Ethan Frome, his feminist wife Zenobia and their hyperactive 11 year old daughter, Alex, live in a small town in Massachusetts. Ethan has a job he doesn’t believe in, a wife who is angry and militant, a daughter who is extremely difficult to handle, and a live-in baby sitter he would like to go to bed with. Most of the novel takes place during the Brett Cavanaugh Supreme Court hearing. With the exception of the introduction and the epilogue, The Smash-Up is narrated by Ethan, so his perspective is all the reader is certain of.

The Smash-Up is a good read. It has interesting characters and a timely plot. It is quite obviously a take off on Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, and perhaps I would have gotten more from The Smash-Up if I had read Wharton’s book.