Rating: 
Summary: Twisty plot!
Review: Poor Ethan Frome must endure a complaining "ill" wife, Zena, who is quite crafty and evil underneath her weak exterior. A bright light shines on his life when the young and refreshing cousin of Zena, Mattie, arrives to stay with the Fromes. Proving an unresistable temptation, Ethan falls hard for Mattie, causing a jaw-dropping plot twist/conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: A bleak but beautifully written short novel
Review: "Ethan Frome," by Edith Wharton, is a fine example of Wharton's skill and power as a writer of fiction. But beyond that, this is a really depressing read. The story is basically a domestic tragedy set in the cold, grim town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The title character is a poor farmer whose wife, Zeena, seems to be a hypochondriac. Their life together is complicated by Ethan's problematic attachment to Zeena's cousin, Mattie, who has come to live with them.Wharton's prose is impressive on many levels. She really brings the reader into Ethan's tormented mind, and the effect is heartbreaking. Her representation of American vernacular speech is intriguing, as is her use of foreshadowing. Ethan--"the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man"--is a memorable creation. Ultimately, "Ethan" is a horrific vision of human coldness, cruelty, bitterness, hopeless, and longing. Despite Wharton's abundant talent, the book is a hard pill to swallow.
Rating: 
Summary: Ethan Frome
Review: I believe this is one of if not the worst book ever writen. The stroy goes no where. It is the story of a sad man that does not teach us any thing useful. I believe the only reason someone should read this book is because the have to. If given a choice i would have picke any other book. Unargueably the worst book ever
Rating: 
Summary: Ethan Frome Hell
Review: That was what my 10th grade class called this novel when we had to wade through it. The plot, like so many of her stories, centers around an impossible love which ends without consummation of any sort. The book drags in a vast white expanse of New England snow and hopelessness. In a time where women are usually the ones "trapped" into marriage, it was interesting to see the tables turned for poor Ethan, but overall the story seemed contrived and predictable with an overly melodramatic end. I feel very lucky that I tried other Edith Wharton novels after reading this one first, as I would have missed out on a fantastic view into the inner workings of high society through the Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. This is arguably her worst novel and I would advise steering clear. The most interesting aspect any of us in our class could light upon was all the color symbolism. In the white snowy expanse of the environment every color had a meaning even down to the color of Mattie's hair ribbon. Still not enough to justify the time spent unfortunately. Sorry Edith....
Rating:
Summary: A Work of Wonder
Review: I have read many books throughout my life, widely ranging from teen fiction, fantasy, romance novels, historical fiction, etc. Yet few of them can be truly known as "great". When I picked up the book, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, it truly changed me. The book is centered on the life of Ethan, a young man who is caught between the entanglements of his marriage to Zeena (his sickly wife) and his uncontrollable love for his wife's cousin, Mattie. While 27-year-old Ethan struggles from his loveless marriage to Zeena, whose ill health and complaints smothers even the most powerful optimism, he finds comfort and solace from Mattie's lively spirits. Yet even this last cling to happiness becomes shattered when Zeena decides to send Mattie away. Ethan, torn beyond grief, has the choices of keeping his honor or following his heart. The haunting love triangle is from my view a conflict between the self image of a person and the emotions that lie beneath. The characters, in essence, are a symbol of the tormented souls that is a part of everyone's reality. While the ideal image, or in other words, face value of life is one blessed by joy, Ethan Frome unveils the world of truths, of angonizing moments, sorrow, and pain while it also exposes the eternal craving that is the driving force which keeps up the sparks of hope within the characters. The vividness and depth of the book is an amazingly genuine depiction of human nature, and the meaningfulness of the words only made it more beautiful a story.
I think this book is great for anyone who enjoys some deep and serious reading with truth behind it. It is a classic piece of literature, but at the same time, it is also a intricate work of art.
Rating:
Summary: Hardly high school fare??? are you bonkers
Review: I am writing this in regards to the review entitled "Hardly high school fare; a chilling portrait of a marriage". Seeing as I have just kissed 15 and a half, I find this title as bitter and ignorant as Zeena Frome, and the author's reasoning even more so. I found this novel simple and not at all challenging to connect and delve into as it has been infered in the said article. We "teenagers" are a lot more competent than we recieve credit for. I read this peice of classic literature on my won free will and loved it. For those of us who still hold a measure of youth in out palms I strongly advide you not to let such a sociopathical review prevent you from swimming through the symbolism and sattirical situations of such a grand novel. The marriage of Zeena to Ethan (as it truly is, seeing as she holds him in an opressive grip) is so powerful that the common theme of infidelity is freshened and original. Ethan is the widow who hasn't left her house since her husband died down the block. Mattie is Ethan's desire for innocent life that still is capable of wonder and needs to be lead across the street hand in hand. Together the two paint a picture of timeless love and enduring will that survives the worst of times. That is until the smash up...
Rating:
Summary: Sorry it took me so long to discover this book!!
Review: Wow! This is the first book that I have ever read and then turned around and immediately began to read again. Powerful. Surprising. And such a poignant example of how the choices that we make can change our life forever. Ethan Frome, the man, is imbedded in my brain. Masterful. Don't bypass this one.
Rating:
Summary: A great American classic
Review: Ethan Frome is a farmer in Starkfield, Massachusetts, at the beginning of the 20th century. He is unhappily married to Zenobia (Zeena), a suspicious, hypochondriac, bitter, narrow-minded, ignorant and discontented woman. He is strongly attracted to Zeena's cousin Mattie Silver who shares their household and is entrusted with all the chores which Zeena refuses to do. Ethan's tragic fate begins when Zeena peremptorily decides that they need a "hired girl" which would of course imply Mattie's departure since the Fromes don't have the means to employ two girls.
A novel of great intensity with its slow developing tragedy and characters plunging towards their destiny. The author's masterful economy of language vividly renders the oppressive "silent ache" that permanently hinders communication between Ethan and Zeena. The vision of the three main characters is done in an almost cinematic way as they are trapped indoors in the severe Massachusetts winter. The narrative pattern is original too since the whole plot is told by an unnamed narrator who met the taciturn Ethan many years after the events he is about to tell us. The reader has moments of doubt when the narrator tells a story in all details and long passages of dialogue he could not possibly have known or heard during his meeting with Ethan. But Edith Wharton's extraordinary craft makes the story break away from the contingencies of the frame and it comes to moving life for the reader. A superb novel, one of the finest and most intense narratives in the history of American literature.
Rating:
Summary: Boring to Brilliant
Review: For an independent reading book this quarter I chose to read Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton. This book contains mind wrenching themes, symbols and other literary devices. At first, I wasn't too thrilled reading this book, and was actually disappointed because when I chose to read it I thought it would be a strong, interesting, and mind catching novel. Consternation struck me when the first few chapters put me into a bore. However, I later looked back and felt that I simply didn't understand, and catch the small things, in the early pages, that later had turned into big things.
When I began to read this novel, I was thinking about how I would later rate it if it continued along the path it was on. I thought out of five stars I would give it at most a two. Nevertheless, I now believe this story deserves a three and a half or four. It is not the best story I have read, but by far not the worst. It contains a fine mixture of irony, symbolism, foreshadowing, characterizations, as well as other literary tools. The first example of foreshadowing is that in the beginning of the novel, the narrator describes the main character, Ethan Frome, as a crippled man who suffered in a "smash-up". This foreshadows Ethan Frome's lover's fate, or Mattie Silver. When Frome and Silver go sledding on the hill and hit the elm tree, much to the request of her, she ends of crippled and unable to walk due to the smash-up. I liked how Wharton uses this foreshadow because when I initially read the beginning where it talks of Frome's accident, I wasn't aware of the significance of the author adding that into the book, but now I see the smart choice of doing so. Also, the narrator as a character, and as somewhat of a friend of Ethan Frome, bewildered me as to why he was in the story, and his purpose of getting rides from Frome. Through the middle portion of the story, the narrator remains simply a narrator, but at the end, the narrator returns and describes Frome's current life.
On page 142 of the novel, the character of Mrs. Hale sums up Frome's life in a simple, yet intriguing sentence. In Wharton's Ethan Frome, Mrs. Hale says, "You've had an awful mean time, Ethan Frome" (142). In a small nutshell, she is speaking of the accident that was mentioned earlier, the death of his father, and that of his sick mother, the illness of his wife Zeena, and his life in poverty. Wharton shows extreme intelligence of maintaining Frome as a character in which to sympathize with, to relate to, and to see as a man of that day. At times one would think nothing goes right with him, and other times, one may feel as if they have been in a similar, and frustrating situation, and additional times the reader may feel as if they feel very distant from what's in Frome's life, and passes it off as what someone would have experienced back when the novel takes place, but not in today's society. An example of an occurrence that may make the reader feel distant is when the novel refers to a cutter, or a sleigh, and when Frome is driving in it and is going to bring Silver to the train. That word with that definition is obsolete in today's language, therefore, that is a moment in which a reader may not feel one with Frome, or the novel for that matter. However, the way that the author mixes it up with different feelings toward Frome, and other characters makes it a classic characterization and thinking on her part.
The description throughout the novel was scarce in some parts, and just right in others, and too much in some. On page 48, Edith Wharton shows how she can paint a beautiful picture in the mind of a reader. It says, "They walked on in silence through the blackness of the hemlock-shaded lane...on the farther side of hemlock belt the open country rolled away before them grey and lonely under the stars" (48). This shows the poetic, yet plentiful description of the setting. However, in some parts where the plot dragged for several more pages than it should have, and the description seemed to be in place just for the purpose of adding more, made the particular section boring, and impossible to get through.
In my opinion, the language choices for this book were appropriate. They were because it contained such vocabulary that would have been used back then, such as, cutter, pre-trolley, water-mill, coasting and other words that were customary but not hard at all to decipher. Wharton smartly didn't choose large words for the simple purpose of using large words. She used the correct vocabulary, tone, and language for the purpose of staying true to the setting, but also to be appealing to the reader. One of the most fascinating and strong statements she used was utilized as the last sentence said by Mrs. Hale. She says in Ethan Frome, "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 Frome's up at the farm and the Frome's down in the graveyard..." (181). This insightful sentence means that by Ethan Frome surviving the accident, and Mattie Silver ending up crippled by it, Ethan Frome would be better off dead and in peace than a living dead. He is that because he is now living with Zeena and Silver, in which he must give much care to both women. This refers to him as a trapped man whose soul will suffer for years to come.
The symbolism in this novel was of few, yet important simple items. For example, when I was reading the part when Frome and Silver are sitting at the table eating a nice dinner by themselves and Zeena's beloved pickle dish is shattered on the floor, I thought that this part of the novel was nonsense, irrelevant and dull. However, I later learned that this is an important piece of the story. The pickle dish that is shattered represents Ethan and Zeena's relationship that is shattered, much to the result of Mattie Silver living with them and becoming the object of Frome's love. The fact that the pickle dish doesn't just break at any random time, but that it was during a dinner between the lovers illustrates even more that this shows the effect of Mattie on Zeena and Ethan.
In closing, the characterization, symbolism, foreshadowing and language described here are just some things that make this novel a brilliant one. As I stated earlier, in the opening chapters of the book, I figured I would not rate this as a first-class novel, but evidentially, my opinion has seemed to change. This book wasn't perfect but the cleverness of Edith Wharton, and how she depicts different character, scenes symbols and other things makes up for a lot of the dragging points during the course of the reading. I feel that if Wharton didn't write this novel a lot of the points and elements she added would have made this novel not as good as it is. Therefore, my rate after finishing this book and finally understanding the mind of Wharton a little better, is four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Not QUITE the worst book ever...
Review: But certainly the worst one of the selection that my little brother was forced by a teacher (whom I assume to be either cruel or just to have bad taste,) to read. One of the books he read had an important message, and the other was amusing at parts. This book manages neither of those mildly-redeeming traits and revels in that nothingness in a way that no reader should have to tolerate.
It's the basic story of girl meets boy, boy's already married, boy's wife is an unlikable hypochondriac, boy and girl want to be together, boy tries repeatedly to dodge his wife, etc... I won't give away too much else, because sadly, there isn't much else to give away, but the plot winds up being about as far from a happy or meaningful ending as it's possible to go without getting into the realm of bad B movie plots.
There are a hundred ways I could describe the text of this novel even further, but let me start with the most obvious. This novel is written as though the person who wrote "Jingle Bells" grew up alone, became a mentally-depressed hermit and decided to write a novel about forbidden love that doesn't go anywhere. The bland, depressing tones set by this novel are both an affront to a reasonable aesthetic sense, and at the same time made obsolete by such writers as Edgar Allen Poe, who managed them much better.
Throughout the entire novel, the author seems to have taken great pains to avoid describing things in much detail or creating any characters worth caring about, which is probably a good thing, since if you COULD care about these characters, you might not want to. As such, it's a mercifully-short novel.
However, the author, apparently realizing how short it was, attempted to lengthen it through the use of long words and flowery metaphors, many of which made me scratch my head when I tried to comprehend their validity (or lack thereof.) All I know is that this novel is the first one in which I've seen the words "discursively" and "ain't" used one right after the other, just to give you some idea of how little the flowery language fit the scenes it was meant to depict.
I've heard people complain that their kids were forced to read Moby Dick, but Moby Dick was light-hearted and serene compared to this novel. Ethan Frome has no strong positive emotional draw, no pleasant aesthetic, no appreciation for justice, no real substance, no likable characters, no message or purpose, and as near as I can tell, has nothing at all. Yet somehow people have both published it and heard of it. Ah, the trials of the modern world. I'd avoid this one like the plague if I were you.
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