Do you want to read Ethan Frome? If so then keep reading... Perhaps the best-known and most popular of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome is widely considered her masterpiece. Set against a bleak New England background, the novel tells of Frome, his ailing wife Zeena and her companion Mattie Silver, superbly delineating the characters of each as they are drawn relentlessly into a deep-rooted domestic struggle. Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to an older woman. Frome is emotionally ...
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Do you want to read Ethan Frome? If so then keep reading... Perhaps the best-known and most popular of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome is widely considered her masterpiece. Set against a bleak New England background, the novel tells of Frome, his ailing wife Zeena and her companion Mattie Silver, superbly delineating the characters of each as they are drawn relentlessly into a deep-rooted domestic struggle. Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to an older woman. Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of a youthful cousin who is employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. Their growing love for one another, discovered by an embittered wife, presages an ending to this grim tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic. What are you waiting for Ethan Frome is one click away, select the "Buy Now" button in the top right corner NOW!
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Add this copy of Ethan Frome to cart. $10.04, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2020 by Barclays Public Books.
Add this copy of Ethan Frome to cart. $26.99, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Barclays Public Books.
Many years ago, I read Edith Wharton's (1862 -- 1937) novella "Ethan Frome" (1911), and in the intervening years read other novels set among the rich by this well-born American author including "The Age of Innocence" and "The House of Mirth". I have always remembered the sadness of "Ethan Frome", a story of poor New Englanders, and its climactic sled ride. I recently reread "Ethan Frome" to be moved again by the emotion of the story of doomed, forbidden love set in small town Massachusetts late in the 19th century. The edition of the book I read includes an Afterword by critic Alfred Kazin who writes: "No reader can escape the emotional force of "Ethan Frome", the heartbreak of what the great New England poet Robert Frost, working the same regional cry of frustration, called 'finalities beside the grave'."
The story is made by its writing style with Wharton's depictions of the chill of the New England air, the poor, struggling farms, the hills, the frustrated lives of people wanting but unable to leave. The austerity of the surroundings contrasts with and enhances the repressed passion of the tale, which moves forward with an air of inevitability to its tragic climax and denouement. The story is a love triangle involving Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and Zeena's cousin Mattie. Frome, 28 when the story begins, is a struggling small farmer who has given up his dreams of education to take care of his dying mother. Zeena, 35, had assisted in the care and Frome feels duty-bound to marry. Zeena is also hypochondriacal, controlling and domineering. When Zeena's cousin Mattie, comes to live on the farm to help out without pay, the stage is set.
Young men in the (fictitious) town of Starksville woo the lovely, flirtatious Mattie. But a simmering romance develops between Mattie and Ethan under the very eyes of Zeena who may or may not fully realize what is happening. When Zeena at last sends Mattie away, the heartbroken Ethan cannot bring himself to leave his wife, and the situation seems lost. The novel builds in tension to an unforgettable moment of love and death followed by long lives of bitterness and bleakness for the three protagonists.
A highly emotive, tragic work, "Ethan Frome" hit me when I read it years ago, and did so again upon rereading. It is a story told by a great American writer of harshness, illicit love, and repressed human needs.
Robin Friedman
Linda
Feb 14, 2014
Great Read.Romance, Tragedy
This is a classic which is still used today in many psychology classes. A romance in marriage gone wrong. Another woman? This has all the twist to make it a great read. It has an ending like no other! No, you cannot guess the ending.
PeachTea
Mar 10, 2009
Zzz
I supposed I was biased against this book since I had to read it for a class, but found it dull and depressing. The characters were 2-D and there was little time for development. The story itself held an interesting (if worn) concept, but Wharton didn't do much /with/ it. I decided I felt more sorry for Ethan's wife than anything else, and that was about all this book made me feel or think. I wouldn't advise you to spend your time on it.
