Rating: 
Summary: So what?
Review: Before getting to the first page of reviews, I anticipated reading responses from two camps: high school English teachers who adore Ethan Frome, and high school students who wish it were never written. I was amazed to see a range of responses. Some people have written that the novel changed their lives. Some have commented that it's actually a decent read. Others question its emphasis in high school English classes. And some people just plain hate the book.Though I learned to respect the novel, I can understand why others haven't, particularly younger readers. The book is so vastly removed from the lives of most teens that it usually takes a really dynamic instructor to make reading it a successful classroom experience. From the outset, it seems like such a tempting choice to teach. Here we have a classic case of a short literary work that has all the goods: effective imagery, a classic plot line akin to Romeo and Juliet, vibrant symbolism featuring a pickle dish that sits on a high shelf, and above all, the overwhelming sense of tragedy that is so often a popular item in works chosen for high school English classes. And yet, for all its literary panache, thousands of high school students year after year are left puzzled by Ethan Frome, asking: so what? I think one answer to this question is clear. The novel is an effective means of exploring literary devices. It doesn't have any objectionable material, and because it is so short, it is safe and easy to teach. Whether this answer helps to form new generations of avid readers remains a key issue.
Rating: 
Summary: A model of determinism...
Review: Despite what you might read above, Ethan Frome is a masterpiece of the naturalistic form. As you must know through study, determinism is the doctrine that man's actions and mental activities are governed by causes outside his own will. In this case, because Edith Wharton was a naturalistic writer, Ethan Frome's whole life was controlled by his heredity and his environment. This interpretive fiction is also a great example of the omniesent point of view. The author chose all of the images superbly while writing this piece.
The setting is winter because nothing is alive in winter and because it is so bleak and impassable. The protagonist (Ethan) is a ruin of a man. Wharton portrays him perfectedly through her writing. He is emasculatory. He has no children nor does he frolic at any time with children or possess any fartherly or masculine traits other than hard work. The antagonist (Zeena) is sickly, bloodless, and flat chested. She is hardly the picture of a woman, nor is she the picture of life. Mattie (the bone of contention) is the picture of life, she is the picture of hope; However, hope in a frozen hell is hardly hope at all.
This book has so much to offer to the observant reader it hardly seems necessary to give away the ending or the plot. The point is, this story is about man's inability to overcome heredity and his environment. And Ms. Wharton does this masterfully.
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: Arouses sentiments with realistically poignant situations
Review: Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, is a story of aman Ethan Frome, and his shattered life. Ethan falls in love with Mattie Silver, who is actually his cousin. Ethan's true wife is Zeena, an uninteresting, acerbic, irascible lady who has no interest in life and her husband. The story continues, and in the end, Ethan's life is devastated, because he gets trapped in the web of love, telling lies, and lack of communication. Yes, this is a touching novel.
But it is not fatuously touching. A reader must realize that there are situations where emotions play a big part. Emotions toy with human beings. Emotions cannot be discarded by being called too sentimental.
The writing style of this book, I mustt admitt, is, magnificent. Edith Wharton is the kind of writer who has the capacity to describe the character's actions in such astonishing detail, that the reader gets to know almost everything bout the character and his life. Along with this, Wharton also comments after each action of the characters. The description of nature, and it's effects on the personality on man are brilliant. The book is sumptously showered with meaningful symbolism, really beautiful symbolism. Often objects and animals are used to act as symbols.
The book is not a long time book. In other words, it takes place only in about two months. Their is also the motiff of prisons, like I mentioned earlier. Each of the characters in trapped in material or emotional prisons. Some ortions are romantic. Others are very violent. And some are very poignant.
But, the book has got demerits too. Sometimes, the description is soo detailed, and often such nonchalant activities are described, that you may get bored. The bane is that you cannot leave these portions unread because they are an integral partof the book.
On the whole, however, the book is very good. I recommend it to any reader.
Rating:
Summary: A great book; a truly depressing read
Review: As it could be said about any one of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome is a great book. Ethan Frome is the story of one winter in the title character's life told in flashbacks. Ethan is in love with his wife's cousin, Mattie Silver, and is tortured by the fact that he cannot be with her out of duty to his wife.
The most interesting part of this book, as in most classics, are the themes that are explored. The most important of these is the issue of how much a person has control of his life and how much does fate control his destiny. The truly fascinating part of the way this issue is explored in the novel is that the answer to this question is truly left up to the reader. One could argue that what happens to Ethan was simply destiny, or was a result of his inability to take action.
The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that the ending is truly depressing. It is characterized as a tragedy from the onset, but it goes beyond even the label of tragedy into what could be characterized as a cruel ending for the readers who care so deeply about Ethan and his love for Mattie. However, I believe that this ending is entirely appropriate for the novel. As well, if you are not interested in slow-paced romance you will be deeply bored with this book until the last ten pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious
Review: This book is tremendously [bad]. The main character is whiney and unintersting and for some reason Wharton expects us to care about what happens to these whiney self indulgent charaacters. Rediculous. There is no pain except the unnecesary pain the caharcters put on themselves because they are so bored they have nothing better to do. New Englend must be awful.
The ending with the sled has to be the most triumphant and undoubtedly funny scenes in all of literature. I personally cheered and laughed out loud. Unfortunatly Wharton wrote it with a straigt face intending none of the humor that is there.
Rating: 
Summary: Wharton a marriage counselor?
Review: Fromme is a poor man in Massachusetts, married to an emotionally suffocating wife. At the novel's inception, he is in love with a younger woman living with them, and this relationship constitutes the bulk of the novel. Wharton explores the psychological dimensions of the relaitonship as they try to work around their awkward circumstances while trying to engage their powerful emotions for one another.To me, I think the strength of this book rests flat out in its brilliant portrayal of what it is like to be a man, trying to connect with a women he loves. I think this is an excellent book for both men and women, and I firmly believe it can even improve relationships by enhancing couple's understanding of each other. Wharton presents the characters in ways that I think women can relate to. As I read this, I felt none of the shallow quarrels we typically find between men and women in popular culture, and I left certain that both genders can learn about each other much more if they would only take novels such as this one seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and full of symbolism
Review: Edith Wharton is a master of the dark literature that will haunt the reader for days after completion of one of her works. As is the style of Wharton Ethan Frome is a wonderful story which each reader takes away something different. The "Anthesis Theory" is the one best describing this novel. Every one of the characters has an alter ego, Mattie and Zeena, Ethan and the Narrator. That is what posssibly makes this story so sad. To read anything Edith Wharton wrote is to read a work of art.
Rating:
Summary: Not as bad as everyone says
Review: Perhaps this is one book that shouldn't be assigned in English classes throughout the country. It seems that noone who is "forced" to read Ethan Frome actually enjoys it. I picked this up during an Edith Wharton phase and really enjoyed it. It is short and gripping. Ethan is a pathetic character who has to deal with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life. By trying to escape his shrewish wife, he only tied himself to her more completely. Ethan Frome is a sad novel about doomed romance and the desperation of New England winters. I would not recommend it as an Edith Wharton primer, try Summer or The Buccaneers first. Once you have gotten hooked on Wharton, give Ethan Frome a try.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting........
Review: Ethan Frome is short enough to be read in one sitting, and is probably best enjoyed in one sitting. It portrays a turning point in the lives of three people, a married couple and the young attractive woman who has come to live with them. The novel covers only a few days in their lives, but captures the sad suffocating life, the way in which their weakness traps them into making decisions which instead of freeing them, will further ensnare them. The beauty of the novel comes in the portrayal of the characters and the town that they inhabit. The language Ms. Wharton uses is lovely and heavy, perfectly suited to her characters and their ultimate downfall. This is the first book I've read by Edith Wharton, but I'm now looking forward to reading "Summer" and "House of Mirth". Although the author seems to specialize in unhappy endings....her writing is so good, you'll keep coming back for more.
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