Ethan Frome

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Edith Wharton: Ethan Frome (2003, IndyPublish.com)

120 pages

English language

Published Nov. 23, 2003 by IndyPublish.com.

ISBN:
978-1-4043-4939-1
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4 stars (2 reviews)

Edith Wharton wrote Ethan Frome as a frame story — meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a "frame" around the main story

How It All Goes Down It's winter. A nameless engineer is in Starkfield, Massachusetts on business and he first sees Ethan Frome at the post office. Ethan is a man in his early fifties who is obviously strong, and obviously crippled. The man becomes fascinated with Ethan and wants to know his story. When Ethan begins giving him occasional rides to the train station, the two men strike up a friendship. One night when the weather is particularly bad, Ethan invites the man to stay at his house. In the hall the man hears a woman talking angrily, on and on. When Ethan speaks, the voice stops. The man tells us that he learned something that night which allowed him to imagine Ethan's story. Now we go …

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Review of 'Ethan Frome' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I expected to like this book because I loved the 1993 film with Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette. The story a study of marriage and human nature with both great joy and great sadness.

Wharton is known for her commentaries on society. This book is a good starting place if you're looking to explore her writing, because it's not very long. She is fairly wordy with descriptions of feelings/emotions, so it's worth spending some time and not rushing through it, so you get to savor her beautiful prose. There are also some audiobook versions which are around 4 hours for the unabridged book.

avatar for tomasino

rated it

3 stars

Subjects

  • American fiction (fictional works by one author)
  • Massachusetts, fiction
  • Married people, fiction
  • Man-woman relationships, fiction