3.8/5 In an earlier Starlight Book Review (SBR), I mentioned that I became part of my library branch’s book club. Just this month, I attended an in-person meeting of this book club for the first time! This meeting focused on Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. Not only was this my first in-person meeting, it was the first time I read Ethan Frome as well. I’m grateful this book was both short and worked as a book set in Massachusetts for the Across the USA Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC). With January 15 looming, I delved into the bleak, dim setting of the Commonwealth.
If you would like to check out my previous book club SBR, take a look by clicking here!
“The classic novel of despair, forbidden emotions, and sexual undercurrents set against the austere New England countryside… Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena’s vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent.”
This book was so very sad. I was told by another book clubber and blogger that Ethan Frome wasn’t Wharton at her best. I would be remiss, however, to not point out how completely enveloping this lean work turned out to be. I could feel the snow, the cold, and the biting bitterness wafting off of Ethan’s wife, Zeena. The glimmer of hope that was Mattie Silver, Zeena’s cousin, seems almost as cruel an affliction as any of those suffered by Zeena. A glint or two of the affection between Ethan and Matty reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. So, my feelings are rather conflicted about Ethan Frome; I found Ethan and Matty compelling and the atmospheric writing did take me to a cold, fictitious Massachusetts town. Still, I was not happy with the conclusion of the book and, at times, wanted to throttle characters. All that aside, I would read other works by Wharton.
Oh, and check out this review from Rae, the aforementioned friend and blogger here!
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Starry Night Elf 