I just finished Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton today, Christmas Day 2022.
Listen now to see my review of the book!
Ethan Frome is set in New England, I think in Massachusetts. He lives in the small town of Starkfield. It's wintertime. It was written in 1911 and the story also takes place around that time. The book is less than 200 pages, 181 to be exact, and if it would've been written with regular-sized margins it would probably be closer to 150 pages. Super quick read.
To summarize still w no spoilers, he is married to his cousin named Zenobia, they call her Zeena. She is 7 years older than him. He's 28 and she's 35. They've been married for 7 years and the love is running dry. Did they ever love each other to begin with? No, I don’t think so. They're poor and he works a farm to make ends meet. She is too sick to do much of anything and a lot of resentment builds between the both of them.
THEN enter a new character. Zeena's cousin. Her name is Mattie, w two T's. She is young and lights Ethan's heart on fire. She is hired to take care of Zeena during her bout of sickness. She provides so much of what his wife can't
The question of the book is, "what's he going to do?" Stay with a wife who doesn’t like him and who he doesn’t love anymore? Or abandon this sick wife and run off with his wife's cousin to who knows where and do who knows what. That’s what he feels are his two options. To find out what happens, you should read it.
