Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton

Jan 1922 · Charles Scribner

About this ebook

This is a tragic 19th century love story. The main characters are Ethan Frome, his wife Zenobia, called Zeena, and her young cousin Mattie Silver. Frome and Zeena marry after she nurses his mother in her last illness. Although Frome seems ambitious and intelligent, Zeena holds him back. When her young cousin Mattie comes to stay on their New England farm, Frome falls in love with her. But the social conventions of the day doom their love and their hopes. The story forcefully conveys Wharton's abhorrence of society's unbending standards of loyalty. Written while Wharton lived in France but before her divorce (1913), Ethan Frome became one of the best known and most popular of her works. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature.

Ratings and reviews

This book was very confusing to me, but I somewhat enjoyed it. I was sort of twisted in a sense that the main character was in love with his wife's cousin. It was lacking things that were essential to fully understanding the storyline. The ending was very surprising, but I wish it had turned out differently. Even though this book is somewhat dry and unique, you should read it. It is filled with intrigue and irony. NOTE: twisted as this book is, it surprises you constantly.

Boring. Torturous. The only reason this is a classic is because one generation feels the need for the next to suffer the same fate they did. I cannot understand why anyone would voluntarily read this book.

Really horrid ending that leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but a really nice love story.