#14 of 52 – 52 Books in 52 Weeks
Loved this book. My appreciation for Edith Wharton is solidified. Years ago, I read The Age of Innocence, but that had been the only novel of hers I’d read until now. The story of Ethan Frome is simple–heartbreakingly so. Ethan Frome is a broken man, someone tied to a place (his farm) and to a person (his wife), neither of which he loves. As a young man, he had had great dreams, plans for the future. But circumstances and life in general interfered, and tethered him to a hard, lonely life.
When Ethan meets Mattie, his wife’s cousin, he slowly finds himself coming back to life. She gives him hope; through her, he begins to feel again. The tragedy, of course, is that they cannot be together. Ethan’s strained marriage prohibits him from the one happiness he needs, and craves.
(These themes are reminiscent of The Age of Innocence–Newland and Ethan come from vastly different walks of life and social class, but their conflicts are the same.)
I wasn’t shocked by the ending, but it certainly had a bitter irony to it. I think the appropriate adage, especially in light of the ending, is “Be careful what you wish for.” Life has a way of spiraling in every direction except for the path you most expect–and want. Sometimes, that works out for the good. And other times, all it does is create the most bitter of heartaches.
(As a footnote: I decided to read Ethan Frome because the last book I read, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, reminded me so much of Wharton’s writing style. In turn, reading Ethan Frome reminded me of another of my favorite authors, Anita Shreve, who happened to write the foreward for my edition of Ethan Frome. Next, I’m reading a Shreve novel. It’s nice when books and authors intersect and overlap that way; it makes my reading list feel less random.)
another book I read in a hs English class and don’t really remember
I think we went through it pretty quickly. I also think a lot of these books can be lost on teenagers if they aren’t in the right mindset to read them. sometimes I really enjoyed the books we “had” to read, and other times it was a chore. maybe it is good you are just now reading many of the books we are all forced to read, you probably enjoy them much more than you would have!
hmm that’s a good point! I guess certain ones are better for teenagers to read too (The Catcher in the Rye comes to mind–I didn’t care for that one and I read it when I was out of my teens). I don’t think I would have “gotten” Ethan Frome in high school.