Why read ethan frome

Hardly discernible, even if the title helps to focus on the developing shape. He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface.. Veiled are also the rest of the characters. They all live a discoverable and outward, but their feelings are hidden: to the others and to themselves. Feelings are so clouded that it takes them years, for people living under the same roof, to identify them, to let them free.

Actions and speech of the people in Starkfield are all concealments. They do not perceive what they are, or identify what think; they interact without discovering the other person.

Appearances delude. But then there is all that snow, cold, brisk and bleak: paralyzing. This is so until disaster strikes — and then the characters continue to live, or die, secluded in their eclipsed-away house, as if they were already living, or not living, in their graves. And their physical appearances take on the abandoned, disgruntled, nature of their settings. Even the author has camouflaged. The writer of the upper echelon of social classes of the New England is here transporting us to poverty and to rural and snowy settings.

Wharton has donned a Norwegian cloak. But her words And, eventually, one can see the cat View all 21 comments. Feb 01, B0nnie rated it liked it. She was named after the great Roman queen who led a revolt against the empire - somewhat like Princess Leia. Zeena had sacrificed her life to the man she loved, Ethan Frome. She was pretty, and knew when to flutter her eyelashes.

But poor Zeena was quite homely. They made fun of her, for she had false teeth, and looked much older than her 35 years. This was a direct result of caring for the sick and not taking care of herself. True, it made her a little queer, sort of a hypochondriac — a sad condition caused by anxiety. When Zeena was in extreme pain, and had to go on an overnight trip to see a doctor, these two ungrateful persons could hardly wait to see her go, so they could act out their little fantasy.

This dish was a wedding gift, and to Zeena, it was the symbol of her love for Ethan. Now, it should be understood that Zeena had found a potential husband for Matty, a decent hardworking businessman, albeit somewhat socially awkward guy named Denis Eady.

But Matty was having none of it. She was too good for him. Thus Zeena knew the only way to save her marriage was to send Matty away. That could not happen. They had no money. On the way to the train station, they decided to have one last little fling - sledding! There was a famous sledding hill nearby, conveniently with a large elm tree at the bottom. Their first run down the hill was so much fun that Matty knew she could not live without Ethan. She slyly suggested to him that they commit suicide together, by crashing into the tree.

It is no surprise that this plan went very wrong. They both ended up crippled, and Zeena, a woman of character and principle, took care of them both for the rest of their lives. View all 25 comments. Feb 11, Paul Bryant rated it liked it Shelves: novels.

Every review of this contains so many spoilers that I think everyone is beyond being spoiled. A SONG Just hear those slay-bells jingling, ring ting tingling too Come on it's lovely weather for a slay-ride together with you Outside the snow is falling and that nasty sick old wife of yours is calling "Yoo hoo!

Yes, there is an opera of Ethan Frome. The soundtrack was released in and Amazon records that it is currently at number 2,, in their sales list. There are no current reviews of it.

But I guess it must have seemed a good idea at the time. I think there are several morals of this story. And fourth, a tree is not as reliable as the Grand Canyon. View all 14 comments. Nov 12, Duane rated it really liked it Shelves: american-classics , rated-books , reviewed-books. I had already read most of Edith Wharton's major novels by the time I got around to reading Ethan Frome, and I was surprised by how different it was.

Where did this come from? Ethan Frome was set in a small New England town aptly named Starkville, and concerns the life of a poor farmer and his unhappy marriage.

His wife's cousin comes to live with them, Ethan falls i I had already read most of Edith Wharton's major novels by the time I got around to reading Ethan Frome, and I was surprised by how different it was.

His wife's cousin comes to live with them, Ethan falls in love and the story descends from there to it's tragic conclusion. It turns out Edith had heard an account of a sledding accident and thought it would make a good subject for a story. The unhappy marriage and subsequent love affair mirrored Wharton's own life. Ethan Frome remains one of Wharton's most recognized novels. View all 3 comments. Oct 28, Shovelmonkey1 rated it really liked it Recommends it for: for people who've got a little winters chill in their hearts.

Shelves: books , bookcrossing-books , read-in I have been on a bit of a four-star roll recently and am beginning to fear that I accidentally pressed against my generous ratings button when I was slumped against the bookcase last week trying to figure out what to read next.

It's cold and dreary outside and I was seeking something warm and fuzzy, maybe a bit light hearted or some sort of serial fantasy to see me through the onset of the winter months Which is clearly none of the thing I have been on a bit of a four-star roll recently and am beginning to fear that I accidentally pressed against my generous ratings button when I was slumped against the bookcase last week trying to figure out what to read next. Which is clearly none of the things I was looking for but I picked it up and read it anyway and so here we are.

I actually managed to finish it in one day thanks to the relentlessly long commute to the office which was made even longer by the delay on the return leg when the train in front hit "something". To quote the train driver who made the announcement, "We are delayed due to a collision with an object on the track. At this stage we are hoping it is inanimate. Specifically the chances that Ethan Frome had and the misery he subsequently endured because of them.

You won't find much happiness here and the relationship between Ethan and his wife Zenobia "Zeena" Frome is a crispy and glacial as a winter in Starkfield , where the novella is set, although on the plus side this then makes the current temperatures here in Liverpool seem positively tropical.

A loveless marriage to an ailing wife and back breaking work on a profitless few acres of farm land have transformed Ethan Frome into an old man at the age of Wharton characterises him in such a way that you immediately imagine someone much older. Like Father Time. Ethan's heart starts to defrost and that is when the trouble starts. Old Mrs Frome might be an ailing hypochondriac with a face as puckered as a dogs bottom, but she's got two eyes in her head and make no mistake about it.

And what she sees is her husband developing an attachment to the hired help. From this point forward there is a swathe of eye lash fluttering, breathless outdoor encounters of the non coital kind and lots of blushing across the kitchen table or the milk pan or the barn door and wherever else country folks go to do their blushing.

Of course you know it will all come to a sticky end so don't read on if the lover's final act is still unknown to you. You've got two lovers ready to make the ultimate leap together and a lot of snow.

There has been much scoffing at the this method of delivering an untimely demise to the protagonist, and yes, I may be scoffing a tiny bit too. On the other hand I have been on this kind of sled and actually took one down the black ski run on a mountain in Austria once. One of the guys I was with planted his sled half way up a tree and broke his arm. The other guy went off a cliff. Not a massive cliff admittedly but big enough to probably ensure a little bit of wee came out.

So death by sled is entirely probable, just more difficult to successfully engineer and a little more uncommon these days. If it sounds like I didn't enjoy this, then don't be fooled because I really did. Wonderfully written, beautiful descriptions of the Massachusetts landscape and all in one novella sized package.

I've now downloaded the rest of the Wharton back catalogue so expect an onslaught of all things Edith soon. View all 37 comments. They stood together in the gloom of the spruces, an empty world glimmering about them wide and gray under the stars. Wow, I'm speechless. It's ten past midnight and I just couldn't go to sleep without finishing this story. Don't let its size fool you, every page of this book is full of raw emotion that will leave you feeling heavy and achy all over.

The writing is so elegant and the prose, every word, every phrase was thought They stood together in the gloom of the spruces, an empty world glimmering about them wide and gray under the stars. The writing is so elegant and the prose, every word, every phrase was thoughtfully placed and had significance.

Oh I just can't praise Edith Wharton enough. This is arguably the best book I've read so far in For more bookish photos, reviews and updates follow me on instagram concerningnovels. View all 6 comments. Jun 01, Jason Koivu rated it liked it Shelves: fiction. Jesus H Christ but this is bleak stuff!

Even the town name Wharton chose, Starkfield I was born and raised in New England, wandering about the wooded, hilly landscapes of Massachusetts, Vahmont, New Hampshah and Maine for much of my youth. The springs and summers were green and alive. The autumns and winters were dark and dead. So half the year was glorious, good times and the other half you spent desperately trying to survive while wondering if it wo Jesus H Christ but this is bleak stuff! So half the year was glorious, good times and the other half you spent desperately trying to survive while wondering if it wouldn't be better to let the icy roads have their way and let your car fly off a bridge.

Ethan Frome is solidly stuck in the latter. The story of Ethan, a troubled married man in love with another woman, is revealed through deft flashbacks. Though I found the dramatic climax, view spoiler [the tragic sled ride hide spoiler ] , a touch melodramatic, this is otherwise excellent reality writing. Life does not work out the way you want or expect it sometimes, Wharton is saying. Her ironic twists are not so very fantastical, but rather they are the necessary conclusion.

If you like when hopes and dreams are mercilessly dashed, read away! If you relish ruin and decay, have at it! But do read Ethan Frome , do. View all 15 comments. Jan 16, Phrynne rated it really liked it. This one is short but sweet and very quick to read.

I understand that lots of American readers were 'forced' to read it at school and therefore groan when they hear the title, but I was in an English school and I do not remember a single American author being allowed onto our English literature syllabus at that time. I hope things have changed since. So everything Edith Wharton is new to me and I like some, including Ethan Frome and Summer and am not so keen on others, including The Age of Innoce This one is short but sweet and very quick to read.

The author's greatest skill was her poetic writing which provides the reader with descriptions which make you feel the cold when it snows and suffer the hardships and longings of the characters. Ethan Frome's love affair with Mattie appears to be doomed from the start but it is beautifully portrayed. The ending is not exactly what is expected from the course of the story but I guess it is what we could expect from this clever author. So another classic knocked off my lengthy list and I enjoyed it a lot!

Ethan has lived in on his farm, in the house where he had lived with his mother, which is how his wife, Zeena, came into his life. Zeena was hired to care for his mother in her last years. He had often thought since that it would not have happened if his mother had died in spring instead of winter. Mattie is both pretty and young, and so Zeena begins to make plans for her dismissal. A tale of forbidden love, simply told, this story would not be the same in another place, another time or another season.

Many thanks to Julie, whose review had me move this to my January reads. This year, I finally got around to it. I think what had prevented me from finishing the book before was the narrative device Wharton uses. You know the one: the narrator comes upon a scene, spots the central character, and then somehow gets enough information to tell the main tale. See also: Wuthering Heights.

The thing is: this technique can seem fussy, distracting and gimmicky. But back to the book. To complicate matters, Ethan has fallen in love with Mattie, and we think she has similar feelings.

What does she know about simple country folk? If anything, she pities them. This is a sad story. And the descriptions of the wintry landscape? Absolutely stunning. Get a nice warm blanket. Put on a pot of tea or coffee. And cuddle up with the book. View all 23 comments. Haunting, tragic tale of forbidden love. View all 10 comments. Shelves: literature. Ever read a book as required reading in high school or college and then, rediscover it as an adult?

Ethan Frome had receded to the dark recesses of my mind such that I had even forgotten that I had read it. I remembered reading Age of Innocence , but good old Ethan had left my mental building. Rather than clever metaphors and similes that sing from the page, there is a plodding, methodical stacking of word upon word that rivals the quiet, mysterious nature of the protagonist himself.

Perhaps, the art is in making the rhythm of the story match the theme and characters. If so, Ethan Frome very clearly meets the criterion. When reviewing computer games, I always contended that art means something that changes our perspective and affects us as individuals for good or bad.

Personally, I think it is the expression of that universal human experience of encountering hope after trying to live through a bad personal decision uninformed career choice, bad marriage, poor investment, misplaced trust in another person or an authority, etc. This story is about reaching for that hope, having that hope stolen, experiencing the despair of loss of hope, attempting to counteract that despair, and living with the consequences.

Attempting to summarize the story without too many spoilers is quite difficult. It is the story of a poor man who gives up his hopes for a future outside his small New England village as a dutiful son and husband. Having entangled himself in a marriage from which he cannot gracefully extricate himself, he settles into what might be described as an emotional adultery by fixating upon another.

The results of the decision to break out of the imprisonment are, of course, disastrous. Nothing in the book is as simple as it initially appears. One has a sense of foreboding throughout the book that is deftly underscored by heavy foreshadowing descriptions of the cutter, mysterious allusions to a tragic event, and more , but the final result is at least, to me even more tragic than one expects.

Ethan Frome is a tragedy in the Greek sense. He seems more a victim than a tragic protagonist, but he reflects a lot of victims who suffer through horrid relationships and would like to grasp at something that seems like an escape. Even escapes have consequences. View all 5 comments. Jan 24, Erika rated it really liked it Shelves: books-read-in She is that great. Zuleika Dobson. Max Beerbohm. Work: A Story of Experience.

Louisa May Alcott. Virginia Woolf. Selected Stories. Herman Melville. My Antonia. Willa Cather. Jonathan Swift. Ragged Dick. Horatio Alger. The Last Chronicle of Barset. Anthony Trollope. The Haves and Have Nots. Thomas Hardy. The Creation of the World and Other Business. Arthur Miller. A Modern Instance. William Dean Howells. The Princess Casamassima. Arnold Bennett. Women In Love. The Vicar of Wakefield. Oliver Goldsmith. And the question that forms in my mind, and it may be the reason why the early reviewers that you mentioned at the beginning of the show, Diane, didn't like it a whole lot, usually tragedies end in some kind of recognition that a terrible mistake has been made on the part of the tragic hero.

But Wharton's novel doesn't give us that kind of an escape I don't think. And the last scene, which I think we're gonna talk about a bit more, in fact intensifies our sense of their sort of endless suffering in a kind of prison. And I think that must bother some kids and adults too. REHM Especially young people who are looking forward to life, who see life as unending good things happening. And I think a botched suicide pact is evidence of that.

People have to live with the consequences of what they've done. And they just get more and more restricted by the end. And that's very hard. It's very hard for the reader. REHM And of course I think we should talk about how all of this ends after the attempted suicide which, you know, for their sake you almost hope is the end.

Mattie undergoes some kind of a horrific transformation so that when we see her at the end of the novel and the conclusion, we see her bloodless and shriveled. Her dark eyes had the bright witch like stare that disease of the spine sometimes gives. And this business of blood, we've talked about red being associated with Mattie. Earlier when the two are so desperately in love, Ethan feels that her blood is in his veins.

And now at the end she is bloodless and shriveled. And then Zeena, as we said, is the caregiver, but reluctant, resentful caregiver. And the three of them are locked in this farmhouse kitchen all winter long. And we've talked about the importance of the weather symbolically. The two lovers had this one moment in a summertime when they sat by a pond and Ethan found Mattie's locket.

But for the rest, it's almost always in a cold, frozen moment. And they go down and then of course there's the collision and the lifelong crippling. PAUL I'm calling to agree with the point about teenagers not reading this kind of literature.

Yeah, I don't think Dickens, I don't think most of the great literature should be read because it is too depressing. I'm a writer, but I'm not gonna let any of it be published until I'm dead because it would depress my children. They would think I'm suicidal. But I think writers just take great pleasure in writing about tragedy. They relish it. They derive energy from it. But to the young reader, it's very upsetting. I think one has to be 40 or 50 to grasp the depth of some of these emotions that women like her were able to capture.

REHM You know, the same has been said about Shakespeare, that people shouldn't read it until they're 40 or so, they don't have the wherewithal understand it. Yet we see all kinds of mayhem in Shakespeare that is certainly taught junior high, high school, college. I mean REHM Well, precisely. Thank you very much, Lisa. Let's go to Long Island, N. Good morning, Vincent.

And I hated it because it was depressing and I couldn't relate to it. You know, a year-old kid, you have no idea. But when I was an adult and you have a few experiences with relationships and they go south, you get a better appreciation for the book. And I never really liked how it ended, so I even went so far as to rewrite the ending to make it a little happier.

And it VINCENT In my version, the only solution I could think of that the two of them could be together is if Zeena unfortunately passed away and the two of them, they sold the farm. And Ethan had mentioned awhile back he'd gotten a job as an engineer in Florida.

I finished where they sold everything. They moved there. But before they left, Ethan saw the cat in the window. He turned to it and said to himself, never again, and they left happy. REHM Wow. That's really quite something. I love it. I mean, when he fantasizes running away, and we even see an example of a man who did run away with the woman he loved and they have a beautiful child, he just says, well, I can't put Zeena in that position.

Realistically, men left their wives. He could put Zeena in that position. So to one extent, he's honorable, but to one extent, he's I think resistant to change.

I mean, this is Starkfield. People are locked in a certain way of living. REHM He's resistant to change, but he doesn't have a dime to his name. REHM And that's the other part.

I mean, how's he gonna do this? How's he even going to find train fare? He didn't even have train fare for Mattie. REHM So it's tough. Vincent, you're very creative. Let's take a call from Kathy here in Washington, D.

Good morning, you're on the air. I could call this show nine times out of ten on any unintelligible. KATHY Just in reference to these recent callers, and I'm a parent of two middle school aged daughters who are good students, I agree that things get read too early and I think that's a shame.

But I don't think it's because it's too depressing. It's because you do need life experience to have encountered some of these issues. And unlike Shakespeare where you can read it on different levels, it's very hard to do that with things like "The Scarlet Letter" and "Ethan Frome" and some of the really great works of American and English language literature. KATHY And I'm just wondering, does the panel have any suggestions as to how to keep these things alive without voicing them at adolescence to really get turned off by them?

I also think, well, the world's not going to heck in a hand basket across the board educationally, a lot of literature today is sort of a unintelligible phenomenon and kids really aren't able to deal with themes like being trapped, like being trapped in your own values, being trapped by the interaction between society and your own values and all of these things that really are the nuts and bolts of adult life.

I think that exposure to literature beginning at a very early age, even difficult literature, sets up a life where you understand it and you seek it out. Whereas if you don't get exposed to literature at an early age, difficult literature, literature that isn't all happy endings, you have no foundation.

And so there's this sense that we've got to somehow give them a bit and notice the sense of I give. GOLDSMITH And I think the thing is, "Ethan Frome" may seem like it's distant because it's a different historical moment, it's older people, but I think the feeling of entrapment is something that, you know, lots of young people can relate to.

And, I mean, you could ask the students, can you imagine what it's like to be closeted? You know, can you imagine what it's like to not be able to communicate something that's extremely important to you? REHM And can you imagine being trapped in life where you have no options?

REHM That seems to me something that could easily be understood. Let's go to Knoxville, Tenn. Good morning, Betsy. I was glad the conversation took this turn, because as a parent, I would really hate my children's teachers to take the curriculum to not reading challenging literature and to not imagine that they won't reread some of these challenging works as lifelong learners.

But my children have been watching Shakespeare since they were four. They've appeared in Shakespeare productions. And they get this challenging literature.

They love Charles Dickens. It would be so sad if we eliminated the challenging, difficult and sad stories of "Oedipus" or "Macbeth" or any of these other things out of their curriculum.

Not easy stuff. Here's a wonderful email from Lise in Texas. She says, "My sophomore high school English teacher not only had us read "Ethan Frome," but read every word aloud. It was one of the best literary experiences I've ever had.

I adore the book. I believe plenty of young people are mature enough to grasp the subject matter and the literary genius of the language. I should mention that our teacher dealt with the issue of the tragic ending by assigning us to write our own alternative endings. Excellent teaching can take difficult texts and make them come alive for students and, as you're saying, Lisa, help people to grow through the text.

REHM Of course. Thank you all so much. I love this discussion. Friday, Nov 05 Drug overdose deaths have hit a record high during the pandemic. Opioid expert Dr. Andrew Kolodny on why that is, and the roots of America's addiction crisis. Friday, Oct 15 Congress expert Norman Ornstein on what the debate over the debt limit says about dysfunction in Congress, and his ideas for how to fix it.

Transcript Related Links. Twitter FB Discuss. Transcript REHM What was going on in her own life at the time? REHM And the man she married, what was he like?

REHM But was he less attentive, less absorbed in her? REHM And she goes out of town deliberately PAGE And that is this stark, cold, wintery, barren.

PAGE It constantly -- it's relentless deprivation. REHM I'm good, thanks. Go right ahead. REHM Quite right. Red scarf, red ribbon. PAGE And red is the color of life amongst all this stark REHM John, have you taught this book? Good morning, Paul. PAGE Not to mention all the tragedy that's on television. REHM Tell me how it turned out in your version. We did, too.