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    Bunner Sisters
    Bunner Sisters
    Bunner Sisters
    Ebook154 pages1 hour

    Bunner Sisters

    By Edith Wharton

    3.5/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJul 1, 2000
    Author

    Edith Wharton

    Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was an American novelist—the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Age of Innocence in 1921—as well as a short story writer, playwright, designer, reporter, and poet. Her other works include Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth, and Roman Fever and Other Stories. Born into one of New York’s elite families, she drew upon her knowledge of upper-class aristocracy to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age.

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    Reviews for Bunner Sisters

    3.5/5

    81 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A predictable tale of spiraling into poverty set in old NYC. Two sisters manage a small and unsuccessful business that barely keeps a roof over their heads. They appear to be past dreams, ambitions, or hopes but secretly long for love. Both women privately pin their romantic hopes on the same man who is without better prospects than they.Wharton is not given to happy endings and she doesn't shirk from holding her reader's to account for the plight of single women, whether high or low on the ladder of society, left to make their way in the world. Her Dickensian social commentary equally blames the comfortable for their smug self-satisfaction that allows them to remain blind to other's suffering, and the expensive indulgence in naivete to the ways of the world by the poor.Wharton insists in this novella, just as she does in her greater works that fairy tales don't come true and miracles don't happen. And the Wheel of Fortune heedlessly grinds unmarried "unprotected" women to dust in late 19th C. America.
    • 4/5
      The Bunner Sisters is a brief novella that I felt packed quite a punch. Wharton strays from the world of the wealthy elite and instead explores the lives of two sisters living one small step away from poverty. They have a small shop in NYC and make just enough to get by and set a little aside. They are happy, but then meet Mr. Ramy and both sisters see a chance at marrying him and having a different life. Let's just say the novel doesn't end happily. Towards the end of the book, this passage really summed up the moral of this novella. This is the thought of the older sister, who sets aside her desires to allow her younger sister a chance for a happy life. Hitherto she had never thought of questioning the inherited principles which had guided her life. Self-effacement for the good of others had always seemed to her both natural and necessary; but then she had taken it for granted that it implied the securing of that good. Now she perceived that to refuse the gifts of life does not ensure their transmission to those for whom they have been surrendered; and her familiar heaven was unpeopled. As always, I love Edith Wharton's writing.
    • 4/5
      The Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton takes place in a shabby neighbourhood in New York City. The two sisters keep a shop selling women’s accessories, like artificial flowers. They barely make ends meet, but by doing some extra sewing, Ann Eliza, the elder sister, is able to give the younger sister, Evelina a clock for her birthday. Although Ann Eliza has come to terms with her spinsterhood, Evelina still clings to the hope of marriage. When the sisters develop a relationship with the clock-maker, Mr Ramy, both sisters are attracted to him. Mr Ramy seems like a quiet, gentleman who would make a fine husband, but it turns out that he is not what he seems. The sister’s fragile sensibilities and naivety leads to their placing trust where it shouldn’t have been placed. First and foremost, this story is a tragedy, a dark tale of poverty, loneliness and despair. Edith Wharton excels in stories that are full of melancholy and repressed emotions. In The Bunner Sisters she expertly pulls on the reader’s heartstrings with this quietly affecting, emotional read.
    • 5/5
      Sisters Ann Eliza and Eveline have a little button and bonnet shop in New York City. They barely make enough to feed themselves, yet they have a room to share and each other for company, so while they may both dream of what might have been, they are content to have each other. Then they meet Mr. Ramy, an unattractive, very poor but kind German clock-seller. He begins to take them around the city and both sisters have hopes for happiness with Mr. Ramy.I read this on Kindle, so I'm not sure if it's considered a novella or a novel. It's Wharton, so it's great writing. Written with older sister Ann Eliza as the focus, we see the difficulty of unmarried women, lonely women who have just one person in the world to turn to.
    • 4/5
      This is a short but excellent work by Edith Wharton. Ann Eliza and Evelina are sisters eking out a living in a small buttons and notions shop where customers are few and far between when Hermann Ramy, a clockmaker enters their lives. The sisters, starved for friendship, are overcome by Mr. Ramy's attentions, with dire consequences. This is another book, like Wharton's Summer which I read last year, in which she so successfully delves into characters far-removed from her own social class. The realities of the poor urban working class are clearly presented, and the plight of unmarried women in that time and place are also highlighted.Highly recommended.4 stars
    • 4/5
      It has been a while since I read Edith Wharton. Moreover I am looking more carefully at the writing style of authors of so-called "classics". I found Wharton's style wonderfully economic, with each word of her descriptive prose making a difference. I almost said "colorful" descriptions, but the lives of the Bunner Sisters were not full of color in the terms of light and joy that is usually associated with color. But the characters are fully drawn, some surprising. I found it a compelling look at a time that I assume is around the turn of the century, working class women's lives, that I knew little about. This has filled in much detail in a striking way.
    • 4/5
      The Bunner Sistersby Edith WhartonOriginally published in Scribner’s Magazine 60 (October 1916): 439-458 and; Scribner’s Magazine 60 (November 1916): 575-596Reprint 2007 by Alan Rogders Books, Ægypan PressWHO: Evelina and Ann Eliza are two spinster sisters who develop an affection for the same German clock-maker, Mr. Ramy.WHAT: One of the sisters, the younger, marginally prettier Evelina, marries Mr. Ramy and disappears from her sister’s life…WHERE: which continues on in destitution at their shop near Stuyvesant Square in New York City (far from the rich milieus that Edith Wharton usually sets her stories…)WHEN: "[i]n 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…" (early 1870s.)WHY: The sisters are poor, in a world of inelegant language and limited hopes. Evelina pursued the opportunity to find love, happiness and, a future away from the confines of a basement shop & apartment by becoming Mrs. Ramy.HOW: Evelina and Anna Eliza had a co-dependent relationship that enabled the events of the book to take place. Evelina was more of the egotist while Anna Eliza was more of the sacrificer. As Evelina continued flirting with Mr. Ramy, Anna Eliza ceded more of her own aspirations for the sake of her sister’s happiness.+ This is something different from Edith Wharton: a story not about high society, or the tensions between old money and the nouveau riche; but a microcosm of life amongst the poor. For all that Edith Wharton never experienced such a life herself, she nonetheless depicts this world without condescension and with concentrated detail that brings the scenes into vivid life.+ I wouldn’t go so far to say that the Bunner sisters themselves and the people they interact with are ennobled by their experiences; but there is something to be said for the stubbornness and fortitude they exercise that puts Lily Bart (cf The House of Mirth) to shame.- There is a rather melodramatic scene near the end of Part II that seems nearly a parody of a morality play. While its lack of sophistication may be representative of a theatrical style popular at the time and, the commonness of it reflective of the atmosphere of the story, its crudeness stands out sharply against Wharton’s other more finely wrought scenes of melodrama (again, see The House of Mirth.)OTHER: I bought a paperback trade edition of The Bunner Sisters (by Edith Wharton) from The Book Nook CT via Alibris.com. - This is a reprint edition. On page 58, the narrative is interrupted by a copy editor’s note:"NOTE: *** A Summary of Part I of "Bunner Sisters" appears on page 4 of the advertising pages."I do not know the provenance of the note, but it is disconcerting :-/
    • 4/5
      This is a stark tragedy and , like any tragedy, provokes fear, sober thought and perhaps anger or sadness. The drawing of the sisters' characters makes them so blameless and their sufferings so extreme that I found myself desiring a bit more justice than this author provided - but tragedy wouldn't be tragedy if sufficient justice were provided! Finishing it, I felt to lift the vain prayer that lightning strike any man with substance abuse issues who gets within two yards of either of my daughters!

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    Bunner Sisters - Edith Wharton

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