Ethan Frome (1911)

Good Lord. What a tale of woe! I love Edith Wharton, generally, and her turns of phrase in Ethan Frome are lovely, but this is just a story, not a full-bodied work with well developed characters. It briefly -- I mean, like one of Aesop's fables -- explores the harsh effects of societal and economic constraints on families and personal fulfillment. Moral of the story? Maybe, no options leads to despair and dumb ideas? Overall, due to his begrudging sense of duty, Ethan's life is all downhill, as it were... ;) ( )

Guy moons over girl
no fool, his wife takes action
they overreact. ( )

Can't account for how it's taken me so long to get to this slim volume, which is just as juicy as they say. In retrospect, I am struck by the fact that Wharton chose to make her narrator an engineer, a profession that would have been denied her, Zenobia, and Mattie because of their sex and denied Ethan because of the obligations of farm and family. It's like while chronicling the dead-end rural life of late 19th century New England, Wharton acknowledges that an alternative exists for those lucky enough to be born with the right gender and the right resources. The edition I read includes a great introduction by Elizabeth Ammons, which among other things notes that Wharton may have been an outlier by forging an unlikely career as an accomplished author, but less so when it came to reflecting and even casually expressing commonly held white supremacist notions. Ammons also notes Wharton filed for divorce just two years after publishing this. ( )

3.5 stars. Wow, this book was unexpectedly good. I looked at the cover and synopsis thinking it would be rather dull, but it turned out to be quite interesting. This is where the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" applies. I really liked the characters and the deep feelings involved with everything; though admittedly, those were the main reasons for me liking the book.

There's something about the three main characters that make them so interesting to read about. Especially Zeena. Now, she was a mystery. I couldn't figure out exactly why she does what she does, though I did come up with a few guesses. She's both annoying and pitiful, and I was constantly wavering between either emotions towards her. Ethan was a bit easier to figure out, probably because the book is told through his eyes. He is pitiful too, but unlike Zeena, he is also admirable for working so hard throughout all his life. I liked him more than Zeena. And as for Mattie, I delighted in her carefree spirit, and she is also admirable for being optimistic. There wasn't much need to sympathize with her except at the end. Oh, the end...

I really disliked the events at the end, even though unhappiness is implied right from the start. But it's worse than I had suspected because of something (I shall not say due to caution of spoilers). It was honestly heartbreaking, even without the sadness being described in detail. However, I felt it was the right kind of ending for this book because it fits the whole bleakness of mood. So overall, I'd say that I hated yet approved of the ending. Sigh.

Also, something else I'd like to address quickly is the frame narrative. I thought it was a bit strange, because it felt as if the whole story was fake (since it was supposedly mostly imagined by the engineer guy). But it seems to have been meant to be portrayed as the true story, so I'll take it.

Yes, I would recommend this book, unless you're looking for a happy book or a happy ending. Because it has none of those. But if you're ready for a deep and tragic story, I do urge you to read it. ( )

Eh, Edith needs to stick to her specialities. More ballgowns! More mustachioed opera-box-owning adulterers! More trips to Paris! Dull, bleak, short, ridiculous. ( )