Glimpses of the Moon

Edith Wharton's Glimpses of the Moon is simple, easygoing, and very likable. Susy and Nick are intelligent characters with agreeable qualities, and following them through the pages on their months of joyriding is as pleasant as if you were there along with him. The only problem in the entire story is the irrationality of indecision that one experiences when in love, which pretty much illustrates the vanilla quality of this book.

What is it like, to live in a world where you can just completely live off of the wealth of your friends, I wonder. And even the rich, who seem to enjoy their days spending extravagantly without lifting a hand to work. I see it so often in books based in the past, and have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. Is this real? Do people like this still somehow exist in this world? How!?

I suppose it's supposed to be valiant that the couple chooses real love over material wealth, and that Susy at least seems to understand what it takes to survive in the world through her own efforts...but I'm not sure Nick does, or even appreciates what Susy has done. I hope he learns to pull his weight too, rather than spending his days dreaming and criticizing others'. I mean, really. How like a man.