Edith WHARTON : Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena's vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent.

This will probably deserve the award of "Most depressing book of the year" - I know we're only in January but I'm pretty sure of myself. I read it before (because I'd seen the film with Liam Neeson) and only remembered that there was a tragic love story inside, but I didn't remember to what extent !

I didn't like the beginning, I felt it was unnecessary and too long for too little uninteresting information. When the story by itself finally started, I appreciated the writing style of the author, how she set the narrative, the description of the landscape and weather, the details on the life of people who weren't rich, how the lack of money could influence their lives. I could feel how these characters were trapped in their lives with no hope for escape. The ending... is just dreadful. For the characters. For my good spirits ! The conclusion, however, helped me understand the introduction, but I still believe it was too long.

Technically, I have nothing else to reproach the story. The author's writing style is excellent, I just felt like it was drama for the sake of drama, even if I know that worse things happened "in real life". I've read The age of innocence by Edith Wharton, I'll probably re-read it, read her other novels, but I'll never, never ! open this book again !