The entire time I had read this book, way back in college, I kept thinking about how the American Aristocracy hasn't changed in the slightest over the years, and how the old and new monies had evolved (or not) into the families Kennedy and Astor and Roosevelt and Hilton ad nauseum. Of course, I was nauseous then, even when I could appreciate the contrast to Victorian English Authorship. Why am I so pissy about the "great" American Authors? 
 It might be because they suck. 
 Oh, all right, I'm being grossly unfair and I'll giving this novel 3 stars instead of 2 because I'm smart enough to read the book by context; but really, it ain't my favorite style or subject matter.