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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
In the foreword of my little pocket edition of Ethan Frome, I learned that Edith Wharton refused to hear criticism about this novel. Of all her works, she felt that this was the one - the piece that entered the world fully formed, exactly as she imaged. Though I was initially somewhat skeptical… it turns out she was absolutely right this shit SLAPPED.
emotional
sad
Bellissime le descrizioni dei paesaggi, la scrittura di Edith Wharton ti coinvolge e ti appassiona
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2021 reading challenge: book published in 1911.
Good things about this book:
Super short
Engaging writing
The completely unlikeable characters got their due (maybe??)
Consistent with Wharton’s other writing, this is a miserable book about unhappy people with victim mentality.
I’d be interested to hear a retelling of this from Mattie or Zeena’s perspective, since these women both seem to be forced into their roles by the extremely limited freedom society allowed women at the time.
The book portrays Zeena as bitter & hysteric and Mattie as Ethan’s willing mistress. But both these portrayals come from Ethan’s perspective. And frankly he seems like a creep. He marries Zeena because he’s afraid to be alone when his mom dies. If that’s the impetus for marrying I can’t imagine much good for the future. Then he seems to force himself on Mattie, a girl without family, money, or means to support herself & has no recourse from Ethan’s lecherous gaze.
That’s how I saw things, anyway. I know I’m putting my modern perspective on a culture that was vastly different.
Good things about this book:
Super short
Engaging writing
The completely unlikeable characters got their due (maybe??)
Consistent with Wharton’s other writing, this is a miserable book about unhappy people with victim mentality.
I’d be interested to hear a retelling of this from Mattie or Zeena’s perspective, since these women both seem to be forced into their roles by the extremely limited freedom society allowed women at the time.
The book portrays Zeena as bitter & hysteric and Mattie as Ethan’s willing mistress. But both these portrayals come from Ethan’s perspective. And frankly he seems like a creep. He marries Zeena because he’s afraid to be alone when his mom dies. If that’s the impetus for marrying I can’t imagine much good for the future. Then he seems to force himself on Mattie, a girl without family, money, or means to support herself & has no recourse from Ethan’s lecherous gaze.
That’s how I saw things, anyway. I know I’m putting my modern perspective on a culture that was vastly different.
I decided I was never going to make reviews for classics for fear of "interpreting it wrong" or "not appreciating the groundwork these books have laid for literary culture today" or blah blah blah, some other mess like that.
But the fact of the matter is, a book's a book. Whether it was written two centuries ago or two months ago. And I am allowed to have a yes, no, or maybe so opinion on anything I happen to set my eyes on, including classics.
That being said, after reading several classics this year (by will or force by the education system I will neither confirm nor deny), and liking as well as disliking some of them, I have decided to brave this new world of old literature myself, just to see if I can grow a taste for it.
And while I'm sure that "Ethan Frome" doesn't speak for the collective classics as a whole, it sure has given me the taste I was searching for.
This little novella explores so much, says so much, and does it all under a thick blanket of snow, and behind the eyes of one very unhappy man.
I can totally see why people don't like this. Just reading some of the reviews of those who didn't appreciate the whole "desperate lovers" trope that "Romeo and Juliet" has either highlighted or ruined for us, I can totally see why.
But I lived for it.
I LIVED for it.
The tension was what did it for me. It's not even really a "will they won't they" situation. You know they won't. But the journey to get there, the way the air between Ethan and Mattie was electrified (scratch that. It was practically on fire), is what did it for me. Passions and desires and tensions rose high and I was here for it.
Of course I couldn't completely root for them (Ethan is married and no matter how incompatible Ethan is to his wife, she's still his wife. I don't condone cheating). But I could sure have fun seeing where things led.
I wish tensions were pushed up a notch, and we got even more difficult situations for Ethan to conquer his feelings for Mattie. Also, I wish Mattie wasn't inherently good, and Zeena wasn't inherently bad. They both could've have been served better if written with more depth. But I know this was the intention of Edith Wharton. Have Ethan choose between the light and the dark, even though the darkness always wins.
I've heard that this isn't even the author's best work. Most say its "The Age of Innocence", but I guess I'll have to read them all the find out.
I'm gonna have fun with this.
4 stars, for poor, poor Ethan Frome.⭐
But the fact of the matter is, a book's a book. Whether it was written two centuries ago or two months ago. And I am allowed to have a yes, no, or maybe so opinion on anything I happen to set my eyes on, including classics.
That being said, after reading several classics this year (by will or force by the education system I will neither confirm nor deny), and liking as well as disliking some of them, I have decided to brave this new world of old literature myself, just to see if I can grow a taste for it.
And while I'm sure that "Ethan Frome" doesn't speak for the collective classics as a whole, it sure has given me the taste I was searching for.
This little novella explores so much, says so much, and does it all under a thick blanket of snow, and behind the eyes of one very unhappy man.
I can totally see why people don't like this. Just reading some of the reviews of those who didn't appreciate the whole "desperate lovers" trope that "Romeo and Juliet" has either highlighted or ruined for us, I can totally see why.
But I lived for it.
I LIVED for it.
The tension was what did it for me. It's not even really a "will they won't they" situation. You know they won't. But the journey to get there, the way the air between Ethan and Mattie was electrified (scratch that. It was practically on fire), is what did it for me. Passions and desires and tensions rose high and I was here for it.
Of course I couldn't completely root for them (Ethan is married and no matter how incompatible Ethan is to his wife, she's still his wife. I don't condone cheating). But I could sure have fun seeing where things led.
I wish tensions were pushed up a notch, and we got even more difficult situations for Ethan to conquer his feelings for Mattie. Also, I wish Mattie wasn't inherently good, and Zeena wasn't inherently bad. They both could've have been served better if written with more depth. But I know this was the intention of Edith Wharton. Have Ethan choose between the light and the dark, even though the darkness always wins.
I've heard that this isn't even the author's best work. Most say its "The Age of Innocence", but I guess I'll have to read them all the find out.
I'm gonna have fun with this.
4 stars, for poor, poor Ethan Frome.⭐
emotional
reflective
sad
sad
medium-paced
One of my new favorites
Very tragic and it broke my heart
Very tragic and it broke my heart