Ethan Frome

Rating:
Summary: Death in life
Review: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton; afterword by Alfred Kazin. Highly recommended.

Ethan Frome is a powerful story about powerless people. The title character is held in thrall by his parents, his land, his poverty, and his lifeless and loveless marriage. His wife, Zenobia (Zeena), cannot escape the confines of her narrow mind; her imaginary illnesses and the status they give her in a small village like the aptly named Starkfield, Massachusetts; and the meanness of her own life (symbolised by her attachment to her pickle dish and her refusal to use it, even for visits by the minister). Finally, there is Mattie Silver, the relative who has come to help care for Zeena and the house and who has nowhere to go. Interestingly, the three prisoners are related; Zeena is referred to as a cousin of Ethan's, while Mattie is Zeena's cousin. Zeena is, literally and figuratively, the central figure who connects them all and who keeps Ethan and Mattie apart.

From his youth, Ethan's impulsive, reactive nature leads him into trouble. When Zeena helps him out with the care of his mother, who dies and leaves him alone and lonely, "before he knew what he was doing, he had asked her [Zeena] to stay there with him." It is soon thereafter that he discovers that his loneliness gave him selective vision and that Zeena is more than a good nurse; she's an excellent hypochondriac. When someone asks him if he lacks money, "'Not a bit,' Ethan's pride retorted before his reason had time to intervene."

Ethan is hindered from all he desires, whether it's his technical education, his potential career as an engineer, or the arms of Mattie Silver, by his prevailing sense of duty and honor. Although he feels trapped on his land and in a farming life with which he is not happy because he has had a succession of people for whom to care-first, his father, then his mother, then Zeena-Ethan tells Mattie, "I want to be there when you're sick and when you're lonesome." Later, his last thought before unconsciousness will be about his responsibility to his horse: "I ought to be getting him his feed . . ." He struggles constantly with his need to be free of Zeena and his obligation to take care of her.

Zeena and Mattie are contrasted throughout; Zeena's lashless lids are nothing like Mattie's fully lashed lids, which Ethan observes "sinking slowly when anything charmed or moved her." Her laughter is seen "sparkling through her lashes." While Zeena is thin and hard, Ethan sees Mattie (in Zeena's overnight absence) as "taller, fuller, more womanly in shape and motion" than when she is under Zeena's watchful eye. Light, which brings out the sharp hollows of Zeena's face as in a horror film, "threw a lustrous fleck on [Mattie's] lips, edged her eyes with velvet shade, and laid a milky whiteness above the black curve of her brows." Is this Mattie as she really is, or is this Mattie as Ethan's loneliness and imagination needs her to be.

Around Mattie, Ethan is often overcome by the strength of his emotions. When she serves him dinner, with the cat lying drowsily by the stove in a carefully drawn domestic scene, "Ethan was suffocated with the sense of well-being." This sense of being overcome recurs throughout their encounters. He doubts that he inspires such a glow. "Could it be his coming that gave her such a kindled face?" He is jealous of every man Mattie encounters, particularly the wealthy Irish grocer's son, Denis Eady.

Whether Wharton is writing of society New York or rural New England, such an illicit romance cannot succeed, and Ethan's fails spectacularly-leaving behind people who are emotional and physical wrecks. Zeena is transformed into reluctant caregiver, while Mattie is transformed into yet another part of the trap that keeps Ethan on the farm, impoverished financially, intellectually, and emotionally. His emotions about his fate and that of his would-be lover are never revealed other than through an indescribable look that haunts those who witness it. In life, all are more dead than the Fromes in the graveyard. Ethan Frome is the literary embodiment of Wharton's quote, "Life is the saddest thing, next to death."

Ethan Frome's framework is awkward; a narrator from outside Starkfield manages to get into Ethan's home and learn the whole story, which then is improbably told in great detail in third-person omniscient. This detracts only slightly from the novel's wintry, claustrophobic atmosphere and evocative powers. In her introduction, Wharton calls the reader "sophisticated" and the people of whom she writes "simple"-as stark as the New England backdrop. Yet Ethan Frome, for all his "simplicity," is a rich, fully realised person as memorable as Newland Archer (The Age of Innocence)-and as tragic as Lily Bart (The House of Mirth).

Diane L. Schirf, 14 June 2003.

Rating:
Summary: "Romeo & Juliet" has met its match---this is a REAL tragedy
Review: WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T READ THE END YET! DON'T LET ANYONE SPOIL IT FOR YOU, EITHER!

As an unsuspecting reader---reading this novel with no outside influences---Ethan Frome will have an impact on you. I feel it is the true definition of a tragedy, and when you finish it you'll discover why.

Throughout the entire book, readers witness the inner conflict with which the protagonist (Ethan) is struggling. This is where the true drama takes place, albeit there's plenty of external drama.

The novel is short enough and easy enough to read in two days' time. Just resist the temptation to read ahead to the conclusion, okay?

Rating:
Summary: Ethan Frome Review
Review: Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, is a story within a story telling the life of a man named Ethan Frome. The opening of the book begins with a narrator on a business trip in the town where Ethan lives. Ethan even interacts with the narrator, which leads him to question Ethan's life further. This is what leads into the story within the story. Ethan Frome is married to a woman named Zenobia, or Zeena. Zeena was the nurse for Ethan's father and after he passed away, they married only to avoid a lonely life. They live a miserable life together until Zeena's young, beautiful, and outgoing cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to live with them as a helper around the house. Before long, Ethan falls in love with this new and exciting woman. Ethan spends time everyday dreaming about what it would be like to be with Mattie. He helps her with all her chores and tries to sneak in extra time alone with her. Life is pretty content for Ethan until one evening, Mattie breaks Zeena's glass dish from her wedding. Zeena is so angry with Mattie that she finds a way to make sure she leaves their home. Zeena uses the excuse of her poor health to send Mattie away and hire a more useful worker. This news is almost like the end of the world to Ethan.
One evening, Ethan and Mattie bring the book to its climax. They talk about running away together and being in love. This is when the accident happens. Ethan and Mattie are sledding down a steep hill with a large oak tree at the bottom. They decide that they would rather kill themselves than have to be separated. Unfortunately, the crash was not hard enough. They both survive, but severely injured. The book ends with Ethan and Mattie living under Zeena's care. Ethan and Mattie betray Zeena for having a secret relationship and they all end up living a miserable life.

Rating:
Summary: Eh, not too good. But not horrible
Review: Ethan Frome was well written with some great symbolism, but didn't really have much of a story. This book could have been summed up in 20 pages. It had this little story that was stretched out for about 200 pages, which made it really boring. It goes by really slow with little going on. "The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton is much better. If you're going to read one of her books, you should read that over "Ethan Frome".

Rating:
Summary: Bleak but the writing is Superb!
Review: This is a profoundly sad, often hopeless look at one man's life and the two women he is involved with. There is nothing in this novel to cheer the heart but the writing is textured and alluring. Certain sentences leap off the page to tug at your heart. Also, the twist at the end really does leave a reader surprised. Life can be like this book sadly enough.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Novel
Review: I thoroughly enjoy reading this novel. It is one of the few that I have read more than once. It is short, but it is dynamic. One can read it in an afternoon. The main character is such a pitiful ruin of a man. He had so much potential, but was trapped by family obligations and his strong sense of duty to a dying farm and a cold, unfeeling wife. His last chance for love is destroyed when his selfish, bitter wife decides out of jealousy and revenge to send Ethan's true love away. The lovers decide to die together and even that plan goes awry when the sled they are on does not hit the target properly. The outcome is devastating and heartbreaking. Ethan is even more trapped after the accident and his lover becomes worse than his wife ever was. This story is wonderfully written. It is a story within a story and is a must read for anyone. One can not help but get lost in Ms. Wharton's sad tale. Perhaps this particular story is a bit autobiographical if one chooses to read about Ms. Wharton's life. She, too, lost at love. Look for lots of symbolism in the setting and in her descriptions.

Rating:
Summary: Frome Here to Ethan
Review: Ethan Frome was a pretty good book. I really liked the way Edith Wharton described things in the book. Instead of Zeena's house being dark and gloomy, she wrote, "the shutterless windows of the house were dark. A dead cucumber-vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death." I actually felt cold when I read the descriptions about Ethan and Mattie walking home in the snow or when they were sledding. I also liked how the characters seemed real and believable. Zeena is negative, sickly and unpleasant. Ethan is trapped and looking for happiness. Mattie needs someone to care about her. I also think the plot was interesting and very ironic because instead of escaping his unhappiness, Ethan and Mattie make things much worse in the end.
I did not like the book in some ways because it is very slow moving and seemed to get too romantic. It's a pretty depressing book, too. There are a lot of references to death, and I felt really bad for Ethan at the end of the book. His life was miserable before Mattie, and much worse after trying to escape his life with Zeena by trying to commit suicide with Mattie. I'm glad it's only a book and not a true story.
This may be a good chick-flick book, but it only rates a 3 as a book for a guy.

Rating:
Summary: Stagnant....
Review: This book is a sad tale of lives gone terribly wrong, and people who had potential but couldn't use it due to illnesses. The unrequited romance between Ethan and Mattie, the sickness of Zeena, the botched suicide attempt, and the life on a cold, unproductive New England farm made the book very very depressing, and overall was a representation of stagnation.

A very hard book to get into. I had to read it for school, and found it to be a chore. Despite the tragedies that are otherwise interesting, yet disturbing, Edith Warton unfortunately presents them in a bland, and rather impersonal manner. It has been hailed as a great novel, but I wouldn't call it essential reading.

Rating:
Summary: meaning Long- story-brief
Review: Wharton's 'countryside' and 'cold' novel, is both a place to start and a place to reflect on her literary gift. Ethan Frome is not a statement or vision of the lives of American and European society, its excesses and its tragedies, this is American tragedy before automobiles and refrigerators, it is sexual and Puritanical- but unforgettable. This tale of adultury and the nature of the impossibly unhappy and ruthless female is one that I feel I am constantly reminded of. (Yes, I am a premier example.) That kindness is often 'accidental' and completely circumstantial is only exceeded by the knowledge that sexual love is the briefest and most likely to reverse its attraction. The book is also a statement about being an invalid and thus a master of those who must keep you. This is a story of plain people, people with little but their desires and the pleasures- like sledding- and youth that are free and short-lived. It is a spectacular irony and lesson in attachment for survival, for lust and for hatred. A complex and multileveled gem that is incredibly spare and complete. She was quite a lady.

Rating:
Summary: Read this in high school and wanted to re-read it
Review: Didn't take very long - it's a short book, but a really interesting story. Most of the characters end up being sympathetic when all is said and done.