Lo que pasa en esta novela se podría resumir en 2 líneas, pero tranquilos, que no voy a hacer spoilers. Lo de menos es lo que pasa, lo más impactante es la ambientación y la sensación de opresión incluso en espacios abiertos que consigue crear la autora. Una novelita corta ideal para conocer el estilo de la autora y sobre todo para leer en invierno o tiempo frío. Ha sido mi primer acercamiento y me ha dejado claro que leeré más cosas suyas.

Una historia desgarradora, eso ha sido Ethan Frome. No había leído nada de Edith Wharton hasta la fecha y voy a repetir. Esta mujer escribía de una forma sencillamente maravillosa. Una prosa desgarradora, que hace que ese frío se nos meta dentro. Casi podemos ver la nieve cubriéndolo todo mientras Ethan lucha a brazo partido por sacar una granja prácticamente en ruinas adelante. Trabajo que su mujer, Zeena, no le pone precisamente fácil.
Siendo una historia tan corta, creo que cualquier cosa que diga será demasiado; así que sólo me queda pediros que, si tenéis dudas, os lancéis de cabeza. Ethan vale cada palabra, palabrita. Y Mattie... Mattie también.

spoilers?? what spoilers??

i have changed my stance on the cover. a) initially, i thought that it was showing an altogether different type of activity, and then b) when ariel called it a spoiler, i reinterpreted it to something else and was still wrong, and then c) everything that may potentially be spoiled is pretty much spelled out in the first ten pages. so is that a spoiler, or is that foreshadowing??

tomato, potato...

what is so excellent about this book is that it is not at all a depressing book while you are reading it - it is an intensely hopeful book. but then - gutpunch!! the depressing bits happen offscreen, after all the meat of the story has been ... digested?? this metaphor is escaping me... but in the lacuna between when the story ends and the nosy new kid-narrator in town comes on the scene. (such a fantastic new-england type character - "hi, i just moved in, tell me all your neighbor's secrets!!") the tragic bits are in imagining what these characters went through between point a and point b. so shivery-horrible! and that kind of story is right up my alley. great description, great pacing - simple story, but haunting and devastating longing. and aftermath. i love aftermath.

i liked this much more than summer, and i may read more wharton based on the strength of this one.

hmmm... who could i find to advise me....???

come to my blog!

This one is short but sweet and very quick to read. I understand that lots of American readers were 'forced' to read it at school and therefore groan when they hear the title, but I was in an English school and I do not remember a single American author being allowed onto our English literature syllabus at that time. I hope things have changed since.

So everything Edith Wharton is new to me and I like some, including Ethan Frome and Summer and am not so keen on others, including The Age of Innocence.

The author's greatest skill was her poetic writing which provides the reader with descriptions which make you feel the cold when it snows and suffer the hardships and longings of the characters. Ethan Frome's love affair with Mattie appears to be doomed from the start but it is beautifully portrayed. The ending is not exactly what is expected from the course of the story but I guess it is what we could expect from this clever author.

So another classic knocked off my lengthy list and I enjoyed it a lot!

3.5 This was my first book by this writer. I will continue reading her books. She is a great writer. This story was just so depressing though.

«Quando la porta della camera di Mattie si chiuse, Ethan ricordò che non le aveva nemmeno toccato la mano.»



Esistono matrimoni, come quello di Ethan Frome e Zeena, che nascono per inerzia, per solitudine, oppure per riconoscenza. Il loro equilibrio, poi, è precario, instabile, e ad Ethan e Mattie, la giovane cugina della moglie - ma sono tutti giovani i protagonisti di questa storia che cela in sé l'animo nero dell'amore, anche se la trentacinquenne Zeena ci appare decrepita e priva di vitalità -, bastano un battito di ciglia, una tazza di caffè, oppure un fermaglio d'oro perso nel prato per «scoprire improvvisamente la felicità, come se avessero sorpreso una farfalla nei boschi d'inverno»; questo manda in frantumi tutto quello che fino a quel momento era rimasto in equilibrio, sia pur precario; come un prezioso piatto di ceramica protetto e conservato in cima all'armadio, che nessuna colla riuscirà più a ricomporre.
Bellissimo, sospeso sin dall'inizio e carico di tensione, sin da quando, nelle prime pagine, si preannuncia "l'incidente" che ha cambiato la vita di Ethan Frome. Non è chiaro di quale incidente si tratti, ed io, sino alle ultime pagine ne ho pensato prima uno, poi un altro ancora, ma non quello finale, che mi ha colpita come un pugno nello stomaco. C'è tanta neve, che copre e ovatta suoni e parole, grida e sussurri; e anche quella corsa con lo slittino, che doveva regalare la libertà per sempre, che scivola verso l'eternità, si rivela ingannevole, solo l'ultima delle negazioni. Nessuno torna indietro, secondo Edith Wharton, nessuno può decidere di modificare la sua rotta una volta che ha deciso per quale strada incamminarsi, perché è la vita che ce lo chiede, e che ce lo impone.

«Sapevo qualcosa sulla vita di paese del New England molto tempo prima di stabilirmi nella stessa contea dove ho ambientato il mio immaginario Starkfield; ma durante gli anni trascorsi laggiù alcun dei suoi aspetti mi divennero molto più familiari. Anche prima di conoscerlo così a fondo, però, avevo avuto la vaga sensazione che il New England della letteratura avesse poca somiglianza eccetto, vagamente, quella botanica e dialettale con il paese aspro e meraviglioso che io avevo conosciuto.
Anche leggendo le prolisse enumerazioni di tipi di felci, asteri e allori di montagna, e la coscienziosa riproduzione del dialetto, mi rimaneva sempre la sensazione che il granito che affiorava in quella terra fosse stato trascurato in ambedue i casi.»

This is one of those novels/novellas that is so cold, barren and bleak that the full beauty of it isn't completely evident until you put the book down and warm back up. Wharton's prose is amazing and her plot is perfection.

'Ethan Frome' is another novella that proves that bigger isn't always better. This book joins a short but very amazing list of short novels that seem to almost acheive literary perfection in under 150 pages: 'Heart of Darkness', 'Of Mice and Men', 'Animal Farm', 'Old Man and the Sea' and 'the Metamorphosis'. Anyway, I've read books well over 600+ pages that have 1/2 as much to say.

Será um lugar comum dizer que este livro
— é uma obra-prima;
— é uma preciosidade;
— é um aglomerado de emoções;
— é de leitura imprescindível;
— que adorei;
— que li sofregamente;
— que me fez soluçar de tristeza;
— que é uma história de amor bela e trágica;
— que a solidão de alma, a gratidão extrema, o ciúme, o amor, o dever, podem condenar um ser humano à morte em vida.

Tudo o que eu possa dizer sobre Ethan Frome será sempre um lugar comum. Nada em Ethan Frome o é.

"Frome era, ainda nesse tempo, a figura mais imponente de Starkfield, embora não passasse de um destroço humano. Havia no seu rosto um não sei quê de deserto inacessível; ao vê-lo tão inteiriçado e grisalho pensei que já fosse velho, e espantou-me ouvir dizer que tinha só cinquenta e dois anos."

I started reading this on the Serial Reader app but finally paid for the full version so I didn't have to wait so long to finish it.

"Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters."

I read this long ago, in 8th or 9th grade. I imagine we were assigned this at that age because it was a short novel, more of a novella, but it could not possibly have been as meaningful without having lived through some life first. Probably back then we were looking at Ethan and the symbols of winter, but this time around for me I was more interested in the character of Mattie, his desire for this warm and bright girl, and all the dreams that can never be. I thought it was beautiful, chilling, and heartbreaking.

"She clung to him without answering, and he laid his lips on her hair, which was soft yet springy, like certain mosses on warm slopes, and had the faint woody fragrance of fresh sawdust in the sun."

But don't get me wrong, because the writing about the winter is one of the best things about this novel.

"Here and there a star pricked through, showing behind it a deep well of blue. In an hour or two the moon would push over the ridge behind the farm, burn a gold-edged rent in the clouds, and then be swallowed by them. A mournful peace hung on the fields, as though they felt the relaxing grasp of the cold and stretched themselves in their long winter sleep."

The ending is a bit punishing but reflects the era.

Am citit din recenziile straine ca aceasta carte este sperietoarea elevilor si ca atunci cand profesorii amintesc de ea, reactia generala este: "Oh, nu! Iarasi Ethan Frome!". Sunt curioasa care ar fi reactia lor daca ar trebui sa invete "Morometii" spre exemplu. Probabil ca noi am fi schimbat in secunda a doua locurile cu ei. Personal prefer genul acesta de lectura in detrimentul celei obligatorii din scolile romanesti.
Edith Wharton, ca si mentorul ei Henry James, imbratiseaza cu perfectiune realismul psihologic si ne ofera romane foarte profunde, pline de probleme morale ce dau de gandit cititorului.
"Ethan Frome" este despre resemnare in fata sortii, despre renuntare, viata irosita si despre neimplinirea dorintelor si viselor. Romanul debuteaza cu o introducere in care naratiunea se face la persoana intai si care il infatiseaza pe Ethan Frome batran, bolnav si sarac dar cu o poveste de viata pe care nu doreste s-o spuna, intr-atat de dureroasa este. Totusi in capitolul intai, naratiunea trece la persoana a 3-a si incepe povestea lui. Prins intre sotie si femeia pe care o iubeste, intr-un sat in care greutatile sunt mari si viata e aspra, Ethan Frome isi tese tot felul de vise despre fericire si iubire care se prabusesc odata cu neputinta lui. Sotia sa, care stie despre cealalta femeie, este bolnava si se foloseste de asta pentru a-l santaja emotional, il iscodeste, il chinuie, ii pune tot felul de piedici si il tine numai in reprosuri.
Cele mai frumoase mi s-au parut descrierile iernii. Peisajul este sordid, salbatic, necrutator si atat de autentic descris incat cititorul simte parca pe piele frigul acela crancen, crivatul aspru si atmosfera greoaie. Interesant este de urmarit efectul vremii asupra psihicului personajelor si vietii acestora.
Finalul este extraordinar, demn de 4 stele si vine ca o lovitura morala:
"Nu prea vad mare diferenta intre cei care locuiesc la ferma si cei care se odihnesc in mormintele familiei."

In high school, I was in a literature class where small groups of three students chose from a list of books to discuss in a mini-seminar with the teacher. We almost always chose the shorter books, because lazy kids: Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, and so on. Ethan Frome mustn't have been on the list, or we'd surely have chosen it at some point. :D It wasn't until now that I read it.

Ethan Frome was most striking for me for its beautiful winter landscapes: a world of snow and sleet, where more accumulation is always around the corner, and spring is on its way... for nature. For Zeena and Ethan, warmth and bloom are something of the past, and spring is cut off entirely at the end of the book when Mattie is injured.

Elaine Showalter's introduction to the Oxford World Classics edition of this short novel was helpful in framing the story this way. She connects its writing and publication in time with other New England women's writing, and also with Gothic narratives and their underlying metaphors for feminine sexuality and fertility.

Unfortunately, despite her efforts, I didn't quite manage to squeeze out any sympathy for these characters, despite my typically being a tenderhearted reader. Mattie is pretty and energetic, Zeena is pinched and neurotic, and Ethan's kind of a creep, to be honest, and they don't go beyond that. They're mechanisms moving toward their own tragedy, and that mechanism is well-constructed, but as characters they aren't very engaging. The background they act against, the farmhouse and mill and even their horses, was much more absorbing than they were.

Maybe I'd have responded better to this in high school? Hard to say. In the end, the climactic tragedy felt mildly absurd (a sledding accident double suicide? really? considering that it never stops snowing around there, "exposure" would have been a perfectly viable option), and the unrelenting feeling of sterility and oppression made it tough to struggle through, even at its very short length.

I haven't given up on Wharton from this one story that didn't quite work for me. Maybe one of her "high society" books will be more to my liking?

Well-written and quite tragic. I wondered if the ending might have been different if the characters lived in another time. I also pondered how being poor means having fewer choices, especially when contemplating making life changes.