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whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition
1.0
I really dislike [a:Nathaniel Hawthorne|7799|Nathaniel Hawthorne|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1291476587p2/7799.jpg]. I just do.
beksshelton's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
hannieb's review against another edition
3.0
The edition I just finished was a graphic novella - a great little 60 pg. book that gets to the point of the plot without unnecessary details and descriptions. Though the regular classic is great to read too!
khornstein1's review against another edition
4.0
A Book About Nothing...I struggled through Hawthorne in the 10th grade; I don't even remember what I read. At the beginning of the summer a friend invited me to spend the day in Salem and visit the House. When I got there, I was surprised to see several humorous quotes from Hawthorne on the walls. Humor? Hawthorne?
Reader, I struggled through the beginning of this book. I was amused by the other reviewers here and my husband who recalled being tortured by Hawthorne's page-long description of a tree...and then in about the middle of the book, I got it: this is a Book about Nothing. Yes, you heard me right. This book employs the same humor that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David employed: just 150 years earlier.
This is a book with an ensemble cast: Hepzibah (Kramer?), Phoebe (Elaine), Holgrave (Jerry), Clifford (George). And bit parts: the annoying boy who eats gingerbread, the organ-grinder, Uncle Venner!
Pages go by where the characters stand around a window looking at the scene outside. "They just don't make a stagecoach the way they used to." A discussion goes on for pages...nothing happens. And then the need to wrap everything up and plotify it..."Weekend at Bernie's" ensues.
If you read an article in NYMagazine this spring about Seinfeld being the model for all modern TV...no heroes, no "plot" you will see that Hawthorne caught onto this idea in 1851. Brilliant.
Reader, I struggled through the beginning of this book. I was amused by the other reviewers here and my husband who recalled being tortured by Hawthorne's page-long description of a tree...and then in about the middle of the book, I got it: this is a Book about Nothing. Yes, you heard me right. This book employs the same humor that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David employed: just 150 years earlier.
This is a book with an ensemble cast: Hepzibah (Kramer?), Phoebe (Elaine), Holgrave (Jerry), Clifford (George). And bit parts: the annoying boy who eats gingerbread, the organ-grinder, Uncle Venner!
Pages go by where the characters stand around a window looking at the scene outside. "They just don't make a stagecoach the way they used to." A discussion goes on for pages...nothing happens. And then the need to wrap everything up and plotify it..."Weekend at Bernie's" ensues.
If you read an article in NYMagazine this spring about Seinfeld being the model for all modern TV...no heroes, no "plot" you will see that Hawthorne caught onto this idea in 1851. Brilliant.
hippoxthan's review against another edition
It's very slow and not that interesting.
burrowsi1's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75