The House of the Seven Gables
I picked up this book because I was visiting the house the story was based on. Sadly, the tour of the house was a lot more interesting than the story. It started out great, the history behind the house and Colonel Pyncheon's death drew me in, which is why I settled on 3 stars. Hawthorne wrote a good beginning, but failed to follow through with the middle and ending. If I had taken notes while reading, they would have looked like this:
Nothings happening.
Nothings happening.
Nothings happening.
Nothings happening.
Ooh, wait, this looks interesting.
Never mind.
Nothings happening.
Nothings happening.
Nothings happening.
Finally, now we're getting somewhere.
Wait, that's it?!
The 'good part' doesn't start until page 200 and is cleared up a chapter later. Plus, I had to read pages of what Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon would have been doing that day, if he hadn't fallen victim to the 'family curse.'
As for fulfilling the elements of being considered a gothic novel, it missed the most important one, an atmosphere of terror and mystery. I think I'll give any more works by Hawthorne a pass, life's too short to read about nothing.
