Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Wharton is an author who I've heard of and thought I probably should read, so I picked up the short (4 CDs) audio edition of Ethan Frome.

The novella is set in rural Starkfield, Massachusetts ("where it's always winter!") near the turn of the last century, though the bulk of the book is a long flashback to 20 years before the present. In the short opening, the narrator meets the impressive but crippled and unapproachable Ethan, and tries to piece together his history and the cause of the "smash up" that left him in his physical state.

This is yet another one of those "evil, controlling, hypochondriac wife" stories, and 20 years previously, Ethan finds himself married to one. When his wife's cousin Mattie arrives to help out around the household, Ethan sees another side of womanhood and longs for her. Wharton is a master at building the tension. I can just imagine post-Victorian (Taftian? Wilsonian? Georgian (V), I suppose) ladies reading this and wondering if or when Ethan and Mattie will get together.

Wharton, however, paints Ethan as basically a good man. When his wife decides to send Mattie away and bring on another hired girl, Ethan feels trapped. He longs to run away with Mattie, but can he break his vows to his wife and leave her destitute?

Like the last book, this one seems to be geared more towards the female side of the reading audience. It's not bad, especially if you like hypochondriacs and tension of the sort described above. Recommended, but not highly.