Bunner Sisters, by Edith Wharton
"In the days when New York's traffic moved at the pace of the drooping horse-car, when society applauded Christine Nilsson at the Academy of Music and basked in the sunsets of the Hudson River School on the walls of the National Academy of Design, an inconspicuous shop with a single show-window was intimately and favourably known to the feminine population of the quarter bordering on Stuyvesant Square."
Publication date: Scribner's Magazine Oct-Nov 1916 (written in 1896)
My edition: Free kindle ebook, LibriVox recording
Publisher: ?
Format: ebook, audiobook
# of pages: 83
Running time: 3:24 h
Sources: amazon.de , librivox.com
Summary:
Sisters Ann Eliza and Evelina live a quiet spinster life tending to their shop in a New York backstreet, where they take in sewing and sell hats and haberdashery, always on the brink of poverty, sharing one room, one bed, and taking joy only in the remnants of their youth, a cashmere shawl from their mother, a cherry cordial from their grandmother, and so on. Ann Eliza, the elder of the two, constantly sacrifices her own comfort and happiness for that of her younger and prettier sister, whom she adores and loves more like a mother than a sister. And so the story begins when Ann Eliza, instead of using her meager savings for something she needs herself, purchases a clock for Evelina's birthday, in a store owned by a Mister Herman Ramy. Ramy, being a bachelor of advanced age, immediately interests both the sisters, and by aid of a stopping clock, they form an acquaintance that eventually leads to Evelina falling in love with him.
[Spoiler (click to open)]Ramy, who remains a bit mysterious and seems to suffer from an unnamed illness, finally proposes first to Ann Eliza, who he recognizes as the more level-headed and better suited to him. Ann Eliza, however, once again sacrifices her own happiness for her sister's, rejects him, hinting strongly that Evelina is the better suited of the two, and he does propose to Evelina eventually. Evelina immediately sees herself above her spinster sister, and after the married couple leaves for St Louis with all of the sister's savings, Ann Eliza is not surprised, at first, not to hear from her sister much. Then she begins to worry and to look for answers, and she finds out things about Ramy that have her even more worried.
When finally Evelina appears at her sister's door again, impoverished and sick, the tale she tells is worse than what Ann Eliza's little spinster mind could ever have imagined. Not only is Ramy addicted to opium, he also left Evelina for a younger woman while she was in the hospital, almost dying after the birth of their child that only lived for one day. She was in the end reduced to begging on the streets, and could only return to Ann Eliza because a benevolent stranger paid for her train ticket. But worst of all (no really this is presented as worst of all, I'm not being snippy), Evelina has become a Roman-catholic to be with her child in the afterlife.
So when Evelina eventually dies of consumption, Ann Eliza feels completely separate from her, in life as in faith, and having had to sell all her belongings to pay for medical and funeral bills, now is faced with starting a new life, and the future doesn't look too bright either.
My review:
That’s a great first sentence right there, and the descriptions keep giving, travelling the reader all through the different parts of New York from Central Park to Hoboken with a keen eye for detail. The story reads quickly - I downloaded the free librivox audiobook to listen to while exploring the woods, as you do, then last night I wanted to re-read a passage in the middle to see if I'm missing stuff in the audio version - I didn't, the narrator is quite brilliant in replicating the accents and voices of people and it's not her fault I thought the character Ann Eliza was called Annalisa - and then suddenly I'd finished the whole thing. So it's a quick and beautiful read - but then there's the story and the characters.
[Spoiler (click to open)]Firstly, there's the fact that I have no sympathy for a man who can't even make his own cup of tea or remove dust. I mean, it's not genetic. You want tea, you make tea. Even in 1896. You want a warm meal, you crack an egg in a pan. So while I guess these inabilities were meant to paint Ramy in a sympathetic, if pathetic, light, to a modern audience they feel grating. Evelina being a spoilt and selfish brat fares no better. So the ultimate fate both these characters suffer feels unsatisfying and dull because you didn't empathize with the characters. Ann Eliza, on the other hand, with her constant self-sacrifice, does not feel overly pious or annoying once, which is a great writing feat with a character like that and the reason I liked the story better than I thought.
The fact that Evelina changed her faith for her one day old child was absolutely heart-breaking and a big redeeming point in the character to me, but I felt that religious faith was not stressed enough in the rest of the narrative to make the change of faith have as much impact as was obviously intended. Maybe to a contemporary audience, this would have been clearer.
The story in itself is quite flat and typical for the kind of novel this is, weaving tragedy after tragedy around tragic characters.
Now for something more general. This list is called "1001 books you must read before you die", as well we know, and it contains not a mention of some of the most popular authors of our time, Nora Roberts, say, or Danielle Steel, to name two (I could name Nicholas Sparks, but I'd break out in hives). These authors are read by the truckload, dominate the publishing industry, are probably industries themselves, and yet their books don't count as must-reads because of reasons. Then why is it that some trivial serialized novel like this makes the cut? I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it. But I also enjoyed "The Viscounts Wicked Ways"(by Anne Mallory, Avon 2006). I'm sure five books by Edith Wharton would also be enough. I'm not denying her importance or her right to be on this list, first woman to win the Pulitzer and all. But "Bunner Sisters" is just a trivial little serial full of broad strokes and clichés, and while not as explicit as romance novels these days, nor equipped with the required Happily Ever After, it still feels as if it should fill the same need in the reader for a quick emotional read.
(edited because I got confused with the names)
Publication date: Scribner's Magazine Oct-Nov 1916 (written in 1896)
My edition: Free kindle ebook, LibriVox recording
Publisher: ?
Format: ebook, audiobook
# of pages: 83
Running time: 3:24 h
Sources: amazon.de , librivox.com
Summary:
Sisters Ann Eliza and Evelina live a quiet spinster life tending to their shop in a New York backstreet, where they take in sewing and sell hats and haberdashery, always on the brink of poverty, sharing one room, one bed, and taking joy only in the remnants of their youth, a cashmere shawl from their mother, a cherry cordial from their grandmother, and so on. Ann Eliza, the elder of the two, constantly sacrifices her own comfort and happiness for that of her younger and prettier sister, whom she adores and loves more like a mother than a sister. And so the story begins when Ann Eliza, instead of using her meager savings for something she needs herself, purchases a clock for Evelina's birthday, in a store owned by a Mister Herman Ramy. Ramy, being a bachelor of advanced age, immediately interests both the sisters, and by aid of a stopping clock, they form an acquaintance that eventually leads to Evelina falling in love with him.
[Spoiler (click to open)]Ramy, who remains a bit mysterious and seems to suffer from an unnamed illness, finally proposes first to Ann Eliza, who he recognizes as the more level-headed and better suited to him. Ann Eliza, however, once again sacrifices her own happiness for her sister's, rejects him, hinting strongly that Evelina is the better suited of the two, and he does propose to Evelina eventually. Evelina immediately sees herself above her spinster sister, and after the married couple leaves for St Louis with all of the sister's savings, Ann Eliza is not surprised, at first, not to hear from her sister much. Then she begins to worry and to look for answers, and she finds out things about Ramy that have her even more worried.
When finally Evelina appears at her sister's door again, impoverished and sick, the tale she tells is worse than what Ann Eliza's little spinster mind could ever have imagined. Not only is Ramy addicted to opium, he also left Evelina for a younger woman while she was in the hospital, almost dying after the birth of their child that only lived for one day. She was in the end reduced to begging on the streets, and could only return to Ann Eliza because a benevolent stranger paid for her train ticket. But worst of all (no really this is presented as worst of all, I'm not being snippy), Evelina has become a Roman-catholic to be with her child in the afterlife.
So when Evelina eventually dies of consumption, Ann Eliza feels completely separate from her, in life as in faith, and having had to sell all her belongings to pay for medical and funeral bills, now is faced with starting a new life, and the future doesn't look too bright either.
My review:
That’s a great first sentence right there, and the descriptions keep giving, travelling the reader all through the different parts of New York from Central Park to Hoboken with a keen eye for detail. The story reads quickly - I downloaded the free librivox audiobook to listen to while exploring the woods, as you do, then last night I wanted to re-read a passage in the middle to see if I'm missing stuff in the audio version - I didn't, the narrator is quite brilliant in replicating the accents and voices of people and it's not her fault I thought the character Ann Eliza was called Annalisa - and then suddenly I'd finished the whole thing. So it's a quick and beautiful read - but then there's the story and the characters.
[Spoiler (click to open)]Firstly, there's the fact that I have no sympathy for a man who can't even make his own cup of tea or remove dust. I mean, it's not genetic. You want tea, you make tea. Even in 1896. You want a warm meal, you crack an egg in a pan. So while I guess these inabilities were meant to paint Ramy in a sympathetic, if pathetic, light, to a modern audience they feel grating. Evelina being a spoilt and selfish brat fares no better. So the ultimate fate both these characters suffer feels unsatisfying and dull because you didn't empathize with the characters. Ann Eliza, on the other hand, with her constant self-sacrifice, does not feel overly pious or annoying once, which is a great writing feat with a character like that and the reason I liked the story better than I thought.
The fact that Evelina changed her faith for her one day old child was absolutely heart-breaking and a big redeeming point in the character to me, but I felt that religious faith was not stressed enough in the rest of the narrative to make the change of faith have as much impact as was obviously intended. Maybe to a contemporary audience, this would have been clearer.
The story in itself is quite flat and typical for the kind of novel this is, weaving tragedy after tragedy around tragic characters.
Now for something more general. This list is called "1001 books you must read before you die", as well we know, and it contains not a mention of some of the most popular authors of our time, Nora Roberts, say, or Danielle Steel, to name two (I could name Nicholas Sparks, but I'd break out in hives). These authors are read by the truckload, dominate the publishing industry, are probably industries themselves, and yet their books don't count as must-reads because of reasons. Then why is it that some trivial serialized novel like this makes the cut? I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it. But I also enjoyed "The Viscounts Wicked Ways"(by Anne Mallory, Avon 2006). I'm sure five books by Edith Wharton would also be enough. I'm not denying her importance or her right to be on this list, first woman to win the Pulitzer and all. But "Bunner Sisters" is just a trivial little serial full of broad strokes and clichés, and while not as explicit as romance novels these days, nor equipped with the required Happily Ever After, it still feels as if it should fill the same need in the reader for a quick emotional read.
(edited because I got confused with the names)