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mattdube 's review for:
The House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
There aren't a lot of writers who are like Hawthorne and it takes a little bit of time and reading to get into sync with what he is doing-- it takes a third of the book to introduce the major characters here, and there are only four characters in this book!
But once you get underway, the book's atmosphere builds and builds to the final chapters, with a shortish chapter about Hepzibah and Clifford on the train and the following longer chapter on a day in the front room with Judge Pyncheon, both of which are masterful and eccentric and chapters only Hawthorne could write.
And along the way, there are a lot of odd things here worthy of note: the inset story by Maule/ Holgrave is incredible and strange. Hawthorne's interest in a character like Clifford, who's a classic aesthete, is also surprising but revealing of what Hawthorne cares about.
I don't think this is a perfect book-- it doesn't quite come together the way Scarlet Letter does and it's scope feels narrower, to one strange family. But there's also an appealing sense that anything can happen here-- there's a log line story, that of Holgrave and Phoebe-- but it hardly feels like the real story here, and that's strange enough on its own. A good, but challenging read.
But once you get underway, the book's atmosphere builds and builds to the final chapters, with a shortish chapter about Hepzibah and Clifford on the train and the following longer chapter on a day in the front room with Judge Pyncheon, both of which are masterful and eccentric and chapters only Hawthorne could write.
And along the way, there are a lot of odd things here worthy of note: the inset story by Maule/ Holgrave is incredible and strange. Hawthorne's interest in a character like Clifford, who's a classic aesthete, is also surprising but revealing of what Hawthorne cares about.
I don't think this is a perfect book-- it doesn't quite come together the way Scarlet Letter does and it's scope feels narrower, to one strange family. But there's also an appealing sense that anything can happen here-- there's a log line story, that of Holgrave and Phoebe-- but it hardly feels like the real story here, and that's strange enough on its own. A good, but challenging read.