did not care for the ending>:/

It's interesting how some books have stayed with me a lifetime and others, even ones I've enjoyed while reading them, fade so completely that I can not remember the title or the author. Ethan Frome falls in the former category. I initially read this book in high school, re-read it during a period when I was focused on reading classics, books that have stood the test of time. I still find myself thinking about Ethan Frome from time to time.

3.5
writing amazing. story meh.

The five stars are for Ethan Frome - such a beautifully written story and with an incredible sense of place. I loved it.
I also read the second novella in the book, Summer, to which I would give four stars. I enjoyed it very much but its emotional impact was less, and I feel sure it won't stay in my head the same way as Ethan will.

Read Summer and at first found it read like a YA novel but upon further reading I enjoyed the complexities of small town life. Worth reading especially after the first two chapters.

Bleak and very depressing which I guess is what the intention was in the first place. I am trying to decide if Wharton's House of Mirth is even a more grim morality tale than Ethan Frome but right now they are both tied in first place for Ultimate Bleak and Depressing Important American Novels You Are Supposed to Read. But hey, what do I know-haven't read American Tragedy and so many others of similar ilk....

These two novellas represent literature in its highest form. Ethan Frome is intense, haunting, and tragic; Summer is subtle, controversial in its subject matter (for its time), and ultimately also tragic. They don't give out Pulitzers to just any writer--Wharton won it for The Age of Innocence, becoming the first woman to win the award. I may have to place her on my Mount Rushmore of American novelists.

These are both FANTASTIC novellas. I am so adding more Edith Wharton titles to my to-read bookshelf.

Beautifully written. Haven't read this since
college. Wharton's characters don't fare well.

only read ethan from not summer

All I can say is “wow!” This kept me reading. Beautifully written and heartbreaking.

Having just read this I now need to sit in the sun for a little bit. Oh Ethan, you poor trapped bastard...