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Title: The House of the Seven Gables (Classics Illustrated) by John O'Rourke, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Joshua Miller, George Woodbridge ISBN: 1-57840-041-4 Publisher: Acclaim Books Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.53 (45 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Hawthorne Redemption
Comment: Nathaniel Hawthorne's "House of the Seven Gables" is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in classic American literature. Some readers consider Hawthorne's meticulous style of describing settings and characters frustrating, but they fail to realize that the story "The House of the Seven Gables" is in fact, settings and characters. The reader must realize that this book was written in 1851, so it lacks the showmanship of explosions and flying poltergeists, but if properly embraced, "The House of the Seven Gables" is a very enjoyable read. As I read this book, I felt that Hepzibah and Clifford were not the only characters attempting to rid themselves of a family curse. I felt that Hawthorne himself was attempting to exorcise the guilt brought on by his ancestor, John Hawthorne, who had presided over the Salem Witch Trials, hundred of years prior.
Rating: 4
Summary: Hawthorne's Supernatural Thriller, 19th Century Style
Comment: Nathaniel Hawthorne is probably one of the most despised figures in the American literary canon, at least in the minds of the millions of school children forced to read "The Scarlet Letter." I will go so far as to admit I never finished that novel. I took one look through the book and laughed at the ridiculous idea of reading such a convoluted looking story. That was at age seventeen. Now, many years later I am able to go back and actually read some of these daunting novels. What is surprising is that they are not daunting at all, just written in an ornate style from a different age. The plots often deal with the same issues and concerns modern people fret about. For those uninterested in relationships and human dramas, there are also great old stories with supernatural elements, which is where this book comes in. This edition of the book includes an introduction by Mary Oliver and several commentaries on the work by Edwin Percy Whipple, Henry T. Tuckerman, F.O. Matthiessen, and Herman Melville. The Melville commentary is actually a letter the author of "Moby Dick" sent to Hawthorne where he concludes with a demand that Hawthorne "walk down one of these mornings and see me." Pretty neat.
In "The House of the Seven Gables," the author tells his reader the story is a romance. What he means by this terminology is not a cheap paperback that involves swooning hearts with Fabio on the cover, but "a legend prolonging itself, from an epoch now gray in the distance, down into our own broad daylight." Hawthorne's specific goal is to show that the bad behavior of one generation devolves on future descendents. He accomplishes this by examining the Pyncheon family, a clan founded on America's shores by the stern Puritan Colonel Pyncheon, who used his considerable influence to inveigle prime real estate from one Matthew Maule in the 17th century. Pyncheon carried out this task by using the Salem witchcraft scare to secure Maule's execution. In his last moments, Maule laid a curse on the good Colonel and all of his descendents, telling him that God would give them blood to drink as a punishment for this evil injustice. Shortly after the Colonel builds his house with seven gables on Maule's property, he dies in a way that makes Maule's curse seem to be a reality. Rather than trace this terrible evil down through the ages in minute detail, Hawthorne only touches on a few important points before beginning his story in the middle of the 19th century.
The Pyncheon family is slowly moldering into extinction when Hawthorne introduces us to poor old Hepzibah Pyncheon. She lives alone in the ancient estate, reduced to near starvation because her brother Clifford is in prison and Jaffrey Pyncheon, a rich judge who lives in his own manor in the country, refuses to offer her assistance. The only way to survive for Hepzibah is to open a penny store in an old part of the decaying house. Just when things reach a nadir, another Pyncheon turns up to save the day. This is Phoebe, a vivacious young lady who lives in the country. This fetching lass is a blessing for Hepzibah; she runs the penny store, helps to lift the gloomy atmosphere in the house, and when Clifford returns from his long imprisonment, Phoebe entertains the doddering man with her multitude of charms. She even strikes up an acquaintance with Holgrave, a young boarder in the house. Things start to look up when yet another tragedy strikes the Pyncheon family, leading to the momentary evacuation of the ancestral estate by Hepzibah and Clifford before Hawthorne settles all accounts in an ending that is both quick and highly implausible.
The reputation this book has with many people is not good. They disparage the lengthy digressions, the massive amount of time Hawthorne takes to explore Hepzibah's dilemma over opening the penny store, the sentences that go on and on without seeming to make any point whatsoever, and the organization of the book as a whole. There is some foundation in these charges. The chapters describing the penny store do seem interminable, especially when viewed in the context of the story as a whole. As for the descriptions of Hepzibah's scowling countenance and Clifford's puny mental state, we get the idea well before Hawthorne quits harping on them. Yes, there are flaws in "The House of the Seven Gables."
However, I personally enjoyed the deeply rich 19th century prose. Hawthorne's command of the English language is impressive and, at times, as precise as a cruise missile. One need only read the chapter about Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon's unfortunate incident in the house to grasp the beauty of this author's style. As for the digressions, if people have a problem with chapters such as "Alice Pyncheon" and the introductory material setting down the history of the doomed family, it is really their loss. It is when Hawthorne writes about supernatural elements that he really managed to grab me. If this counts as a lengthy digression from the story, I will take more, please!
If I had to assign a Hawthorne novel to a group of slack jawed high school students, I would give them this one in place of "The Scarlet Letter." At least with "The House of the Seven Gables," someone might enjoy the eerie curse that united the Maules with the Pyncheons for two centuries. A letter sewn on clothing cannot stack up against ghosts, a disembodied hand, and mysterious deaths. The kids will still grumble, but not as much when they realize there are less "thees" and "thous" tossed around in this novel.
Rating: 3
Summary: Too Neatly Wrapped Up
Comment: I tried to read this book for the first time when I was in my late teens, but I couldn't stand it. The language was just too flowery and long-winded. After twelve years or so, I just tried to read it again. This time, I was able to get through the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed Hawthorne's descriptive language. His ability to paint a picture through words is amazing; however, this same technique is what caused the book to move so slowly. Hawthorne took hundreds of words to say what could easily have been said in a couple of sentences. Yes, that is just the way American romantic novelists of the mid-nineteenth century wrote; still, for American readers of the twenty-first century who are used to fast-paced life, this sort of writing can be difficult at times.
My biggest problem with this book was its ending. Everything was just too neatly wrapped up. The remainder of the Pyncheon clan and Holgrave had too happy an ending. With the background of the Pyncheons, they should not have had such an ideal ending! The ending should not have been so neatly tied up. There should have been loose ends and serious problems remaining for everyone.
If you enjoy Hawthorne or just simply want to become more familiar with mid-nineteenth century American literature, read The House of the Seven Gables. If you cannot abide books that spend more time with setting, descriptions, etc., than actual movement of the plot, you might want to read another book.
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Title: The House of the Seven Gables (Cliffs Notes) by Darlene Bennett Morris ISBN: 0822005956 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 14 October, 1964 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne ISBN: 0553210092 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1965 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe ISBN: 0553212184 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1982 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville ISBN: 0553213113 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 February, 1981 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The Blithedale Romance by John Updike, Nathaniel Hawthorne ISBN: 0375757201 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 14 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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