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Title: Hawthorne's Splendid Gothic Masterpiece
Review: Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables", may not be as riveting as his "The Scarlet Letter", but still will be appreciated by those familiar with 19th Century psychological fiction as epitomized by, for example, Henry James, with more than a passing nod to Edgar Allen Poe. This is a complex tale spanning generations between the Pyncheons and the Maules; a blood feud which emanates from the infamous Salem witch trials. Hawthorne is a splendid writer of descriptive prose, and it is so descriptive, that I must confess I was confused occasionally as he goes back and forth between the late 17th Century Pyncheons and Maules and their mid 19 Century descendants. This novel isn't nearly as tragic as "The Scarlet Letter", ending on a somewhat hopeful, optimistic note.
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