I always forget how much I love Edith Wharton until I read her again!

I had a blast reading this collection. Wharton skewers upper class society and its contrivances brilliantly. She wrote these stories between 1899 and 1934 and I preferred the later stories. Roman Fever (1934) is a masterpiece.

The short story Roman Fever first appeared in 1934 – although this particular collection wasn’t published until 1964 these stories come from across the long period in which Edith Wharton was writing. I assume, therefore, that these stories probably do appear in collections first published during Wharton’s lifetime.The title story of this collection also appears in The Persephone book of short stories – memorable for its final line – it is the perfect story to start off this little collection, an...

Roman Fever and Other Stories includes eight intriguing, surprising and brilliant short stories. They describe the society of the time they were written, the changes that were going on, in a real but comical way. The stories are just the right length, they start kind of suddenly, without any introductions, so it takes a few pages to understand what´s happening and they end a bit suddenly as well, the reader has to figure out the solution on her/his own, which I quite liked. Wharton offered me ex...

I LOVE ROMAN FEVER! Though I can be impartial to short stories, when I read this for class, I fell in love with it. I think I connect with it most because I have a childhood friend who always seemed to have everything, every opportunity, everything handed to her, and she walked all over her friends, including me, taking every advantage that came her way. So, when I read this story, I couldn't help but laugh, thinking Mrs. Ansley had the perfect revenge. I have no interest in seeking my own venge...

A GR glitch and my review vanished. Xingu? So I'll reveal Xingu is a river in Brazil, not a philosophy, language, ritual or something best whispered about.

After the blood and guts of Blood Meridian , I needed to add a little civilization back into my reading life - and nobody does over-civilization like Edith Wharton. Whether they meet the challenge by laughing, crying, or overdosing on exhaustion and sleeping pills, her characters are beset on all sides by the constrictions of unimaginative convention - a force with which McCarthy's cowboys are entirely untroubled.I have a mixed history with Wharton; I found The House of Mirth overwrought, and...

"Roman fever", "Xingu", and "Angel at the grave" are definite stand outs, exquisite storytelling that captivated me in a way that seldom short stories do. The rest, however, notoriously lacked in impact by contrast. Nonetheless, will revisit Wharton. Especially interested in her Ghost stories collection published by NYRB.

Very rarely do I read a short story collection that is this charming and engrossing all the way through. Wharton's characters are satirical exaggerations of certain characteristics, but never are they taken too far. They still feel real, interesting, and layered even while certain aspects of their personalities are used narratively to provide societal commentary. The stories are engaging beyond their message, which gets the message across even more effectively than if I were too focused on what

This made me love Wharton all over again after a couple of disappointing novels. The standout here is "Xingu", which is a scathingly brilliant, utterly wonderful take-down of pretentious society matrons whose literary club is giving a luncheon for a famous author. I also especially liked "After Holbein", a rather creepy tale of two elderly socialites, and "The Angel at the Grave", about a woman who has devoted her whole life to the care of her dead grandfather's house, papers, and reputation.

An exquisite collection of short stories, Roman Fever captures the passions and constraints of high society during and after the Gilded Age. Wharton's characters are complex, and each story resonates emotionally. I particularly loved Roman Fever and After Holbein.

Though I taught Flannery O’Connor stories as the best ever written, Wharton’s title story here competes, with the greatest ending ever. (Must avoid spoiler.) Roman fever was the warning of grandparents— probably malaria back then. The next generation warned kids not to go out for romantic entanglements. For Mrs Ansley in this story, prone to illness, she was warned not to go out after 4 PM, especially not to go out at night to the Coliseum where, though locked, lovers found admittance with bribe...

I enjoyed this collection of what are considered some of Edith Wharton's finest short stories so much that I read it all over again, right after reading it the first time.Some of the themes are familiar, such as people's sense of identity and social acceptance in upper-class society, but there is a large range of storylines, many of which deal with marital relationships and their various endings. Wharton doesn't waste space on overly detailed descriptions of places or things; she zooms right int...

Another solid selection by Edith Wharton.Of the 8, I had previously read 3 in another collection.The title entry, Roman Fever, appears to be the overwhelming favorite. A story of two widows, also lifelong friends, on a balcony in Rome, talking about their two daughters, and their own young lives in Rome.I found it interesting how so many readers were shocked by the ending.After Holbein took some interesting twists and turns before settling into a very apt ending.And in The Angel at the Grave, th...

Overall rating: 3.43.... Let's make it 3.5 stars lol. I read this for my March 2021 challenge of only reading books by women writers for Women's History month! You can read more about my experience here!Wharton's ability to make her characters say so many words but at the same time say absolutely nothing at all is really impressive. It's definitely a hallmark of Gilded Age American writing that is often quite hit or miss with me. While I really didn't care for The Age of Innocence, I had a far b...

It’s very hard to rate a short story collection, but I loved every single one so this seemed appropriate.

The lead into the story sets an uneasy tone of distance between the two women. The author begins the story by showing us the two mothers sitting on a terrace of a roman restaurant. The distance is well represented in the text by the careful word choice, for example, in the lead the women “looked first at each other, and then down on the out spread glories of Palatine and the Form.” This looking at each other then looking out at the scene before them is the sort of thing that strangers or acquain...

Wharton is a master to be read slowly and savored. Clearly, she was a woman born 100 years before her time, chafed by the rules society placed on her. I can feel her struggling like a bird captured in a cage. I have yet to find an American author that describes the restrictions of High Society better. Frankly, it's chilling. Sadly, I also found threads of current day realties in Xingu. It seems somethings are timeless.Loved, loved, loved this book .

There is nothing much you can say about a classic. A classic is a classic for a reason. Edith Wharton is undeniably one of the best American writers and this book of short stories is another proof of it. It is a mark of a true talent to be able in a matter of 20-25 pages to reveal both deep nature of characters and expose society follies. Each story is a masterpiece which leaves you with a deeper understanding of suffocating restrictions of 19th century America and complexities of human nature.

I haven't read Edith Wharton since high school. I don't even remember what we read.A colleague stopped by my desk at school last week, and said his wife put Roman Fever into his hands and told him to read it.He was amazed:1) that he had never heard of this jewel and,2) at the cruelty of women.He piqued my interest.I checked our catalog and we had it, so I threw it into my bag. A few nights later I picked it up while I was waiting for the evening news to start. I never saw Brian Williams that nig...