Scraping a living in the New England countryside is Ethan Frome, a young farmer who lives with his suspicious, hypochondriac wife Zeena. But when vivacious Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin and hired help, enters their household, Ethan becomes obsessed with her and with the possibility of happiness.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
A classic worth reading:
I think the main theme of this book is that societal mores create obstacles to the fulfillment of desire if you let them. Wharton was very good at detailed and telling portrayals of how society worked in her time, though she usually concentrated on the upper classes. But I think you can also view EF as an environmental novel, because the climate creates the atmosphere for the whole story: gloomy, stifling, oppressive (its original title was "Hiver" or "Winter"-- she originally wrote the manuscript in... more info
Shoot me now:
I got to know: what idiot decided this terrible thing should become a classic? It's depressing, overdramatic, and just plain silly. I realize that many people were deeply moved by this novel, but why? It seems to defy the very purpose of writing a novel. Call me a romantic, but I believe that the greatest stories, even the tragedies, did something to edify the human spirit--there was some aspect of them that was uplifting! This monstrosity did not. In fact, all I can think to say of it now is that it was... more info
Sucks:
I love Edith Wharton's work. I read it mostly for the mellifluous prose. This book, however, is dull in every sense. The prose are flat and spare. The story is flat and spare. And I hate it. It was boring. Usually her stories are engaging, interesting, and hard to put down. I knew when I bought this book it would be bad. I asked myself, "What the hell does Edith Wharton know about indigent peasants?" And after reading "Ethan Frome" I realized she knew nothing! Stick to the glittering affluent New York life... more info
one of the bleakest tragedies in American literature:
Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is no doubt one of the bleakest tragedies in classic American literature. Everything from the sparse landscape to the unappealing personal circumstances within this depressing tale hint at a gloomy conclusion. When we first see Ethan Frome, the narrator describes him as a broken man, both physically and psychologically, even from a first glance. As the narrator learns more about Frome from townspeople and eventually Frome himself, this first impression proves to be quite... more info
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