Rating: 
Summary: A butterfly on the wheel
Review: Like _House of Mirth, Edith Wharton's 1917 short novel _Summer _ shows a relatively aware young woman being ground up by social convention. Wharton is so linked with Henry James that no one seems to have noticed the extent to which she was a late naturalist, chronicled inexorable destruction. An argument could be made that Charity is rescued from her hereditary fate up in the mountains (the Berkshires) and that the prime upholder of convention takes pity on her plight, but _Summer_ is close to _Ethan Frome_ in more than a New England location. More pragmatic than some of those confronted with destruction in other Wharton works, Charity makes the best of her very limited options, but happiness is more fleeting than a New England summer is.The lack of female solidarity in _Summer_ is especially striking. Lily Bart had one devoted female friend. Charity has none, and the professional woman she turns to is far and away the most vicious character in the book. Most of the book is about the blooming of a love crossing social boundaries that I find tedious. Others, including, I think Wharton herself, enjoyed chronicling Charity's first experience of love with an out-of-towner whose life and commitments are elsewhere, but for me it is the portrait of small-town busybodies and the eventual narrow corner into which Charity paints herself (with the help of social hypocrisy and her lack of education or any marketable skills ) that are interesting. Susan Minot's introduction is helpful in placing the book within the course of Edith Wharton's life. A particularly important continuity across Wharton's work Minot observes is that "Wharton's heroines are not hapless victims; they understand their helplessness." I am not convinced that this enables them to keep their dignity, but the awareness of their plight and the unreasonability of social judgments heightens the tragedies (in contrast to Stephen Crane's _Maggie_ to take one example).
Rating: 
Summary: A Young Woman's Sexual Awakening and Downfall
Review: Once again Ms. Wharton tells a gripping story of class distinctions in the Victorian age. Yet how many times has this happened in our time? A lovely young woman of a lower class meets a handsome young man of the upper class. Slowly their relationship escalates from kisses to making love. A woman's first love is held on a pedestal. She believes every word that issues from his mouth. Charity, our heroine, finds herself pregnant after receiving a note from her lover that he has gone away and will return, yet gossip holds that he is marrying someone of his own class. The betrayal, the gut-wrenching pain, the tears, the fear--it's all there, 19th century, 20th or even the 21st. Yet Wharton doesn't take the easy way out of this situation. She keeps you guessing up to the very end, and I applaud her for her courage. Today, with our penchant for happy endings, we forget about real life. This is a book every teenage girl should read. It might give them a moment's pause before offering the unique gift of their virginity to a young man before marriage. Take it from someone who's been there.
Rating:
Summary: A "Warm" Ethan Frome
Review: Our book club read Summer and then read Ethan Frome. What funit was to compare and contrast the two! Although we had all read EthanFrome in school this was a new perspective and quite interesting. What we noted most was that the class distinctions and the literary device were most interesting - with the "upper" class living down at the bottom of the hill and the "lower" class on top. The meeting place - half way up the mountain - also has great significance. Read this and enjoy it. Pass it on to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever written
Review: Out of all the Edith Wharton books I have read this is the best one. It is a touching story on love. It was filled with such power and conviction in each line that you have to wonder whether Ms. Wharton went through the same thing in her life. The way she is able to give such life to her characters especially that of the head strong Charity Royall is amazing. This is honestly the best book ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Summer stands alone
Review: Summer and Ethan Frome are often referred to as companion novels. The only thing these two novels have in common is location and doomed romance. While doomed romance seems to be a major theme in much of Wharton's work, this book pushes the envelope by dealing not only with sex (The House of Mirth also implies some sexuality), but also abortion. I found this novel more engaging than Ethan Frome, perhaps because the central character is a young woman, flawed and realistic, who is able to deal with the consequences of her failed romance (however horrid they may be) rather than a brooding man who seems to think if he can't be in the relationship he wants, leaving his shrewish wife for a sweet young woman, he would rather not live. By the end, I was hoping for a happy ending for Charity.
Rating:
Summary: Summer stands alone
Review: Summer and Ethan Frome are often referred to as companion novels. The only thing these two novels have in common is location and doomed romance. While doomed romance seems to be a major theme in much of Wharton's work, this book pushes the envelope by dealing not only with sex (The House of Mirth also implies some sexuality), but also abortion. I found this novel more engaging than Ethan Frome, perhaps because the central character is a young woman, flawed and realistic, who is able to deal with the consequences of her failed romance (however horrid they may be) rather than a brooding man who seems to think if he can't be in the relationship he wants, leaving his shrewish wife for a sweet young woman, he would rather not live. By the end, I was hoping for a happy ending for Charity.
Rating:
Summary: A modern-day soap opera written 80 years ago.
Review: This book has it all---intrigue, debauchery, sex and small town mindedness. The protaganist, Charity, lives a secluded life in a small northern town. Her life becomes fulfilled when a stranger arrives in town and changes her life forever.
Rating: 
Summary: You need to read between the lines...
Review: This is a great novel for its time (1917). I am sure it caused quite a stir when it was first published. I think it has lost much of its impact over the years. You really have to read between the lines to figure out what is going on. Maybe that is part of the beauty of this literature or maybe I have been out of AP English for too long. The plot of the novel, however, is timeless. A woman coming of age, falling in love, dealing with consequences, choosing paths.
Rating:
Summary: You need to read between the lines...
Review: This is a great novel for its time (1917). I am sure it caused quite a stir when it was first published. I think it has lost much of its impact over the years. You really have to read between the lines to figure out what is going on. Maybe that is part of the beauty of this literature or maybe I have been out of AP English for too long. The plot of the novel, however, is timeless. A woman coming of age, falling in love, dealing with consequences, choosing paths.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT to HORRID
Review: This is one of Wharton's most undersatisfactory novels. It had a great chance of turning into another THE AGE OF INNOCENCE or THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, but-as a previous online reviewer wrote- the ending was poor. So poor, that I will not even consider giving 4 stars because of the weak ending.
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