Ethan Frome, a poor, downtrodden New England farmer, is trapped in a loveless marriage to his invalid wife, Zeena. His ambition and intelligence are oppressed by Zeena's cold, conniving character. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie arrives to help care for her, Ethan is immediately taken by Mattie's warm, vivacious personality. They fall desperately in love as he realizes how much is missing from his life and marriage. Tragically, their love is doomed by Zeena's ever-lurking presence and by the social conventions of the day. Ethan remains torn between his sense of obligation and his urge to satisfy his heart's desire up to the suspenseful and unanticipated conclusion. Perhaps reflective of Wharton's own loveless marriage, this sophisticated, star-crossed love story vividly depicts her abhorrence of society's relentless standards of loyalty. Ethan Frome is one of Wharton's most popular and best-known works.
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American author Edith Wharton is distinguished for her stories and ironic novels about early-twentieth-century, upper-class Americans and Europeans. Although Ethan Frome, a stark New England tragedy, is probably her best-known work, she earned recognition and popularity for her "society novels," in which she analyzed the changing scene of fashionable American life in contrast to that of Old Europe.Wharton's literary talent was epitomized in her novel The Age of Innocence, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, and which was made into a film in 1993. Other major works of hers include The House of Mirth, The Reef, and The Custom of the Country. She published more than forty volumes, including novels, short stories, poems, essays, travel books, and memoirs.Born Edith Newbold Jones into a wealthy and socially prominent New York family in 1862, she was educated privately by European governesses both in the United States and abroad. In 1885, Edith reluctantly married Edward Wharton, a Boston banker, who was twelve years her senior. The marriage ended in divorce twenty-eight years later.Wharton spent long periods of time in Europe and settled in France from 1910 until her death. Her familiarity with continental languages and European settings influenced many of her works. She became a literary hostess to young writers, including Henry James, at her Paris apartment and her garden home in the south of France. During World War I, she was a war correspondent, ran a workroom for unemployed but skilled woman workers, and took charge of 600 Belgian child refugees who had to leave their orphanage at the time of the German advance.Wharton was also active in fund-raising activities and participated in the production of an illustrated anthology of war writings by prominent authors and artists of the period. The French government awarded her the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1915. Wharton died in 1937. Scott Brick has recorded over five hundred audiobooks, has won over forty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has twice received Audie Awards for his work on the Dune series. He has been proclaimed both a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly's 2007 Narrator of the Year. Scott has recorded Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive, Whipping Star, The Dragon in the Sea, and The White Plague for Tantor Audio.
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Ethan Frome review by Jerald Patch,
This review is from: Ethan Frome, with eBook (Tantor Unabridged Classics) (Audio CD)
Book Review for Humanities 10 course - by J Patch (San Francisco)
In the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the book talks about a man who is tormented by a passionate love for his ailing wife's younger cousin. Ethan Frome is trapped by the bonds of his marriage and the fear of public condemnation in the small New England town that he lives in. Ethan Frome feels trapped and completely unhappy in his lifeless marriage to a woman who seems to dominate his life. Ethan's wife's cousin "Mattie" comes to live with them at their farm house and Ethan is alive and renewed with her presence at their home. Ethan feels tormented again with not being able to express his love for Mattie while at the same time chained to a dead marriage. This story takes place in the 19th Century in the cold winter New England States where people transport themselves from their homes and into town through horse drawn carriages and sleds. Wooden homes and isolated residences set the background for this story. Love and passion are finally revealed as Ethan admits his feelings towards Mattie while at the same time he betrays his wife through infidelity. The climax of the story is when Ethan and Mattie try to escape the clutches of Ethan's wife by attempted to commit suicide by riding their horse drawn sled into a tree. Sadly, they survive the accident but are crippled for the rest of their lives only to be cared for by Ethan's wife. I liked this fictional book as it shows about social interactions of relationships, unhappiness, infidelity, betrayal, and pain. I think readers who like 19th Century fiction dealing with relationships would enjoy this book. This is a story of love and infidelity. I enjoyed reading about it.
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