“The House of the Seven Gables” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Here at Old Time Tales our mission is to try to increase awareness of, yes, Old Time Tales. Stories that were written, and loved decades, even centuries ago.

"The House of the Seven Gables" is one such book. Written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a home belonging to an established New England family, dating back to the Salem Witch Trials. In many ways the House of the Seven Gables reminds me of the home of Roderick Usher, with its dismal, dreary, mold covered walls and its cursed family history.

Let me warn you, this is a difficult book to read. Authors in 1850 had a particular style, often using paragraphs that were one sentence and extended down the entire page. And, of course, Hawthorne mentions things that were common and obvious to him and his world of 1850 but are strange and mysterious to us today. I am a history buff, so this is interesting to me, but it might not appeal to everyone. One thing I do that helps is that I read it on my Kindle, so I could search and take notes on the unfamiliar things Hawthorne mentioned. For example, Hawthorne describes a character as relying upon the eleemosynary tendencies of his neighbors. Context helped a lot with that, but I still had to look it up, it means charitable.

Oh, something else that helped, there were passages that I read out loud to myself. It helped me focus and stay on track. Otherwise it was too easy to skip and scan my way through the book.

One thing that I enjoyed was the humor written into the book. Yes, the jokes were nearly 200 years old and were often dry, sly digs at society in 1850, but they were clever and you could tell that Hawthorne had a wit that was surely appreciated back in his day.

The big surprise in the book for me was how it was written with an almost ghost story type style. There are often long passages where you can feel Hawthorne weaving a supernatural aura into the book. If it were not for the cheerful, colorful, too sweet to be true character of Phoebe "The House of the Seven Gables" would almost qualify as a gothic novel.

For those of you who tried to read Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and could not finish it, (like me) have no fear. This book was much more fun, and more interesting, to read.

My friend who works at the coffee shop I go to recommended that I read "The House of the Seven Gables" and I am glad that I once again listened to her advice. She told me that it was one of her favorites and that she has read it several times. I don't think that I can go that far, but I can admit that I enjoyed reading the book and can recommend that you read it as well! 

Read every day and read for fun! Cheers!