The Flirt (1913)
by Booth Tarkington

3.5 out of 5 stars
Cora flirts with anything in pants and overshadows her older sister Laura at every party. When the handsome Valentine Corliss returns to town, Cora immediately gets to work, flirting with him and ignoring her own fiancée. But the fiancée and the whole string of ex-boyfriends are not content to be ignored. Laura and the rest of the family have to put up with an avalanche of men in and out of the house, and their little brother Hedrick decides to get his revenge on his sisters. He is always getting into mischief, but this time he could really cause serious trouble for Cora and Laura.

I have no idea what this book was. Sometimes it’s a romance, sometimes it’s a comedy, sometimes it’s part crime mystery. There is one scene of murder/suicide that was completely out of place with the rest of the tone of the book. I mean, there are hints in the plot that this one side character is unstable, but I didn’t think he would actually shoot somebody and then himself! So bizarre. But at the end, the only two halfway-decent characters end up together, so that is sweet.

These characters are all utterly insane! I heartily disliked Cora. She’s a nutjob, flirting with all those men and manipulating them. She pretends to be ill whenever she doesn’t get her way, manipulating her parents as well. She’s a spoiled princess and so incredibly self-centered. Even when her father has a serious illness, she doesn’t seem to care. The girl is pathologically narcissistic.

Laura was much more sensible and sweet and caring, but she enables her horrible sister. Laura spoils her sister just as much as the parents do, and thinks she is being humble and kind when she puts aside her own needs in order to accommodate her sister’s desires. This whole family is so deranged.

The little brother Hedrick is living in his own imaginary world or something. He’s a real little stinker, always looking for ways to make trouble and embarrass other people. He thinks he’s in an adventure novel and pretends like he’s doing these courageous and clever deeds when he plays pranks on people. Nasty little bug.

The writing is fascinating! It’s like a gorgeous train wreck and you can’t look away. I read this book all in one day, because I was utterly mesmerized by these insane characters. But there is some mild profanity in this book which I did not care for.

What a wild ride! I can honestly say that I have never read anything quite like this.