No hope for Ethan...

I am officially angry at Edith Wharton. Does she not realize that love stories are supposed to end happily ever after?! Because in Ethan Frome she falls short of giving this novel a happy ending. Instead of having Ethan and Mattie (his true love!) die in their suicidal sleigh ride, or have them run away to well anywhere, she has them live and continue doing so in the house with Zeena, Ethan's soul sucking wife. If you ask me, that is just not fair! Or very creative. Wharton could have molded the book in any which way she wanted, but she settled on a miserable ending for the two loves. I'm disappointed and a little let down. Only because I am a fan of happy endings and of the hope that they contain. Ethan Frome is full of hope's exact opposite: destitution. And that breaks my literary heart!