The writer of the introduction to my edition of Custom of the Country suggests that it's no accident that protagonist Undine Spragg's initials are also those of the United States. The year the book was published was also the year that Wharton divorced her husband and moved to Europe for ten years, and I'm guessing that real life events figured in the creation of a stunningly unlikeable character as a symbol of what was, and still is, bad about the U.S.

I hadn't read Wharton in a while and was kind of expecting an out of date, irrelevant story. I was wrong on both counts. The superficial, narcissistic and greedy people that fill the book are disturbingly no different than the superficial, narcissistic and greedy people who run our businesses and often fill government positions in our country today. In one remarkable scene where a newly painted portrait of Undine is revealed to a group of her friends, the conversation about the painting is so banal and has so little to do with the art that I found it upsetting. The author sums up the affair nicely:

"Such a company's one to flatter the artist as much as his sister, so completely did it represent that unanimity of opinion which constitutes social strength. Not one of the number was troubled by any personal theory of art: all they asked of a portrait was that the costume should be sufficiently 'life-like', and the face not too much so; and a long experience in idealizing flesh and realizing dress-fabrics had enabled Mr. Popple to meet both demands."

Undine progresses through her world forever in search of what she can't have, but the material girl ends up getting what she deserves. Husbands, family, friends, and young son fall by the wayside as she pursues her elusive dreams. The Trump family and other grasping, selfish people kept coming to mind as I literally couldn't put down this well written and psychologically astute tale.