Product Description

One of Edith Wharton's greatest works, this classic novel is a portrait of the simple inhabitants of a 19th-century New England village. Crafted with stark simplicity, Ethan Frome portrays the power of convention to smother the growth of the individual. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9234 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Released on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 108 pages

Customer Reviews

A Different Take on an Old Classic
I love classic novels. One of my favorite things in life is grabbing a book, getting settled in for the night in my chilly bedroom, and not just being swept away into a story, but also to an entirely different period in time. Classic novels are the most beautifully written time machines.

That said, Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome" is beyond a doubt beautifully written. Since I live in New England, I can say with 100% assurity, she writes paints a picture of our frozen landscape and doesn't forget to sprinkle it with bits of beauty alone the way. I feel engaged in this story from its very first pages.

The most haunting part of this book is the author's way of letting the landscape describe the characters. Zeena is cold, gray, white just as a winter landscape, just like her calico wrap. Mattie is always compared to the sun, summer, the melting of spring, or sunshine itself just like her cherry red scarf and lips.

Still, I must say, I did not find any sympathy for the main character, Ethan Frome. Ethan embodies absolute and total cowardice to me. A man who lets circumstance dictate his life instead of his own mind. I'm reminded of David Copperfield's first line, "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." Ethan's first line would be more like, "I will never be the hero in my own story."

He takes care of his parents instead of striking out and making enough money to have a hired girl do this for him. He marries a woman who cares for his mother and instead of taking the time to do better for himself that she now provides, he did nothing much at all. Mom dies and instead of being along in wintertime, Ethan asks Zeena to marry him. That's always a great reason to ask someone to marry you! It's always a terrific reason to not finally go on and get busy living life. Remember, he does not marry Zeena because he owes a debt to her, but because he did not want to be alone in winter. He said if it had been spring, things might have been different. Totally ridiculous.

Then Zeena becomes ill and to me, she is the person deserving pity in this novel. She had no idea Ethan didn't really love her at all. His proposal was not, "I don't want to be alone." Zeena marries him, found out soon after of his cold demeanor, then became ill as a way to probably get some sort of attention from him, but he could not give her any. She was now just a familiar burden. He could give her young cousin, Mattie, attention, but not his own wife. He could also feel pity for Mattie, but never for his wife.

To add insult to injury, instead of leaving Mattie alone and maybe securing her a place in the home or elsewhere in the world, he must tell her how he feels, he kisses her, he gets jealous of anyone speaking to her, and basically behaves exactly opposite to the way a husband should behave. She is young and silly, naive, and should have been treated as a family member, not a romantic prospect.

Maybe this story's first line should say: "If you are too cowardly to do anything at all with your life, you'll feel right at home with Ethan Frome." I love this book, but am always a bit blown away when a large number of people feel sympathy for a character that is morally bankrupt and emotionally a coward. A character who had opportunities to be so much more than he was, yet wasted his own life and two others in the bargain.

Get the Wordsworth edition if at all possible.
I'm not sure why folks read Amazon reviews with regard to the classics, so I will try to be relevant with this one.

1. I started an aggressive reading program seven (7) years ago at the age of 51. I delayed getting to Edith Wharton because I was intimidated by her. I thought she was unapproachable and uninteresting. Big mistake. Her autobiography, "A Backward Glance" is a hoot. But for a first Edith Wharton story, read "Ethan Frome."

2. "Ethan Frome" is all of 70 pages long; it can be read in one sitting.

3. Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

4. Get the Wordsworth edition; it has a wonderful introduction/critical review of "Ethan Frome" as well as Edith's own introduction. But don't read the Wordsworth introduction until AFTER you've read the story. (You should read Edith's introduction, however.)

Best Book I've Ever Read, Hands Down
First of all, I want to say -- Stephen Masse, you are an exquisite writer and I absolutely concur with your review (expect that the love between Ethan and Mattie was unfulfilled rather than "unrequited." It was definitely requited:). Thank you for what you said about this book, I so rarely find anyone who fully appreciates it. I don't think that I can add much more except to say that I read this book at a time in my life that absolutely matched the emotion found within it, and it will always be my most cherished book for that reason. I thank my sister (and her flawless taste in all things beautiful) for insisting that I read it. When she suggested it, just the title "Ethan Frome" immediately grabbed my attention. The name of the main character itself was so evocative of something fathomless beneath a silent surface. My first reading of it was incidentally in the dead of January, which added greatly to the experience.

Reading this work, my jaw literally dropped so many times at the visceral, poignant visual and emotional imagery that Wharton evokes, and I honestly felt like I was going to have a heart attack at the story's climax. I've never read anything else that can quite match its intensity. You can bet that I sobbed my eyes out, from the climax to the end of the story. I related so much to the story on so many levels that it was the most profoundly intimate reading experience I've ever had. I return to it often to once again glimpse rare vistas of raw beauty and power. I recommend this book with all my heart.