“The Blithedale Romance,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 8
          2. Prose 9
          3. Plot 8
          4. Characters 8
          5. Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is Hawthorne’s fourth novel of the five that he finished.  To my mind, each was better than the one before; although I haven’t read the first one yet.  The last one, “The Marble Faun” was probably better than this one, but it was much longer and seemed to ramble a bit – not a feature I particularly like in a novel.  The third one, “The House of Seven Gables” was almost as good as this one, but I remember thinking the plot was rather weak.  The second one, “The Scarlet Letter” was a disappointment for me after all the hype from the “experts” on literature.  The prose, in particular, came off to me as pretentious.  Here, only two years later in the writing, it is vastly improved, in my humble opinion.  There were many of those passages that make one pause in appreciation, perhaps even re-read for the excellence of them.  The nature of Hawthorne’s writing doesn’t lend itself to strong character development, but this one manages to rise a little above the stereotypes more than his other works.  The main female character, Zenobia, can’t be called a heroine, but is captivatingly presented; an interesting study in conflicted feelings about the woman’s “place” in society.  The main premise, people dropping out to join a commune, was never really as well developed as it might have been.  Hawthorne used the word “socialism” to describe the grand experiment, and that was probably the term in vogue at the time.  But the commune was really an experiment in “communism” in the truest sense of the word.  Hawthorne does depict, very indirectly, the perhaps inevitable decay and collapse of such a community.  And the fact that he had had some experience with such an experiment in real life is evident.  But ultimately, the story is, after all, a “romance”; a tale of human relationships on the micro scale – unrequited love, dashed hopes and dreams, and finally, suicide.  I probably would not have gotten around to reading it if Hawthorne had written twenty novels instead of only five.  But yes, I will read the only one left someday soon so I can have all five under my belt!

Here’s the July line-up!

“Fantasy in Death,” by J. D. Robb [7-2]
“Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe [7-9]
“The Moonstone,” by Wilkie Collins [7-16]
“The Trouble with Magic,” by Madelyn Alt [7-23]
“Mystery,” by Jonathan Kellerman [7-30]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so. Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)