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Monday, September 7, 2020

250. Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton
1911
Around 150 pages















250! Seems like a pretty significant milestone. And it only took me nine years to get here. Doing the math, that means I'll finish when I'm...oh my.

What is this, a math blog? Let's talk about books.

The unnamed narrator is fascinated by a man with a quiet man, Ethan Frome, who limps around a village because I guess entertainment was thin on the ground back then. The narrative switches to Ethan's story from twenty years ago, which among other things, explains the limp.

I feel like the modern perception of an Edith Wharton novel is a long dreary book about stuffy people, but her pacing is actually excellent and her characters unforgettable. This isn't my favorite Wharton novel because it is a little heavy in the melodrama department, but it's a quick and easy read with an incredible ending.

I think an argument could be made that she is overrepresented on the List, but I am glad to be reading more of her work.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Initially began as a homework assignment Edith wrote for a French class.

UP NEXT: The Charwoman's Daughter by James Stephens

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