The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Classic American Literature Novel | Perfect for Book Clubs, Literature Studies & Historical Fiction Lovers

I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this novel since finishing. From what I gather and have read about, this was a much more personal novel for Nathaniel Hawthorne from previous works in that the basis for this novel is represented largely by what he took place in in his own time and his own life. The Blithedale Romance is historically based on the utopian (and, in Hawthorne’s mind, mostly failed) community experiment of the Brook Farm in Massachusetts in the 1800s which Hawthorne was a part of. And the novel gives us a glimpse into Hawthorne’s impressions of this experience.I think what we can always take from Hawthorne is prevalent themes and symbolism. Themes just as gender roles, traditional vs non-traditional opinions, the sustainability of a utopia, and secrecy are among the issues that that are present or come into question. There’s also quite a bit of symbolism and allegorical elements, one interesting examples concerns the whereabouts and mysteriousness of a “veiled lady.”And, as always with Hawthorne, get your dictionary or thesaurus ready with the vocabulary.In the grand scheme of things, this one just didn’t gel for me as much as The Scarlet Letter or The House of Seven Gables, both of which I enjoyed overall. It could be, perhaps, due to the style of narration (this one is written in a first person, and Miles Coverdale is definitely representative of an “unreliable” narrator of sorts) as well as characters who did not strike me as noteworthy. I think with the previous works you could take a character you would more likely identify with or root for.Also, it felt like the novel didn’t really “get going” for quite a while, until the final tragic parts where things start breaking up at the end. I did think, however, that the second half was much more engaging and some of the ambiguous points explained. And much like The Scarlet Letter, there is a definite tragic feel to the finale.