Of all the books I've read, I'd have to say that Ethan Frome is my favorite. I know, it's hard to pick a favorite, but Edith Wharton's characters in this book drag you through a whole range of emotions and her imagery and ability to "set the scene" is amazing. I find myself reading it every year, year after year around winter time, because her writing captures the season and its mood so well.
I don't know why I waited so long to read this classic little gem of a novel--more like a long short story, actually, that manages so perfectly and movingly to capture a town, a person, a life in so few pages. It's written in Wharton's crisp and literate style, with the tragic story of Ethan Frome mirrored in the bleak New England winter landscape and stoic people.
This was a very short and rather easy read. It was also quite depressing (but still worthwhile and enjoyable). It starts from the point of view of a narrator (who is only in the first and last chapters) who is new to town and needs a way to get a ride to the train station for work, ends up hiring a disfigured, sad man named Ethan Frome to take him. The narrator becomes intrigued with why Ethan is the way he is, why he seems a bit more educated and intellectually curious compared to others in the town, and eventually he puts Ethan's story together when he ends up having to stay at Ethan's house during a terrible snow storm. The rest of the book (except the last chapter) focuses on Ethan's past, told from a third person point of view. We learn that Ethan was not always disfigured, that he attended a little college before being called home after his father died to take care of his ailing mother. He then ends up marrying Zeena, who helped care for his mother and later becomes very "sickly" herself (implied that much of her "troubles" are hypochondriac in nature). Zeena's cousin, Mattie, is hired to take care of her, and Ethan finds himself dealing with his emotions as he falls for Mattie. Ethan is rather conflicted because he wants to leave Zeena to be with Mattie, but he struggles inside with feelings of loyalty and doesn't want Zeena to suffer as a result of him leaving her (despite the fact he borders on hating her at times due to her cruel nature towards Mattie). The book deals with Ethan's internal turmoil and what he ultimately decides to do. All-in-all, it was a very worthwhile read!