The House of the Seven Gables

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrated by: Adam Sims

"To inherit a great fortune. To inherit a great misfortune."

These words, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's notebook, neatly encapsulate the theme of The House of the Seven Gables - that of a family whose fortunes are poisoned by its past misdeeds.

The sins of the Pyncheon father are visited upon his children over a period of several generations, until such time as one of his descendants unites with a member of the family he has wronged.

Love conquers hate, and new blood washes away the original crime.

This intriguing and insightful novel truly deserves its significant place in the canon of American literature.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2019 Naxos Audiobooks

My favorite book

I absolutely love this story and have read the book 3 times. The narrator of this audio version is perfect and I actually prefer to listen to the book over reading it, because of his narration. Finishing it makes want to go visit The House of the Seven Gables again, too!

Great story - listen on .85

I was enchanted and finished it in a week . Hawthorne can be a bit dense so I found myself rewinding some of the chapters - for a spookier experience listen to it on .85

better than expected

“The House of the Seven Gables” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I am a New Englander who had managed not to know anything about this book except that I’ve been to the house in the title. I thought it would be a stodgy old book, but it didn’t feel that way to me, despite the slow pacing of large sections.

The real star of the story is Hepzibah Pyncheon, an old spinster who we find opening a shop in the house, trying to support her brother and herself. We find that she has also let a room to a Daguerreotypist. I loved the inclusion of new technology in the old house with the old woman and her brother. Daguerreotypes were invented in the late 1830s and widely available by the time this book was published in 1851.

We meet a host of characters in this haunted house, learning the story of the Pyncheon family with the introduction of other family members and townspeople. The house is a character itself. Thefamily is mostly serious, but there are bits of ironic New England humor throughout the book. I wonder if most people miss that as the average ratings for this book are quite low. Hepzibah seems so grumpy, but her first sale in her shop is just her giving a sweet to a boy. I’m not going to introduce the characters or the plot. I suggest reading it with an open mind. It comes in at 4.5 stars which I’ve rounded up where half stars are unavailable. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Adam Sims and loved his narration. There are several other versions available, but I picked this one.

Painful

I remembered reading Hawthorne in high school and some of his short stories in college. I'd never read this particular novel and was happy to have rediscovered it. However, here I am in chapter eleven with another several hours to go and I'm not sure I can endure much more. It is verbose and this far painfully boring. The early chapters held much promise, but now I find myself bored to tears. Hawthorne is known for his dense, descriptive narratives, but this is so gratuitous it sounds forced. The narrator's performance is a bit monotone but otherwise fine.

Boring waste

Very difficult story to get into. Too much details loses the reader/listener. Did not enjoy and found myself thinking about other things