Rating: 
Summary: Engaging and enjoyable
Review: I was skeptical about reading this book, since it was not complete by Edith Wharton. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Marion Mainwaring did a wonderful job of completing the novel. I was unable to tell where Edith's writing stopped and Marion's began. (The afterword describes exactly what Marion added.) -very fun book to read. I finished it in just a few days.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty darn good
Review: If you haven't read any Edith Wharton, read Age of Innocence first, then Ethan Fromme, then House of Mirth. By then you will love her, and then it will be time for Buccaneers. This is not her very best book. It contains some of the same themes that she has covered before. There is one key difference, that makes Buccaneers unique from her earlier works and that is...something I won't give away!
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, compelling characters.
Review: Most of us know Edith Wharton either through
reading Ethan Frome in high school, or having
seen The Age of Innocence at the movie
theater. While she is best know for these works
they are dim in tone and portray the oppressive
nature of society. In The Buccaneers, Wharton presents us with a group
of young women who have been rejected by
late 19th Century NY society, and journey to
England in search of husbands. Each of the
characters in fully drawn, and while Wharton
maintains her description of society as oppressive, she
counters this with the idealism and hope
of her brave young women and societal rules that with time are changing.
These women for the most part strive
to attain happiness, and unlike Wharton's
other principal characters, do acheive it.
This is probably the only Wharton novel
to end on a note of happiness and hope.
Combined with the richly drawn backdrop of 19th
century English & American society, it makes
for an enchanting and provocative read.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, compelling characters.
Review: Most of us know Edith Wharton either through
reading Ethan Frome in high school, or having
seen The Age of Innocence at the movie
theater. While she is best know for these works
they are dim in tone and portray the oppressive
nature of society. In The Buccaneers, Wharton presents us with a group
of young women who have been rejected by
late 19th Century NY society, and journey to
England in search of husbands. Each of the
characters in fully drawn, and while Wharton
maintains her description of society as oppressive, she
counters this with the idealism and hope
of her brave young women and societal rules that with time are changing.
These women for the most part strive
to attain happiness, and unlike Wharton's
other principal characters, do acheive it.
This is probably the only Wharton novel
to end on a note of happiness and hope.
Combined with the richly drawn backdrop of 19th
century English & American society, it makes
for an enchanting and provocative read.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, rivalling the House of Mirth
Review: One of Wharton's best constructed and written novels, it is a shame that she was unable to complete it. This version, which was completed from Wharton's notes, sadly lacks the spirit and intensity of the author once Mainwaring takes up the tale. The book begins as an involving novel but ends in vignettes showing action, lacking the commentary, sensitivity, and psychological intuitiveness that Wharton brings to her completed portions of the novel. A great pity to lose Wharton's genius before this novel saw publication.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel by an excellent woman writer!
Review: The Buccaneers hooked me onto Edith Wharton. Her tone and use of subtle sarcasm is similar to that of Jane Austen. If you love Austen, give Wharton a try. Definitely lighter in tone than Ethan Frome, but equally substantial.
Rating:
Summary: A story about power and money vs. Love
Review: The Buccaneers is a richly worded novel by Wharton that follows a group of American girls to Europe in search of husbands. We are surprised by the men they marry and the rich European titles the young women inherit. Most unexpected is the marriage of the youngest of the women, Annabel St. George. Surprisingly she becomes a Duchess. Annabel marries the Duke for what she thinks is love. The reader learns that this love was really for the art, architecture and land the Duke and his family own. Annabel is enchanted by the aesthetics of England and allows it to cloud her judgement. We realize that love is not what the young women find. Annabel surprises the reader when in the end she listens to her heart and not to what the culture of the time expects of her. The young women realize that love is often separate from wealth and title. Each young woman deals with this predicament in a different way. The reader is entertained with marvelous character development and will find every character worth reading about.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Novel
Review: The Buccaneers is my all-time-favorite novel. There's just something about the love story between Nan St. George and Guy Thwaite. I love how she follows her heart even when she's sure to be branded an outcast by her family and friends. Watch the miniseries based on this book as well! Carla Gugino is great as Nan St. George.
Rating: 
Summary: Died with Wharton
Review: The first two-thirds of THE BUCCANEERS is brilliant, Wharton's at the top of her form -- hilarious, penetrating, exciting, effortless. Before reading, I didn't know and didn't want to inform myself precisely where the original material ended; I wanted to perpetuate the hope that there could be another great Wharton novel I hadn't read. But the book dies after chapter 29. It's like falling off a cliff. You have to be pretty insensible not to feel it yourself, and it's tremendously disappointing. I couldn't read more than a few pages of the added material, and then quit out of loyalty. Still, the Wharton first draft is a kick to read -- if for no other reason, for instance, than to see what a perfect first chapter looks like.
Rating:
Summary: Died with Wharton
Review: The first two-thirds of THE BUCCANEERS is brilliant, Wharton's at the top of her form -- hilarious, penetrating, exciting, effortless. Before reading, I didn't know and didn't want to inform myself precisely where the original material ended; I wanted to perpetuate the hope that there could be another great Wharton novel I hadn't read. But the book dies after chapter 29. It's like falling off a cliff. You have to be pretty insensible not to feel it yourself, and it's tremendously disappointing. I couldn't read more than a few pages of the added material, and then quit out of loyalty. Still, the Wharton first draft is a kick to read -- if for no other reason, for instance, than to see what a perfect first chapter looks like.
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