The House of Seven Gables

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrated by: Roslyn Alexander

The House of the Seven Gables is a fixture in Salem - and seemingly fixed in time. As the ancestral home of the Pyncheon family, its current mistress is Hepzibah Pyncheon, who has retreated behind a wall of false gentility. But into these dreary surroundings comes Phoebe, a country cousin whose youthful energy and sense of romance bring renewed life to the family.Public Domain (P)1999 Recorded Books

Light on plot, heavy on philosophy

Before buying this book, keep in mind that Hawthorne was trying to win over the European elite, and was engaging in what was known as "high art" which, by definition, is inaccessible to the masses. In other words, this book is designed to "bore" the average reader, as the narrator acknowledges in a couple humorous asides. It does this by constantly suspending the plot, which comprises only a fraction (maybe 1/4) of the book.

There's a section, lasting over 2-3 hours, where there's almost no plot development at all. Instead, Hawthorne alternates between philosophical musings, moral instruction to the reader, exhaustive psychoanalysis of the characters, and narration of quotidian events with no causal relationship to each other. The latter are episodic and mundane. For instance, "one day" a hen becomes depressed cuz she can't have chicks. "On occasion", Clifford would get excited by a parade. And so on.

If you love slice of life stories and philosophical commentary on the human condition, this book is up your alley. If you enjoy Gothic melodrama, you'll get some of that – and it's superb. But you'll find far more dark and suspenseful drama in books that were actually written to be entertaining, like Jane Eyre and Great Expectations.

My favorite fall read

Every time I start a new audiobook, the narrator’s voice is different than I expected. But the more time I spent with this one, the more I realized that she is precisely the person to be reading this lovely story.

the ending it was nice

I like The come back around to the original family to whom the land belonged and how they reunited Phoebe and whole

Great narration

Alexander does a great job reading Hawthorne’s rollicking 19th century prose! Very fun to listen to.

Poetic narrative and powerful description

Ominous storyline with complex characters that make this classic tale feel familiar and close. Probably my favorite book.