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Ethan Frome, a poor, downtrodden New England farmer is trapped in a loveless marriage to his invalid wife, Zeena. His ambition and intelligence are oppressed by Zeena's cold, conniving character. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie arrives to help care for her, Ethan is immediately taken by Mattie's warm, vivacious personality. They fall desperately in love as he realizes how much is missing from his life and marriage. Tragically, their love is doomed by Zeena's ever-lurking presence and by the social conventions of the day. Ethan remains torn between his sense of obligation and his urge to satisfy his heart's desire up to the suspenseful and unanticipated conclusion.… (more)
BookshelfMonstrosity: In Remembering Laughter a woman confronts her husband's escalating use of alcohol; in Ethan Frome the title character's wife is difficult and demanding. Both novels elegantly depict a husband obsessed with his wife's sister, resulting in a love triangle with tragic consequences.… (more)
“He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of it's frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface; but there was nothing nothing unfriendly in his silence. I simply felt that he lived in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access, and I had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it, as Harmon Gow had hinted, the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters.”
Don't fall for the old myth that classics are boring. This novella of forbidden love, originally published in 1911, is filled with emotion. I didn't want to stop listening to the audio.
Wharton tells the tale of Ethan Frome, his hypochondriac wife Zeena, and Zeena's cousin Mattie Silver. The landscape of Starkfield, MA (particularly the cold, barren winters) is as much of a character as any of the people in the story.
Young Ethan is interested in science and engineering. He wants to escape the nothingness of Starkfield and move to a larger town where people are interested in ideas and education. He loves nature, but has no interest in agriculture. Unfortunately life's circumstances keep him tethered to Starkfield and the family farm. He marries Zeena, though they aren't well-suited. When Zeena's cousin Mattie comes to live with them, he sees an alternative to his bleak life. With Mattie in the house Ethan has a new lease on life -- though his interactions with her are completely chaste. This happiness is short-lived; however. Why? You'll have to read the book ;-)
I have to thank my GR friend Julie for encouraging me to read this. I was not disappointed!
Sometimes because I studied literature in college I can't remember whether I have read a book before or not. This was one of those books and I definitely had not read this book before. However, I am glad that I took the time to read it. There is something about a forbidden love-love triangle story that ends in tragedy that is quite satisfying. That seems like a moral judgment but I think it is more about the fact that these situations can seldom end well for any of those involved. Of course, some would point to this as a lesson in morality but that is probably missing the point. The point is that it is very easy to think that a bad situation can be easily escaped with the slightest enticement when in fact that is rarely the case. ( )
This is a good novel. I did actually like it and I think it does a great job of integrating the harshness of the New England winters with the plot. If you look into Wharton's life and understand the history of the setting, I think it's even more enjoyable... but that's just me. Book nerd. Still, I recommend reading it if you haven't. I don't want to give any real spoilers, but I do feel like I should give fair warning that the novel is not likely to give you the warm fuzzies... but it's still worth reading. And, hey, it's on Harold Bloom's gigantic list of titles in the Western Canon... so there's that. ( )
kind of meandering and tedious at times but at the same time a great book that now that i have finished and can look back on is even more enjoyable ( )
I tend to live in a book-centered world so when I learn of a book or author that intrigues me, I immediately conduct a search and start tagging away for future reading. I’m confident that is exactly how some of Edith Wharton’s novels ended up on my tagged list for my local library. I am new to her writing and wasn’t sure where to begin. I read that Ethan Frome is a reader favorite and it was only a four hour audiobook commitment. I decided this selection was a good place to start.
Immediately, I liked how the audiobook offered an introduction to Edith Wharton with a brief summary of her life and popular works. Ethan Frome is a poor man struggling to keep his family farm and mill operating. His wife, Zeena, is rather unpleasant and a hypochondriac. Her cousin, Mattie, comes to live with Ethan and Zeena to help with the farm and chores around the house due to Zeena’s illness. Mattie is a ray of sunshine to Ethan’s dreary life. As readers would expect, the two fall in love and are determined to be together. The story becomes climatic when the forces of them trying to be together are met with the forces determined to keep them apart. It’s a mesmerizing story with an unexpected ending.
I truly enjoyed this novella by Wharton and look forward to reading more of her work. My book tribe has advised me that her other books are quite different from this one concerning setting. I liked her writing style: her descriptions of scenes and ability to weave an interesting, timeless tale. I predict I will love her work regardless of setting.
I borrowed Ethan Frome in audiobook format from my local library through the Libby app. I absolutely loved the narration by Scott Brick! He is one of my favorite narrators.
I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below. A Book And A Dog( )
I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story. (Author's Introductory Note)
The village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners.
Quotations
He never turned his face to mine, or answered, except in monosyllables, the questions I put, or such slight pleasantries as I ventured. He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface; but there was nothing unfriendly in his silence. I simply felt that he lived in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access, and I had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it, as Harmon Gow had hinted, the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters.
...we came to an orchard of starved apple-trees writing over a hillside among outcroppings of slate that nuzzled up through the snow like animals pushing out their noses to breathe. Beyond the orchard lay a field or two, their boundaries lost under drifts, and above the fields, huddled against the white immensities of land and sky, one of those lonely New England farmhouses that make the landscape lonelier.
Last words
She took off her spectacles again, leaned toward me across the bead-work table-cover, and went on with lowered voice: “There was one day, about a week after the accident, when they all thought Mattie couldn’t live. Well, I say it’s a pity she did. I said it right out to our minister once, and he was shocked at me. Only he wasn’t with me that morning when she first came to… And I say, if she’d ha’ died, Ethan might ha’ lived; and the way they are now, I don’t see’s there’s much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard; ’cept that down there they’re all quiet, and the women have got to hold their tongues.”
Ethan Frome, a poor, downtrodden New England farmer is trapped in a loveless marriage to his invalid wife, Zeena. His ambition and intelligence are oppressed by Zeena's cold, conniving character. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie arrives to help care for her, Ethan is immediately taken by Mattie's warm, vivacious personality. They fall desperately in love as he realizes how much is missing from his life and marriage. Tragically, their love is doomed by Zeena's ever-lurking presence and by the social conventions of the day. Ethan remains torn between his sense of obligation and his urge to satisfy his heart's desire up to the suspenseful and unanticipated conclusion.
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Book description
The setting for this piercing New England novel is the aptly named Starkfield, where, despite violently blue skies, the chill of cold and snow seems also to settle inside the hearts of the people who live there. Tethered to his farm, first by helpless parents, later by his querulous, hypochrondriac wife, Zeena, Ethan Frome ekes out a bare subsistence. Then Zeena's cousin, the impoverished, enchanting Mattie Silver comes to work for them and, in Mattie, Ethan's hopes and dreams are rekindled. Yet theirs is a forbidden love, hemmed in by Zeena's presence. The impossible intensity in which the three exist has devastating consequences...
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10
Don't fall for the old myth that classics are boring. This novella of forbidden love, originally published in 1911, is filled with emotion. I didn't want to stop listening to the audio.
Wharton tells the tale of Ethan Frome, his hypochondriac wife Zeena, and Zeena's cousin Mattie Silver. The landscape of Starkfield, MA (particularly the cold, barren winters) is as much of a character as any of the people in the story.
Young Ethan is interested in science and engineering. He wants to escape the nothingness of Starkfield and move to a larger town where people are interested in ideas and education. He loves nature, but has no interest in agriculture. Unfortunately life's circumstances keep him tethered to Starkfield and the family farm. He marries Zeena, though they aren't well-suited. When Zeena's cousin Mattie comes to live with them, he sees an alternative to his bleak life. With Mattie in the house Ethan has a new lease on life -- though his interactions with her are completely chaste. This happiness is short-lived; however. Why? You'll have to read the book ;-)
I have to thank my GR friend Julie for encouraging me to read this. I was not disappointed!
4.5 Stars (