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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
I'm not sure what prompted me to re-read this for the first time since ninth grade. I guess I'd hoped that my low estimation of this book was somehow colored by the time in which I read it.
Nope, it just kinda sucked.
Nope, it just kinda sucked.
If you told me this was a longish deleted segment of Winesburg, Ohio, I would totally believe you, even taking into account the fact that one of the books was written by Sherwood Anderson and the other by Edith Wharton. Like the stories in that much revered short story cycle (no not novel), Ethan Frome concerns itself with grim characters burdened by unfulfilled dreams, dreams unfulfilled because of the strictures of society or their own inability to truly sieze the day. A chilly atmosphere, a grim sense of place, a punch in the gut ending that would be lurid melodrama if the story wasn't already so unrelentingly bleak throughout.
One to read if you want to feel really bad. Or maybe to feel really good. Basically, you can close the book and sink into a funk or swallow the lump in your throat and hug your girlfriend or your wife or your boyfriend or your husband (or maybe even your cat), because you can, because you're lucky enough not to be the one who entered into a marriage of convenience rather than one of passion, that you aren't doomed to limp through life, scarred and nerve-damaged, metaphorically or otherwise.
Here are some other depressing stories about sleds:
One to read if you want to feel really bad. Or maybe to feel really good. Basically, you can close the book and sink into a funk or swallow the lump in your throat and hug your girlfriend or your wife or your boyfriend or your husband (or maybe even your cat), because you can, because you're lucky enough not to be the one who entered into a marriage of convenience rather than one of passion, that you aren't doomed to limp through life, scarred and nerve-damaged, metaphorically or otherwise.
Here are some other depressing stories about sleds:
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The worst book I’ve had the displeasure of being forced to read
Atmospheric and heart-wrenchingly sad in the most old-fashioned way possible. Why does anyone ever go to New England?
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Ethan Frome is not a fairytale or a happy story. With a focus on the darker side of humanity, each turn created more problems and tensions. Ethan Frome, the main character, has an empty life, but is plagued by indecision and no real action or boldness that he became a character that I sympathized with at the beginning and one that I pitied at the end. The two women in the novel, Zeena Frome (the wife) and Mattie Silver (the love interest), are both intimately connected to Ethan, as he is bound by duty to Zeena but in love- or at least obsessive infatuation or admiration- with Mattie. Ethan becomes so desperate that he finally acts, but causes more harm than good. Ultimately, the book delved into some interesting psychological questions and situations, and took some delightful plot twists that I had not expected. While it was not an action story, it was enjoyable, interesting, and thought-provoking, one I am glad I read.
This was the perfect depressing classic read for a long cold Winter. I loved the writing style. This is a tragic short easy read. I will definitely read it again and again and think I will get more out of it each time.
Several years ago my mother-in-law asked me if I had ever read Ethan Frome. I said that I had not but had enjoyed The Age of Innocence in college. She assured me that it was good and had stuck with her since she was in college. Now I know why.
Wharton has a great style, and from the first she begins building a mystery by slowly revealing characters. From the outset you know you are reading a tragedy--you just don't know what the tragedy is.
I'm not going to spoil it for you...just know that my heart was racing at several points and this book has haunted my mother-in-law for forty years.
Wharton has a great style, and from the first she begins building a mystery by slowly revealing characters. From the outset you know you are reading a tragedy--you just don't know what the tragedy is.
I'm not going to spoil it for you...just know that my heart was racing at several points and this book has haunted my mother-in-law for forty years.