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Early 20th Century love triangle
A Mysterious Love
A Dark Love Story
A well- told depressing tale
darkly atmospheric and fine.

Ethan Frome (Oxford World's Classics)
Edith Wharton
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192834967

Book Description

`It was not so much his great height that marked him ... it was the careless powerful look that he had, in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain.' Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome tells the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver. In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book. In its unyielding and shocking pessimism, its bleak demonstration of tragic waste, it is a masterpiece of psychological and emotional realism. In her introduction the distinguished critic Elaine Showalter discusses the background to the novel's composition and the reasons for its enduring success.

Customer Reviews:

Early 20th Century love triangle.......2007-06-11

This is a short story of a love triangle forcing a man to choose between his sick wife and her cousin. For being written in 1911, it is not the worst book ever published, but today's readers who are experiencing it for the first time will find it dull and lifeless. Compared to other writings of the time, it is enjoyable and succinct, not adding extra fluff in an attempt to make it more interesting.

A Mysterious Love.......2007-05-15

Edith Wharton's fictional novel "Ethan Frome" takes place in an urban area outside of Starkfield, Massachusetts. Ethan Frome is a poor farmer, who is married to an unhealthy wife that he does not love. Zeenie, Ethan's wife, is a hypochondriac but fails to realize it; she loves taking care of people when they are sick. Although when she has no one to take care of she acts sick to get attention from Ethan and others. While at a dance, Ethan spots a beautiful young women by the name of Mattie Silver. He immediately falls in love with her without even knowing it at first. One winter day, Mattie was forced out of the Frome household because of Ethan's wife Zeenie. That afternoon, Ethan asks Mattie for one more night together. Ethan decides to take Mattie on a sled ride on there last night together. While going down a hill, Ethan miscalculates a rock ahead of him and hits it. Sadly, Mattie is knocked unconscious after a blow to the head. Thirty years later, Zeenie is taking care of Mattie at the Frome household due to her condition after the accident. Now Ethan spends his life not only with his wife, but with his love as well. I think people should read this book because it shows the dark views on people and love. This classic novel will have you thinking love and how far it may go.
Isaac Armas

A Dark Love Story.......2007-04-05

Sometimes love can be frustrating, as illustrated by this classic tale. A man locked in a loveless marriage finds passion with another woman, but must restrain his feelings.

A well- told depressing tale .......2007-03-13

Unhappily married to a hypochondriac wife, imprisoned in a small town, never able to study as he wanted, Ethan Frome is given hope by the young and vivacious Matti Silver . An orphan she comes to take care of the Frome household. Wharton tells the story of Frome and Silver's relationship , their restraint as their feelings grow more powerful towards each other, in a compelling way. The tragic denoument in which their never realized love leads not to freedom but to deeper frustration makes this a truly cheerless work.

darkly atmospheric and fine........2007-03-12

published in 1911, this, i can guess, was no feel good hit of the summer. this is dark stuff about the loneliness of a man ensnared by the hard life of a turn of the century farm, with a hypochondriac wife who allows no place for joy in their lives. enter a ray of light: the wife's cousin, hired for household duties. ethan frome is smitten. things do not go well. for all the sadness this work radiates, it is beautifully atmospheric and captures a time and place with vividly drawn characters. edith wharton is a masterful novelist who you should certainly read. this is just not a cheerful tale, for sure. like many of life's tales.

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