Ethan FromeEdith Wharton
I have a love-hate relationship with DailyLit. On the one hand, it lets me have free reading material at the ready, even when I'm, say, at work. On the other hand, it doesn't give me hard copy, which -- in this case, anyway -- is a BIG problem.
Quite simply, I didn't expect to love Ethan Frome as much as I did. My mind has somehow come to equate Edith Wharton with TEH BORE, and so I figured reading this short little novel via DailyLit was the best way to slog through what was sure to be an excruciatingly slow read. I didn't expect to read it all in nearly one sitting (okay, it was more like two), requesting installment after installment until I had finished.
Ok, so Ethan lives alone with his dour, invalid harpy of a wife, and he's the stolid and "I'll just suck it up" type. BUT THEN his wife's cousin, Mattie, comes to take care of things -- and she's cute! And has a red ribbon in her hair! (symbolism!) And she gives Ethan pickles for dinner! (symbolism!) Meanwhile his wife remains all sick and dour and confined to her room, so one nearly hopes that Mattie and Ethan can continue to share secret glances and long, meaningful sighs in peace.
BUT NO! Of course, this is not to be. The story is told in flashback, and since we know Ethan is miserable at the beginning of the book, we know he'll be miserable at the end, too. But the end! It's so good! The sadness! The irony! The pickles!
In a nutshell: A gem of a novel; it's impossible not to love Ethan. And Ethan. And probably Edith, too, although I'm less convinced about her.
Bibliolatry Scale: 6 out of 6 stars (yeah, I said it)
FTCBS: DailyLit :( booooo I need Ethan all for myself!
Quite simply, I didn't expect to love Ethan Frome as much as I did. My mind has somehow come to equate Edith Wharton with TEH BORE, and so I figured reading this short little novel via DailyLit was the best way to slog through what was sure to be an excruciatingly slow read. I didn't expect to read it all in nearly one sitting (okay, it was more like two), requesting installment after installment until I had finished.
Ok, so Ethan lives alone with his dour, invalid harpy of a wife, and he's the stolid and "I'll just suck it up" type. BUT THEN his wife's cousin, Mattie, comes to take care of things -- and she's cute! And has a red ribbon in her hair! (symbolism!) And she gives Ethan pickles for dinner! (symbolism!) Meanwhile his wife remains all sick and dour and confined to her room, so one nearly hopes that Mattie and Ethan can continue to share secret glances and long, meaningful sighs in peace.
BUT NO! Of course, this is not to be. The story is told in flashback, and since we know Ethan is miserable at the beginning of the book, we know he'll be miserable at the end, too. But the end! It's so good! The sadness! The irony! The pickles!
In a nutshell: A gem of a novel; it's impossible not to love Ethan. And Ethan. And probably Edith, too, although I'm less convinced about her.
Bibliolatry Scale: 6 out of 6 stars (yeah, I said it)
FTCBS: DailyLit :( booooo I need Ethan all for myself!
7 comments:
Yay! Recently at book club, two males in the their late 40s talked about how much they hated Ethan Frome. Upon my questioning it came out that niether had read it since high school. I urged them to read it as an adult. Such a great book. Other Wharton novels have very different subject matter but are equally, if not more, brilliant.
Argh! Blogger lost my comment! Grr.
I was just trying to say I've tried Wharton a couple times, including this book, and her writing just bothers me so I've never liked them. Ah well.
I loved this one too. I also share in your thoughts about DailyLit. In the end I love it, but I do end up occasionally picking up copies of books I've read that way and really loved.
I love this book! I thought it had such a haunting tone. I read Age of Innocence right after, but no luck with that one.
"Dour, invalid harpy of a wife" is probably the greatest description I've ever seen attached to any character in the history of literature. Clearly I must read "Ethan Frome". Plus all the covers are snow-covered. Meaningful? I have no idea. Attractive? Absolutely.
I wish I could say that I loved this book as much as you did. But I read this book about 10 plus years ago in high school and hated it.
In fact I said I would never read another one of her novels again. I did and I loved it. This I won't try again.
I've got this one sitting on my TBR pile. I think I'll move it up! It will be my first Wharton as well.
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