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3.2 AVERAGE
3.2 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I tried to read this book twice. This time I made it the farthest - chapter 9. It drags on very slowly with not much going on. In nine chapters, there was a property dispute, a murder, and an old maid who opens a shop and is visited by her cousin Phoebe and another old guy. Couldn't get into it enough to finish. Pretty boring.
3.6/5
the language threw me off a bit, and at times got boring
i NEEDED sparknotes
but on the whole the story was interesting, and the ending was nice
the language threw me off a bit, and at times got boring
i NEEDED sparknotes
but on the whole the story was interesting, and the ending was nice
Oh man, this was a welcome relief after some of the depressing stories I've read recently!
Aiuto... nulla da dire sulle eccellenti capacità di Hawtorne come scrittore, ma questo libro è invecchiato veramente male male.
Qualsiasi regola per rendere coinvolgente o godibile un romanzo qui sono disattese: personaggi stereotipati e privi di una qualsivoglia evoluzione, digressioni e descrizioni chilometriche sul nulla, spiegoni e lungaggini, una trama principale che per centinaia di pagine si vede col binocolo e che va a sfociare in un bel lieto finalone da melodramma.
Forse è anche questione di aspettative, perché mi attendevo se non proprio dell'horror vero e proprio, un minimo di tensione. Invece nulla di nulla.
Penso che magari in altri momenti avrei potuto apprezzarlo maggiormente, ma comunque la si voglia guardare, credo sia davvero difficile resistere alla pesantezza di un libro che personalmente reputo totalmente superato in qualsiasi suo aspetto.
Tutto ciò premesso, mi sento di consigliarlo solo se state esplicitamente cercando qualcosa dallo stile veramente lento, complesso e compassato.
Qualsiasi regola per rendere coinvolgente o godibile un romanzo qui sono disattese: personaggi stereotipati e privi di una qualsivoglia evoluzione, digressioni e descrizioni chilometriche sul nulla, spiegoni e lungaggini, una trama principale che per centinaia di pagine si vede col binocolo e che va a sfociare in un bel lieto finalone da melodramma.
Forse è anche questione di aspettative, perché mi attendevo se non proprio dell'horror vero e proprio, un minimo di tensione. Invece nulla di nulla.
Penso che magari in altri momenti avrei potuto apprezzarlo maggiormente, ma comunque la si voglia guardare, credo sia davvero difficile resistere alla pesantezza di un libro che personalmente reputo totalmente superato in qualsiasi suo aspetto.
Tutto ciò premesso, mi sento di consigliarlo solo se state esplicitamente cercando qualcosa dallo stile veramente lento, complesso e compassato.
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
The story of the Maules and Pyncheons and the effect of the past over the present. Wonderfully structured and written.
I love books written in this time period and enjoyed this one. I even named my cat Phoebe after one of the characters.
This was my second Nathaniel Hawthorne novel and I really enjoyed it. A New England setting and a dark, brooding atmosphere? Yes, please! This is a story of the Pyncheons, a family whose roots date back to the Salem Witch Trials, and generational sin that affects them, but the brooding, malevolent house is the book’s central character. The House of the Seven Gables is a direct fictitious translation of the story of the blood curse that was put on Hawthorne’s great-great-grandfather. This Gothic romance features witchcraft, superstition, ghosts, a spectral family portrait, a mysterious death, a skeleton with a missing hand, and so much more. While the reading was tedious and slow at times (Hawthorne is extremely descriptive!), it was also intriguing. I would recommend this book to fans of Gothic stories.
Very long review short: I didn’t like this book. At only 158 pages it still took me a full week to read this book and for me that’s AGES. However, this book is my next-to-last book of my 2012 Mount TBR Reading Challenge (24 of 25) and my 14th book for The Classics Club! So at least it wasn’t a total waste. Plus, one quirky thing is they spelled clue ‘clew’ apparently. So strange.
So why, you ask, did I not like this book? First off I fell asleep every time I started to read it. Seriously. I nodded off on the bus, on the subway and even started to nod off during lunch one day, but the big wake-up point (pun intended) was when I started to nod off making dinner one night in a rather uncomfortable kitchen chair and lots of noise around me. So that should REALLY tell you something. However, the worst thing is, is that it’s not a bad book. The story has a lot of potential and the characters were pretty memorable, but the writing was just a bit too detailed or down-trodden or something.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
So why, you ask, did I not like this book? First off I fell asleep every time I started to read it. Seriously. I nodded off on the bus, on the subway and even started to nod off during lunch one day, but the big wake-up point (pun intended) was when I started to nod off making dinner one night in a rather uncomfortable kitchen chair and lots of noise around me. So that should REALLY tell you something. However, the worst thing is, is that it’s not a bad book. The story has a lot of potential and the characters were pretty memorable, but the writing was just a bit too detailed or down-trodden or something.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.