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tfitoby 's review for:
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
Apparently this is a high school text in America. I assume that this is because it is so short and therefore easier to get the kids to read it than say Infinite Jest. But boy is this one sad tale.
Surely you know what this one is about? It often feels like the majority of Goodreads members consists of American teenagers so forgive me for the assumption. I do not believe that the following paragraph is a spoiler as it's pretty much spelled out in the blurb but if you are delicate to these things I advise skipping ahead.
There's this guy Ethan, he never really knew how to make friends, he was quiet and took some slight pleasure in being bullied because at least it was contact with other humans. You might have found him starring in that movie Elephant if his life was transposed to 21st Century America. He lives in some tiny village that gets snowed in an awful lot, this doesn't help his constitution and then he parents die and he marries his cousin because he can't stand to be alone. Turns out his cousin is a giant nutjob hypochondriac and will believe any old mystic herbalist put in front of her. Then his cousin/wife invites her cousin to come be her slave and a domestic love triangle late 19th Century style happens.
Ever since I heard Tellison sing about Edith Wharton knowing about love and sacrifice I've been intrigued by her writing and I admit to being both impressed and underwhelmed. For a while I didn't think I would find anything to say about this novel, it kind of left me nonplussed.
But in true Toby style I am claiming my references from cinema and the more I can compare the sad tale of Ethan Frome to Brief Encounter, Secrets & Lies, The Deep Blue Sea etc. the happier I become. All this repression is painted in such a manner as to leave you feeling claustrophobic and it is this that has the largest effect upon the reader. The surreptitious glances and slightest of physical contact, the desire to do something that you know is wrong but feels so right and the oppressive knowledge that none of them possess the strength to make themselves happy, these things combine to create a portrait of a sad man in a bad position of his own making and that is Ethan Frome. I find it no surprise at all that Terence Davies directed the movie adaptation of another Edith Wharton novel, [b:The House of Mirth|17728|The House of Mirth|Edith Wharton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328729186s/17728.jpg|1652564], as his sensibilities are perfectly in keeping with those of the author.
The brevity of this piece is probably the major issue I have with it, I would like to have explored the relationships in a lot more depth so that the inevitible denouement carried more weight but you can't have everything and at only 77 pages Wharton manages to capture a lot more than you might expect from such a slight novella.
Surely you know what this one is about? It often feels like the majority of Goodreads members consists of American teenagers so forgive me for the assumption. I do not believe that the following paragraph is a spoiler as it's pretty much spelled out in the blurb but if you are delicate to these things I advise skipping ahead.
There's this guy Ethan, he never really knew how to make friends, he was quiet and took some slight pleasure in being bullied because at least it was contact with other humans. You might have found him starring in that movie Elephant if his life was transposed to 21st Century America. He lives in some tiny village that gets snowed in an awful lot, this doesn't help his constitution and then he parents die and he marries his cousin because he can't stand to be alone. Turns out his cousin is a giant nutjob hypochondriac and will believe any old mystic herbalist put in front of her. Then his cousin/wife invites her cousin to come be her slave and a domestic love triangle late 19th Century style happens.
Ever since I heard Tellison sing about Edith Wharton knowing about love and sacrifice I've been intrigued by her writing and I admit to being both impressed and underwhelmed. For a while I didn't think I would find anything to say about this novel, it kind of left me nonplussed.
"Find yourself somebody to love
Try to find somebody to love you back
Don’t keep your heart with a lock and key
Put all your trust in me"
But in true Toby style I am claiming my references from cinema and the more I can compare the sad tale of Ethan Frome to Brief Encounter, Secrets & Lies, The Deep Blue Sea etc. the happier I become. All this repression is painted in such a manner as to leave you feeling claustrophobic and it is this that has the largest effect upon the reader. The surreptitious glances and slightest of physical contact, the desire to do something that you know is wrong but feels so right and the oppressive knowledge that none of them possess the strength to make themselves happy, these things combine to create a portrait of a sad man in a bad position of his own making and that is Ethan Frome. I find it no surprise at all that Terence Davies directed the movie adaptation of another Edith Wharton novel, [b:The House of Mirth|17728|The House of Mirth|Edith Wharton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328729186s/17728.jpg|1652564], as his sensibilities are perfectly in keeping with those of the author.
“They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods”
The brevity of this piece is probably the major issue I have with it, I would like to have explored the relationships in a lot more depth so that the inevitible denouement carried more weight but you can't have everything and at only 77 pages Wharton manages to capture a lot more than you might expect from such a slight novella.