Reviews

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert S. Levine

sofiam012345's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

serraj19's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

steakuccino's review against another edition

2.0

This could easily have been 25% as long without losing an ounce of the story. Hawthorne, why are your works considered classics? It’s not because you’re good at telling these stories. I can only imagine it is because you were lucky to come up with a few stories good enough to survive despite your inept treatment of them.

mary_r_m's review against another edition

3.0

I listened to this and probably wasn't paying much attention. I also thought I had read this in high school, but the story was not familiar. I'm going to need to actually read this to make a better review.

ricefun's review against another edition

4.0

The pay-off at the end of this book feels like it was moderately worth slogging through the preceding chapters of rambling description and pinpoint specific details that Hawthorne enumerates to death. I’m a person who can handle reading tedious books if I’m interested, but the tedium in this work really pushed my limits. Phoebe is – as described – a bright spot of the narrative. And the variety of love stories; romantic, civic, familial, with even a family feud thrown in, are all endearing now that I’ve finished. I was particularly drawn to Clifford’s soliloquy while he and Hepzibah are taking their train ride in which he expounds on his views about a changing society. But anyone who can write 12 pages based on a five minute interval is really asking a lot of their readers. I’m glad I finished, but won’t be listing this among my favorite books.

houseren's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

I loved the scarlet letter, but thought this one was honestly boring aside from a few really good scenes. The ending was underwhelming, the story dragged out in uninteresting ways, and some of the character descriptions just threw me off. I’m sure this book is someone’s cup of tea, and I’m glad I’ve read it just to check it off my list, but I have no interest in ever re-reading it

kecb12's review against another edition

4.0

I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, since I love The Scarlet Letter with my whole heart and had heard that this was just as beautiful but also spooky. I will admit that I expected it to be a little more spooky than it was. There was atmosphere in this book, for sure. But it wasn’t tense or spine-tingling at all. However, I was absolutely floored by some of the observations about life in this novel. There were so many points where I felt slapped in the face by Hawthorne’s ability to put into a few sentences how complicated, confusing, and heavy the human existence is—and how redemptive it can be, as well. I will read this book again just so I can bask in those phrases again. Truly, I think Hawthorne is one of my favorite authors of all time.

ginnikin's review against another edition

I just can't. Oh, old American dude, did you have to be such an old American dude?

coilrecoil's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

virginiacjacobs's review against another edition

4.0

After suffering through The Scarlet Letter in high school (or more accurately, suffering through The Custom House, the 3,798-page introduction to The Scarlet Letter, that is all about shipping taxes in Salem in the 1700's or something like that, maybe?) I decided to NEVER read Nathaniel Hawthorne again. And then I took a trip to Salem and visited the actual house of the seven gables and heard about Uncle Venner and Clifford, and thought, maybe I'll give this a try. I did not realize how funny Hawthorne was, with lines like "the sombre dignity of an inherited curse," and "The Judge, had he done nothing else, would have achieved wonders with his knife and fork." Even making fun of himself, saying, "He now observed that a certain remarkable drowsiness (wholly unlike that with which the reader possibly feels himself affected)"

Because of the style of writing...long passages of philosophizing interspersed with action, this is not a fast read, but it is worthwhile.