Bunner Sisters - BookWyrm

Paperback, 136 pages

English language

Published May 30, 2005 by 1st World Library.

ISBN:: 978-1-4218-0429-3
OCLC Number:: 86087674

(2 reviews)

From the book: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. It was a very small shop, in a shabby basement, in a side-street already doomed to decline; and from the miscellaneous display behind the window-pane, and the brevity of the sign surmounting it (merely "Bunner Sisters" in blotchy gold on a black ground) it would have been difficult for the uninitiated to guess the precise nature of the business carried on within. But that was of little consequence, since its fame was so purely local that the customers on whom its …

From the book: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. It was a very small shop, in a shabby basement, in a side-street already doomed to decline; and from the miscellaneous display behind the window-pane, and the brevity of the sign surmounting it (merely "Bunner Sisters" in blotchy gold on a black ground) it would have been difficult for the uninitiated to guess the precise nature of the business carried on within. But that was of little consequence, since its fame was so purely local that the customers on whom its existence depended were almost congenitally aware of the exact range of "goods" to be found at Bunner Sisters'.

18 editions

mictter reviewed Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton

Review of 'Bunner Sisters' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Se trata de una novela breve, pero le sobra extensión para transmitir la angustia vital de las protagonistas, dos hermanas que tienen una mercería en una calle humilde de Manhattan. Pobreza económica, social (no tienen prácticamente amigos), toda su vida se reduce a dos cuartuchos y cuatro calles; la excursión al Central Park parece un safari por Tanzania.

Es increíble lo mucho que me cuesta el inglés norteamericano de finales del XIX a principios del XX, cuando no tengo ningún problema con libros más antiguos de autores británicos. Aun así, vale la pena: la autora remeda los acentos según origen (alemán, irlandés) y clase social. El estilo huye de barroquismos, lo cual es de agradecer dado el tema del libro, encontrando la frase perfecta para hundir al lector en la miseria, y ahorrando los adjetivos para cuando pueden hacer el máximo efecto.

Cassidy Percoco reviewed Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton

Review of 'Bunner Sisters' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Wharton definitely had a talent for plot twists, setting you up to be optimistic about a character's future only to dash your hopes. This story is no exception, so be prepared for heartbreak and depression. However, it is (of course) well written and an exquisite slice of turn-of-the-century lower middle class life, and worth the read.

Subjects

General & Literary Fiction
Literary
Fiction
Fiction - General