Ethan Frome (Signet Classics) by Edith Wharton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ethan Frome (Signet Classics)
Book Review: Another Tragic Love Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many books before it, Ethan Frome creates a sense of anticipation to finish the book. At the beginning of this novel dark and depressing words arise where you just believe that nothing in the world could make the main character, Ethan, can never get out of his painful state of a man. However, it is proven to be false after the cousin of his wife, Mattie, comes to help out with the family. The family of a husband and wife needs help is because of Ethan's ill-streaking wife, Zeena. Mattie, being around the same age as Ethan, causes him to be more interested in the idea of loving Mattie instead of Zeena. That is where the entire creativeness that Edith Wharton has for the novel shows its true colors.
Long descriptions create more of an attempt to be in the same cold, cruel atmosphere as Ethan throughout the book when he is either alone or with Zeena. This causes a true contrast within the novel of how everything is brighter when Mattie is around Ethan. I would have preferred to not read the perverted thoughts running through Ethan's head about how he wants to die with Mattie or just touch her. To me it just makes the love seem more like lust than anything, no matter how much he seems to attempt to suppress these thoughts.
True, many love triangles begin in lust and end in both heartbreak and love for all parties effected by it. But still. I really don't want to read another Romeo and Juliet forbidden love scene. Luckily it didn't come to that when the two `star-crossed lovers' finally admitted their feelings for one another with the cause of an accident. The flirtations back and forth were there and throughout the book you wanted to just see the two get together. Zeena gave the two a window of opportunity and the characters didn't take it.
Manipulation is all throughout this book. It causes you to second guess about some of the actions of friends and enemies and relationships. So, if you don't want to be second guessing everything about your life do not read the book. And do not read the book if you are exhausted and you want a relaxing piece of literature to read, because this isn't it at all.
It is an extremely descriptive book which isn't perfect. The characters though are memorable even though you may not agree with their actions. Even though that all the characters are pretty stereotypical, you still remember their actions and their thought process. It is a well written book with the same tragic story that many read in all classic literature. The story is memorable and yet it's just another tragic love story.
Lillie M.
Book Review: A Bleak Winter, Almost Good, Love Story
Summary: 2 Stars
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a pretty good book. It is about a young man working really hard to make almost nothing. He has a bitter, "sickly" wife named Zeena who brings her cousin, Mattie, in to help her around the house. With Mattie being a young, beautiful, vibrant girl, Ethan, of course, falls in love with her. When Zeena decides to let Mattie go, Ethan can't stand the idea of her leaving. The pair run into a tree while sledding in an attempt to die together so they never have to be apart.
The plot of this book was very interesting however the constant describing of things I didn't care to hear that much about, such as the landscape, made the book difficult for me to get into. I was also hoping the story would be a little bit juicier. Until the end there was nothing that really surprised me or stood out.
I did like the way the book was set up. It starts in the present with a woman who tries to find out the story of what happened to Ethan years ago. When she ends up staying at his house one night because of a blizzard is when she finds out the story. I liked this because it gives the reader a view of Ethan after everything that happened to him. It made me more interested to find out what caused him to be this way.
Although I didn't enjoy this book a ton, it was well written. For readers who do enjoy a lot of description, Edith Wharton did it very well. She had a great choice of words that create a vivid picture in your mind. For readers who are more like me and prefer to hear more about what's going on and less about what the scenery looks like, this book is pretty good but not so good I would want to read it over and over.
-Valerie
Book Review: A Bleak Winter, Almost Good, Love Story
Summary: 2 Stars
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a pretty good book. It is about a young man working really hard to make almost nothing. He has a bitter, "sickly" wife named Zeena who brings her cousin, Mattie, in to help her around the house. With Mattie being a young, beautiful, vibrant girl, Ethan, of course, falls in love with her. When Zeena decides to let Mattie go, Ethan can't stand the idea of her leaving. The pair run into a tree while sledding in an attempt to die together so they never have to be apart.
The plot of this book was very interesting however the constant describing of things I didn't care to hear that much about, such as the landscape, made the book difficult for me to get into. I was also hoping the story would be a little bit juicier. Until the end there was nothing that really surprised me or stood out.
I did like the way the book was set up. It starts in the present with a woman who tries to find out the story of what happened to Ethan years ago. When she ends up staying at his house one night because of a blizzard is when she finds out the story. I liked this because it gives the reader a view of Ethan after everything that happened to him. It made me more interested to find out what caused him to be this way.
Although I didn't enjoy this book a ton, it was well written. For readers who do enjoy a lot of description, Edith Wharton did it very well. She had a great choice of words that create a vivid picture in your mind. For readers who are more like me and prefer to hear more about what's going on and less about what the scenery looks like, this book is pretty good but not so good I would want to read it over and over.
Book Review: Ethan Frome is pretty good!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I think Ethan Frome is a pretty amazing book. I thought that by reading an older book, I wouldn't be able to understand what's going on or that Edith Wharton was going to use big English words that I didn't understand. But she didn't. I didn't want to put this novel down. I read it in 3 days. All I could imagine was what was going to happen next and especially how it was going to end. These are the kind of stories I like to read about. Although I loved the book, I must say I hated the ending. First of all, the last line was horrible. What am I supposed to take from that? What does it mean? And I was very disappointed in the fact that Mattie and Ethan tried to commit suicide but she became paralyzed (or something-I'm not even sure) and he became detached from the rest of the world. I think the ending could have been much better. It was very unexpected. But other than that, I loved the book! Thanks Edith Wharton! Book Review: Illicit Love Loses to Puritanical Ethics [60]
Summary: 5 Stars
Aristocratic New York woman residing in Paris writes about impoverished New England man's demise in love - a formula which few would encourage today, and certainly was a misanthropic venture in 1911 when this book was published.
But, Wharton excels in her delivery. The dialogue incorporates much of the Massachusetts' accent. The description of the countryside: magnificent. "On a road I had never traveled, we am to an orchard of starved apple trees writhing over a hillside among outcroppings of slate that nuzzled up through the snow like animals pushing out their noses to breath." And, the story - Bronte meets Sterling. Depressing, grey as the winter weather, and as cold as a Massachusetts' December.
Zeena, originally thought to be named Zenobia, is Ethan Frome's wife from hell. They live in the aptly named town of Starkfield. Zeena, ill and nagging, haunts Ethan as her querulous droning echoes in his psyche, whether he be in the home listening or safely outside working in the farm. Zeena's niece, Mattie or Matt, comes to aid her ailing aunt. And, without any appreciation, she does her chores.
Frome's exclusive enjoyment is seeing Mattie's face each morning - so much does he like this that he commences shaving every morning to look right for her. The amorous affection is not a one-way road. Each becomes increasingly more entranced by the other. And, when Zeena leaves for an overnight stay at a doctor's, opportunity knocks.
But, this is Wharton and written about people in puritanical Massachusetts in the late 19th century - much of the book is reminiscing in 1911 about what transpired 20 years earlier. Illicit love is the forbidden fruit. Contract or arranged marriages delivered sexual pleasure, not love of the heart. Wharton's characters often are prisoners of their societal marriages - Ethan Frome being worse than others as he also lacks any societal privileges or money. True love is doomed too often in Wharton's books: Selden in "House of Mirth", Newland Archer in "Age of Innocence" and Ralph Marvell in "The Custom of the Country" lead similar demises.
The ending is tremendously depressing. I will not detail what transpired, as that would be unfair to readers of this review. But, its twist is what reminds me of Sterling or O'Henry. It was both alarming, and perfect.