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A review by lukescalone
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
3.0
Before reading this book, I saw Nathaniel Hawthorne more as a crotchety old Puritan, likely due to the influence of [b:The Scarlet Letter|12296|The Scarlet Letter|Nathaniel Hawthorne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404810944l/12296._SY75_.jpg|4925227]. This book, in contrast, is perhaps equally dark, but it feels "light." This novel places Hawthorne much more in a mid-19th century Romantic school and the influence of Massachusetts transcendentalists is palpable.
The story itself was thoroughly predictable and unremarkable, but we can feel Hawthorne grasping with the same themes that are so prominent in The Scarlet Letter--namely the ubiquity of humanity's sins in quasi-utopian projects (of which Puritan settlements are one example, and socialist communes another--really, there are few institutions as American as utopian settlements). I appreciated Hawthorne's attempts to come to terms with these themes, but the story itself left much to be desired.
The story itself was thoroughly predictable and unremarkable, but we can feel Hawthorne grasping with the same themes that are so prominent in The Scarlet Letter--namely the ubiquity of humanity's sins in quasi-utopian projects (of which Puritan settlements are one example, and socialist communes another--really, there are few institutions as American as utopian settlements). I appreciated Hawthorne's attempts to come to terms with these themes, but the story itself left much to be desired.