Rating: 
Summary: An extremely good book
Review: If you don't like it, just open the book in chapter 13, where Lily gets into the carriage. That's a fine piece of writing. You almost feel like her. I love this book. Sometimes I felt like killing her, but that was the way things were in the society of that time.
Rating:
Summary: You won't like it if you don't understand the message
Review: I have read this book many times and it is still one of my favorites. I read the reviews, of which some people have no "pity" for Lily - she doesn't want it! While Lily has many chances to take care of herself financially, she is unwilling to let go of her moral character. Quite a position for one who requires (or so she believes) the approval and financial support of society! Obviously those who pan this book as "that was the way it was then" are not old enough to realize that to some degree, that is the way it is now. You are still judged socially by your occupation, home, financial wealth, etc. Lily is a wonderful heroine. Although you want to talk to her and explain to her the other choices, knowing Lily as you come to, you understand her choice. Very wonderful book. I will not see the movie, because I have my own mental images of Lily, Selden and the gang, which I do not want disturbed.
Rating: 
Summary: emotional
Review: This book is a visual tapestry of culture, society, love, and circumstance in the beginning of the twentieth century. The restraint and self-abnegation displayed by the characters seems typical of the era, and this is a perfect, yet saddening vignette of the turn-of-the-century American high society. Took me days to get over.
Rating:
Summary: Aristotle would approve
Review: Lily Bart illustrates what Aristotle meant by a tragic flaw. She cannot see beyond the limits of her social horizon. With flawless tastes and captivating graces she cannot accept the notion of marrying into any situation where she would have to tolerate standards she perceives as "dingy." She knows whom she loves but it never occurs to her to marry him, for his income would fix her in the "dingy" category (though he has an apartment on Fifth Avenue). And given her upbringing, there is no situation but matrimony. The reader, seeing that she cannot perceive herself, watches in grief and horror as she approaches her end.
Rating:
Summary: Outbreak of the X-Files actress
Review: Personally I went to see the movie becuz of Gilly. But I was impressed with her acts and so I decided to get hold of a copy of the original book. I have the admit the wirtings from Ms. Wharton is not worse then the Bronte sisters. Edith Wharton lively descripted the charcter of Lily Bart. Which Lily has amazingly captured everyone's heart. The movie is good but I think the book has more events about Lily's stwerdship and love. Especially the relationship with Selden and Tuz. I highly recommend this book to you and I know it will not fail your expectations
Rating:
Summary: Be patient, stay with it.
Review: I agree with the reviewers who say that Lily Bart is difficult to like. And Wharton meant her to be; she never misses a chance to remind us satirically how self-centered and materialistic Lily is, and how she thinks she's entitled to be rich because she has such good taste that she could make the world a better place by using her money well on good interior decor. I also agree that the novel is slow-moving. But if you stay with it, the emotional pay-off at the end is extraordinary. The last chapters had me in tears, and I don't usually cry over books or movies. Lily may be too much a product of her times and her awful mother's training, but she does discover her backbone at the end, and has the strength to do something quite heroic when she passes up the chance for revenge on the woman who slandered her in society. The next-to-last episode before her death is a wonderful image of redemption: earlier on, when she had money to throw around, she dabbled in a little charitable work, and later she meets a woman whom she really helped. When she drifts off to sleep for the last time, dreaming that she has the poor woman's baby in her arms -- well, that's the scene when you'd better have the kleenex box handy. It's not true, by the way, that this novel offers no alternative for women except being rich and useless. Lily's only real friend, Gertie Farrish, is a woman who has found a way to be both independent and to do something useful with her life, as Wharton herself did.
Rating: 
Summary: Good writing, annoying heroine
Review: Those who saw the recent film version got an expurgated, "sanitized" version of Lily Bart. Obviously the filmmakers thought, probably correctly, that a movie audience would have little sympathy for Lily if she was as vain, foolish, greedy, and ultimately responsible for her own misery as she is in the book--so she was metamorphosed into an innocent victim of others' cruelty.Anyway...people have called Lily Wharton's most "complex" protagonist. That's shorthand for "she's not likable." And she isn't, really. Though she's not evil or hateful, she also isn't one who inspires much rooting value. Her stupidity in constantly rejecting Selden becomes grating and makes her death pathetic rather than tragic, and also makes one wonder why on Earth a man like Selden, who'd have little trouble attacting women every bit as beautiful as Lily, would spend so much time trying to win the hand of such a cold fish. However, Wharton's writing, always engaging, manages to keep the reader interested until the very end.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book!
Review: The House of Mirth is a wonderful book for all people to read. Though it is set in an earlier period of time, the richness of Edith Wharton's writing has enriched the entire book. The explicit detail and wonderful use of puns and irony gives the book a great emphasism. Hope you enjoy the book too! :)
Rating:
Summary: Dig deeper, dear reader.
Review: The readers that found House of Mirth frustrating and unappealing miss the boat. Real tragedy is often found more in those lives where the characters have options that they cannot see, i.e., where they could have "controlled" their life for a better outcome but, in fact, were paralyzed by inside or outside forces from doing so. Lily's life in a true tragedy.
Rating:
Summary: Heart of Fools, The Lily Bart Story
Review: Someone once told me that readers like to read books where he or she can relate to the main character(s). I could not relate to Lily Bart's character. To me, it was written not as a book of leisurely reading,but as a book of lessons. The author, Edith Wharton, was demonstrating the evils of greed and that those who seek wealth are willing to give up their own morals to get it. The lessons given in the book were my only enjoyment. This is why I gave this literary piece a three. If I had spare time on my hands to read a book, it would not be this one. Thank you.
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