The Custom of the Country

By: Edith Wharton

Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow

Single-minded and spoilt, Undine Spragg arrives in New York determined to procure for herself a social status to match her family’s wealth. Ambition, greed and an arresting beauty soon secure her path to marriage...and also to divorce.

The Custom of the Country (1913) is a sophisticated commentary on both—touching on the implications for a woman of ending a marriage at a time when the author herself was navigating that very situation. As the splendidly mismatched Undine and Ralph travel to Europe, Wharton contrasts the pecuniary motivation of the nouveau riche in America with European ideals of tradition, and through her array of characters and subtle insights into society, she delivers a novel every bit as immersive and entertaining as The Age of Innocence.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2022 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd.

Quite Good

If you read the reviews over the many versions on audible, you'll see the main complaints are A) the narrator is weak, or B) Undine is a terrible and narcissistic person, and so they hate the book as a result and give it a poor review. While it's true that the narrator here is a poor choice, and yes, the main character is a selfish and vain creature I still really liked the story. I don't know if Scarlett O'Hara's personality was loosely based on Undine or not, but wow, I kept coming back to the idea.

The ending was of the book was *perfect*, and quite funny in a way because I just wasn't expecting it. Undine Spragg will live out her days ...trading up~

Characters come to wonderfully frustrating life

Edith Wharton is the queen of 'careful what you wish for'. Money, status and beauty are the carrots dangled in front of all of us, and Wharton is the sensible aunt who warns you before it's too late. Her main character, Undine, is named after a hairdo to give you an idea of how shallow she is. Wharton shakes her head at this girl from beginning to end, and we can't help thinking of what else her name sounds like. She is the undoing of everyone around her, from parents to spouses to offspring. What makes Undine so infuriating is her occasional insights into her behavior, how she gets a glimmer of her destructive power, only to stuff it down and sacrifice all to her merciless ego.

The support characters are fabulously drawn, their trauma at Undine's hand leaving deformities that some don't recover from. The lessons are clear, the reality of the Gilded/Edwardian Age leaving a taste of blood in your mouth. Wharton douses our romantic dreams of high society as only an insider could. I'm as mad at Undine, and sad for her victims as if they were real, which is the mark of brilliant writing. Wharton tells us what we need to hear, and will absolutely refuse to indulge us. Yet her brilliance is in sitting next to us and saying 'can you believe these people?'

Very disappointing

A narcissist keeps getting what she wants and she does not get punished for it to much of an extent.