of Wharton stories, and of course they all feel like they’re ending on exactly the right note. There are three of them and they each kind of come at you sideways—myth stuff with Persephone in the mix, the Titanic always lurking in the background of the second one, and then the last story is all spooky All Souls Day vibes with a very “maybe witchy” feeling. **(1) Pomegranate Seed:** A widower with kids remarries, and the new wife keeps getting these weird letters that mess him up. He disappears right after kissing one, and she ends up getting help from his mother-in-law, who gets thrown off by the handwriting—even though the actual letter is totally unreadable. It just ends with a call to the police, which is… a lot, honestly. **(2) The Looking Glass:** An older woman is basically talking through the harm she caused her benefactress. Meanwhile, the benefactress’s client, Mrs. Clingsdale, is spiraling after losing her beauty—she’s fixated on being told she’s beautiful and on this lost love. The older woman kind of steps in with “soothsaying” energy, tries to wrap up the doomed romance by reaching out to the lover from the other side, and then there’s even a letter from beyond the grave. Her “reward” is tied up in masses for a dead patient. I didn’t totally know what to do with how all that lands. **(3) All Souls:** Sara Clayburn is content living at Whitegates with the old servants until she meets a stranger on a walk—the weird part is it’s like the woman is only there to see one of the girls. Sara slips, gets bedbound, it snows, and then the house turns eerie and silent—cold fires, no electricity, no heat. The only “voice” she hears is through the wireless, then she faints, wakes up, and kind of convinces herself she’s just alone in the silence. Even when the cousin comes and hangs around, things don’t really settle, because Sara later shows up on her cousin’s doorstep terrified, saying she saw the same woman again on All Souls night. What really got me is Agnes: she seems unsurprised, almost relieved Sara was gone, and later we find out she’s from Skye and maybe all this is more than just random haunting. So… was that Fetch thing real? Or was there an actual witch involved? And are Agnes and her relatives running some kind of coven?? Sara never returns, which feels like the only ending Wharton would give this. Also, the whole thing leaves me with that “I think I missed the key clue” feeling, especially since it’s not always clear what’s supernatural vs. what’s just people being awful.

Classics of literature with strong feminine characters

By EmmaLovesBooks

I’ve been working my way through a bunch of classic books over the last few years—Dumas, Dostoyevsky, Stevenson, Verne, all kinds of stuff in between. The one thing I keep running into is that a lot of the women characters I’ve seen are pretty powerless, super emotional, and either devoted to the main guy in a hopeless way or doing some kind of sneaky thing. I’m reading Frankenstein right now, and it feels like it bucks that trend a bit. Any other classics where the women are written as actually strong / well-developed?