The Glimpses of the Moon - Edith Wharton

     The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton is set during the Jazz Age of the 1920's.  It is a delightful and critical look at the upper "moneyed" class of the time.  I had been looking for a copy of the novel for a long time and read it in two days once I came across one.  The wait was definitely worth it.
     The novel begins with Suzy and Nick on their honeymoon in the borrowed home of a wealthy friend.  They both are caught up in the society of the international set of the time but both are without money of their own.  Suzy has spent her life riding on the coattails of rich friends and Nick is a writer trying to live off his writing.  At Suzy's suggestion, they have made a bargain:  they will marry and attempt to live as long as possible off the wedding checks and loan of homes of their wealthy friends (they estimate that with careful spending and planning that this will last a year.)  If at any point either of them meets someone who can offer them monetary advancement they will divorce on friendly terms.  They both agree and the plan seems fool proof.
     As their allotted time at the first borrowed house draws to a close their plan is shaken by a difference of opinion on what is acceptable in the "managing" Suzy is so adept at.  Although they had both been living off the largess of their wealthy friends before their marriage, Nick is more discriminating in what is and isn't allowable.  The problem first surfaces when Suzy packs the expensive cigars from the first house to take with them.  Nick forces her to unpack them and a little cloud hovers over their previous bliss.
     At the second house, Suzy finds out that the offer is contingent on her participation in a scheme to cover up a friend's infidelity.  She is torn between refusing on the basis of her growing sense of the moral rightness in Nick's view and the risk of the loss of the house.  She goes along with the scheme without telling Nick.  Inevitably, Nick discovers the conditions of their tenancy in the house and can no longer be a part of Suzy's "managing."  They are pulled apart by the conflict and each goes their separate way but without any formal closure to the relationship.
     They each try to move back into their old lives but they find that their time together has changed them and they no longer fit into the shallow world of the rich.  They have both had a glimpse at deeper, more meaningful life outside the empty world of the careless rich.  Although they both attempt to move on, neither one can forget the other.  Their little plan has become something more - they have learned to love. 
     They move from misunderstanding to misunderstanding, always at odds in a little comedy of errors played out against the background of Wharton's bigger social commentary on the superficial lives of the filthy rich.  Amid their careless friends who move from place to place to placate their endless boredom and discard relationships on a whim, Suzy and Nick learn the value of love and a meaningful life.
     A wonderful read!

~ Frances