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danilanglie's review against another edition
4.0
I remember reading this in college and really liking it, and I really liked it this time as well! It's a slim little volume, but my edition has a whole collection of essays and Hawthorne letters and things at the back that make for some great extra added context.
The thing I think I find the most interesting about this text is Coverdale as our unreliable narrator. He is constantly using the language of theatre and acting and art to describe the events of the story, such that you can tell how badly he wants to construct this little tale as a fable, a work of narrative crafted by his own hand. Zenobia and Hollingsworth and Priscilla are characters in a story he is writing about them, and when the narrative isn't going how he wants it to, he's willing to juice it up. There are a few times when Coverdale flat-out tells us he has no real way of knowing what was said/what really happened during a particular moment, but he's going to go ahead and expound on the specific dialogue anyway.
The ending, with Zenobia's suicide, always strikes me as very intriguing in light of the above. I'm not saying that Coverdale murdered her, but I am saying that it's fun to have a crackpot theory every once in a while. The sequence of events is very odd! There seems to be a slippage in time, and then Coverdale knows right away that something strange has happened and brings them all out in the dark... the artfully placed shoe on the shore feels fairy tale-esque too, doesn't it? Coverdale likes his Romances, after all.
I love how tightly woven this short novel is; there is a very small cast of named characters, and they are all interconnected in such interesting ways right away as the story takes off. You definitely get the sense that Hawthorne is exploring some of his real social opinions through the novel, but you also have to remember that Coverdale is an unreliable and somewhat foolish mouthpiece, so there's a blurring as to what Hawthorne really thinks about things such as criminal reform, women's rights, the temperance movement, etc. We have a pretty good idea of his true opinion on some things, but it's interesting to read it all through this lens!
The thing I think I find the most interesting about this text is Coverdale as our unreliable narrator. He is constantly using the language of theatre and acting and art to describe the events of the story, such that you can tell how badly he wants to construct this little tale as a fable, a work of narrative crafted by his own hand. Zenobia and Hollingsworth and Priscilla are characters in a story he is writing about them, and when the narrative isn't going how he wants it to, he's willing to juice it up. There are a few times when Coverdale flat-out tells us he has no real way of knowing what was said/what really happened during a particular moment, but he's going to go ahead and expound on the specific dialogue anyway.
The ending, with Zenobia's suicide, always strikes me as very intriguing in light of the above. I'm not saying that Coverdale murdered her, but I am saying that it's fun to have a crackpot theory every once in a while. The sequence of events is very odd! There seems to be a slippage in time, and then Coverdale knows right away that something strange has happened and brings them all out in the dark... the artfully placed shoe on the shore feels fairy tale-esque too, doesn't it? Coverdale likes his Romances, after all.
I love how tightly woven this short novel is; there is a very small cast of named characters, and they are all interconnected in such interesting ways right away as the story takes off. You definitely get the sense that Hawthorne is exploring some of his real social opinions through the novel, but you also have to remember that Coverdale is an unreliable and somewhat foolish mouthpiece, so there's a blurring as to what Hawthorne really thinks about things such as criminal reform, women's rights, the temperance movement, etc. We have a pretty good idea of his true opinion on some things, but it's interesting to read it all through this lens!
casualperson196's review against another edition
4.0
The last third of this book is a bit farcical, melodramatic, and doesn't wrap up some of the themes it's working with, but this book is definitely one of the more approachable books that came out during this time period.
itsmandaaa's review against another edition
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.5
deegee24's review against another edition
4.0
If you only read one Hawthorne novel, it should be The Scarlet Letter, but this one is nearly as good. I like it better than The House of the Seven Gables. It is a very acid take on the communal life of a group of transcendentalists, modeled after Hawthorne's own experience at Brook Farm. This book is probably the best example of what Hawthorne meant when he described himself as a writer of romances. The characters are symbolic and larger than life, but also drawn with subtlety and insight. The main plot involves a self-consciously overwrought love triangle that ends in suicide. The governing philosophy and daily routines of the commune, and its relations with the neighboring farmers are compelling.
deranged_pegasus's review against another edition
1.0
A strange read for one unaccustomed to romance novels, let alone the time period. The twist of relation between to of the infatuated was weird.
abbykight's review against another edition
3.0
i think coverdale and nick from the great gatsby should talk
natsafan18's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
2.5
This was an interesting experience....
So....
There's that....
So....
There's that....