Book Review: Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome is a bumpy sleigh ride through the icy white world of Ethan Frome, Mattie Silver and Zeena Frome, who are all doomed to freeze eternally. Silver trees stand amid the snow, the ice, and the cold night sky as if they were granite outcroppings—gravestones in the cemetery. Ethan Frome is perhaps the most tragic figure in literature, which is saying a lot, because in great literature there is never any shortage of tragedy. This young Ethan Frome has spent most of his life burdened by sickly parents, then a sickly wife and a failing business from which he barely ekes out a living. He finds himself smitten with the young, earnest Mattie Silver, who is the only respite from the chill, gloom and depression of his life. The ending took my breath away and could take away your breath too, if you have any breath left to give at the end of this story.