Edith Wharton is known primarily for her novels of manners skewering the New York City aristocracy: The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. Ethan Frome is a departure in subject material, focusing instead on a western Massachusetts mountain town and its poor farming residents. But it’s still vintage Wharton in her use of language, structure, and irony.

Ethan is a young man from the fictional town of Starkfield–a symbolic name if ever one existed. He escapes the town to go to college and has dreams of becoming an engineer and living in a city. But then his father dies suddenly and his mother becomes seriously ill. So Ethan’s forced to give up his dream and return to the family farm.

After Ethan’s mother dies, he marries her caregiver, Zeena. Almost immediately it’s clear that the marriage is a dreadful idea. Zeena turns into a hypochondriac, Ethan is trapped, and their future together is bleak. Then Mattie Silver arrives. Mattie is Zeena’s cousin, come to help Zeena around the house. She’s young, charming, and beautiful. She and Ethan quickly fall in love. Mattie represents hope of a better life for Ethan, but…

The novel is narrated by an outsider, an engineer working temporarily in Starkfield. He’s stuck there over the winter and meets Ethan Frome by chance, ending up a guest in Ethan’s house one evening when they’re snowed in. We learn it’s 24 years since “the smash up.” The novel is the narrator’s discovery about the story of Ethan’s relationship with Zeena and Mattie before the smash up, and then a brief snapshot of their life since.

Wharton is exploring the idea of lives wasted and the tragedy for all three characters of being trapped into social, economic, and familial circumstances that are often beyond their control. The novel is filled with irony and Wharton’s typical satire. And having it narrated through flashbacks by an outsider adds layers of ambiguity that make this brief novel an intriguing read. It makes me want to reread her other novels now.

i feel like edith wharton basically perfected the writing of emotion and consciousness and then we all collectively sort of. forgot

It effected me deeply. I'm kind of lost now without another Wharton to read.

edith wharton master of the tragicomedy??

oops. i guess i am behind on updating my goodreads page... i read this a few months ago, so i don't remember all of the ins and outs of the two stories, but what i do remember is this: depressing!! reading the stories sure made me feel like my life is quite grand!! both ethan frome and charity royall are sooooo tortured, both pining for love they know in their hearts they cannot have.

i really enjoyed reading both stories and devoured them in less than a week. if you are looking for some classics to read- i recommend!!

Sure, sure, Ethan Frome is really melodramatic and some say over the top, but I love this short novel.

so sad.

Wharton wrote a haunting tale that presents the reader with an opportunity to become a voyeur into the flawed, dysfunctional lives of its characters. The story becomes all the more disturbing in light of today's sociopolitical ideologies. Sometimes it seems that Wharton shrilly declares, "You made your bed, now lie in it." Perhaps, that is the intended irony that makes this one of her best known books.

The one star drop is only for Summer. Ethan Frome though is a perfect example of a short novel, with one of the most disturbing endings ever.

This scholarly edition contains both of Wharton's short novels set in rural New England: Ethan Frome and Summer. An Introduction and Footnotes, as well as several essays and critical analysis pieces help context and insights for those who want to more deeply explore the stories. Wharton's unpublished (and perhaps unpublishable, due to its frankly explicit depiction of an incestuous sexual episode) fragment of "Beatrice Palmato" is also included.

Ethan Frome - 5 stars

Perhaps Wharton's most popular story, this short novel is set in a bleak winter in a small New England town, where a tragic figure of a man trapped in a loveless marriage (perhaps somewhat autobiographical for Wharton?) finds a glimmer of hope and love. Wharton piles on layer after layer of symbolism and subtlety, making the story as enjoyable to discuss and analyze as it is to read. Wharton would later write Summer, likewise set in rural New England, touching on many of the same themes but with a female protagonist.

Summer - 4 stars

Although Wharton is best known for her New York stories, Summer - like Ethan Frome - is set in a small, bleak New England town. The story of an uneducated young girl's summer fling with a more sophisticated young man is beautifully written and remains emotionally impactful despite more than a century's worth of changes to accepted social norms.

reading women challenge
classic novel, not Austen or Bronté

A concisely written, nuanced jewel, in which every line until the very last page matters.