Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

  A great man know suggested that I should read this book. He told me that he had read it when he was in high school, just around my age, about 63 years ago. I sincerely told him it sounded interesting, and that I would look into it and read it eventually, but if you know me, you know that I had forgotten the title by the very next day. This man did know me, and took it upon himself to go out, drive to one of the many bookstores that were closing down at the time, and search for this book. He walked into my house, came into the living room (where I was attempting to read through the last of my AP summer reading books....keep in mind, this was the end of August), and dropped the book on the seat next to me. He said to tell him if I ever got around to reading it....2 months later, I got around to reading it. Thanks Papa.
  All I have to say is thank you to my Papa. Ethan Frome is a small book, only about 160 pages, but man, let me tell ya, there was a lot within those few pages. The book was mysterious to say the least. I couldn't read one page without wanting to read more. I first realized much I liked this book at around 2:34 am on a Monday...school  was not so fun that day. My book is bursting with notes and illuminated with highlighted passages! This book is a heart breaking, almost all to real and crushing view on life. That love does not always conquer all, that sometimes love cannot overcome the obstacles of society and fear. Sometimes doing the right thing, keeps you from doing whats right in your heart. How you can want and need something so bad, but know that you'll never be able to fully have it. The very beginning draws you in, as you slowly get the story, bit by bit, of a man named Ethan Frome. "Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man." (Wharton 1) Within the first page I wanted to know; what had destroyed this man? If edith was a fisherman, and I, a fish, she has no problem at all getting me to bite on the story's line of suspense. This man was physically alive, but emotionally dead. "No one gave me an explanation of the look on his face which, as I persisted in thinking, neither poverty nor physical suffering could have put there." (Wharton 10) The setting takes place in the cold winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts. This cold is present throughout the novel. Ethan, in the opinion of the towns people, looks as if he was dead and in hell while living because he has spent one too many winters in Starkfield, Massachusetts. The long winters of Starkfield had extinguished within him; the spark of life.
   I don't want to say anything about the book that would give anything away. Ethan from is a story about catastrophic love, restraint, longing, and anguish. It's a story about a broken man, and how, piece by piece, he fell apart. The ending's twist is ironically tragic, but fits perfectly. I enjoyed this little book to say the least. It's a quick read, won't take up much of your time, so why not sacrifice and few hours of your day, week, or month, and read this book? I highly recommend it. Like my Papa thought, I think this book has something timeless and real to say, and if you read it, I think you will too.