The sentimental novels of the early national period were considered a danger to society and were criticized for the corrupting influence they had o...
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Apr 01, 2010
karen
rated it: 
this book is baaaaaad. it is melodramatic and sentimental and full of woe is me and what shall i do and beseeching and fainting and fits and inexplicable deaths. i want montambo to read it because of all the people herein who are faced with unpleasantness, fall into a fit, and die. i want a doctor to tell me what that is all about. and i also want to know how playing the harp with a man for a half hour can knock you up. because i don't want a baby, but i do love the harp...
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Jul 05, 2011
Lara
rated it: 
Charlotte Temple is the first bestseller published in the United States, and thus an important read for anyone interested in American literature and/or print culture. This novel is very short--a novella, technically--and has a very melodramatic, over-the-top plot. It's basically an early conduct novel, showing young girls and women what consequences come from having sex outside marriage--poverty, ostracism, and death.
Charlotte is a young British girl who falls in love with a British More...
Charlotte is a young British girl who falls in love with a British More...
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(2 people liked it)
May 17, 2009
Sandra
rated it: 
I liked this book for several reasons. One, it was the first novel to become an American best-seller. Two, written by a woman who was also a writer of plays, music, textbooks. She was an actress and an educator. At one point, she was the main breadwinner in her family, which her husband approved of. We're talking in mid 1700's here.
The story of Charlotte begins in England. She's fifteen years old, the only child of two doting parents. A cute British soldier comes along and convinces h More...
The story of Charlotte begins in England. She's fifteen years old, the only child of two doting parents. A cute British soldier comes along and convinces h More...
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Nov 16, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
I'm rating this book based on historical context and for entertainment value. It's a really hilarious, melodramatic book with an absurd and sensational story about a young woman who falls into vice (basically, in the words of Coach from Mean Girls, "Don't have sex. You will get pregnant. And die."). But it provides a really interesting look at the gender roles of the time period, the expectations of women and men, and the concerns of the public about morality and sexuality. So as a his
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Oct 21, 2010
Alyssawall
rated it:
In Susanna Rowsons day, this was a book of literary genius. Her target audience was young girls & she wrote this to teach a lesson about cherishing virtue & morals. I loved the simpleness of her characters... None were too complicated. I also loved how the morals of her story are still a much talked about issue in our present day. Charlotte was young, naive, & easily persuaded. The only image she had of the world was that of her little community & girls boarding school. Though she had been warne
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Mar 21, 2011
Monica!
rated it:
This book is for sure ridiculous. It's preachy, and filled with disaster and doom and dead babies, and you imagine that if it were to have a musical accompaniment, it would primarily be wailing stringed instruments.
But! There's something to be said for a book that not only writes, "Silly naive girls, don't run off with sexy soldiers because they'll knock you up and leave you to die," but also provides the reader with all the actual lust and knocking-up action, too. Charlot More...
But! There's something to be said for a book that not only writes, "Silly naive girls, don't run off with sexy soldiers because they'll knock you up and leave you to die," but also provides the reader with all the actual lust and knocking-up action, too. Charlot More...
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 16, 2010
Jamie
rated it:
America's first bestseller, according to my prof. I'm not sure why, but the style reminded me of Jane Austen's juvenilia, which could be a good or a bad thing, depending. A novel of sensibility, with an abundance of fainting, a very foreign (to our eyes) framework of feminine virtue, and comically blatant didactic asides.
Charlotte is a super sweet lil' gal who loves mommy and daddy & wants to be virtuous, but also (!) is horny & wants to follow a rakish man to America so she can More...
Charlotte is a super sweet lil' gal who loves mommy and daddy & wants to be virtuous, but also (!) is horny & wants to follow a rakish man to America so she can More...
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Jun 15, 2009
Jonathan
rated it:
Very entertaining -- if you can read it right. Charlotte Temple is short and mercifully self-aware. Rowson periodically interrupts her narrative to remind readers -- and their doubtful mothers -- that she is telling them this story in order to help them avoid being seduced by handsome, vaguely French cads in scarlet uniforms. One thereby gets a pretty good sense of the voyeuristic frisson this didacticism produced in its young readers. A merely preachy novel is one thing; a novel that lets t
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Jan 25, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
Rowson, through the voice of the narrator, inserts advice for young ladies (her intended readership ) throughout the text. Those with a feminist mindset tend to devalue the advice given within the book, as they see the consequences of Charlotte's behavior as unfair when compared to the "punishments" the men receive. The story line is one which is easy to follow and is interesting. For those who enjoy a simple novel that actually does contain some legitimately sound advice, I would reco
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Jul 26, 2010
Corinne
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Evaluating this book is difficult because you have to take in account that it was written in 1790. Part of its appeal is that it was written then and a best seller, but it also means its written in a style I am not used to. Its almost interesting seeing how language changes overtime as well!
In the end, I decided to give it three stars. The book is a bit over dramatic but oddly enough I was drawn to its story line. The narrator interjects its opinions, though the narrator told me More...
In the end, I decided to give it three stars. The book is a bit over dramatic but oddly enough I was drawn to its story line. The narrator interjects its opinions, though the narrator told me More...
Dec 23, 2011
Bethany
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My rating is based on exploring this book in a lit/cultural studies class. It gave perspective on early fiction circulating in Britain and the U.S., and taken with Susan Stabile's critical perspectives in her article "Stilled Lives," it's a good window into society. In that context, it was an interesting read. In the context of pleasure reading, not so much.
Jan 03, 2010
Bookzo
rated it:
I have been reading books for school; this one was assigned to English 11 Honors. It was the first bestseller in the United States --- late 18th C. It's a good quick read; a moralizing tale which, although somewhat dated in approach, is still an engaging story.
Thank you for the postard from Andorra; I'm a little late in my reponse.
Thank you for the postard from Andorra; I'm a little late in my reponse.
Feb 01, 2008
Fara
rated it:
This is a really enjoyable book. There's quite a bit of "subversion and containment" at work here, but that doesn't take away from the movement of the story. Certainly this is sentimental fiction, but it can't be entirely dismissed, especially when one considers the life of the author, who was anything but the reverent/passive/obedient woman that some might argue the book is trying to extoll. This was the best selling novel of its time---actually of 100 years past its publication. E
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Oct 02, 2011
Laura
rated it:
This first American bestseller conveys young women's sexual vulnerability in the late 1700s. Yes, the melodrama runs high! Why wouldn't an 18th-century bestseller resemble a soap opera? But it is more complex than it appears at first glance. Best chapter title: "A Man May Smile, and Smile, and Be a Villain."
Oct 04, 2011
Jamie
rated it: 
This is quite possibly the worst book I've ever read, and I've read The Winter of Our Discontent. It makes me incredibly sad and disheartened that this was the first bestseller in America. Makes sense, though, I guess. Ugh. Awful.
Dec 26, 2009
Jo Ann
rated it:
Described as the first American "best-seller," Charlotte Temple won me over. I thought of it as The Scarlet Letter light. It's as Puritanical and preachy as one would expect, but it makes a meaningful transition to modern time.
Sep 16, 2011
Emily
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I finished this in two days. The characterization and personfication was fantastic, however the storyline made me think of a spin off Pride and Prejudice's Kitty situation. Terrible ending.
Apr 16, 2011
Alma
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The book was annoying, but I give it two stars out of respect for my Professor who insists that this book should be considered an important step in the development of the American Novel.
Apr 19, 2011
Sylvia
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An overbearing morality tale with no characterization and a bunch of annoying narrative intrusions. A story written to scare little girls away from doing bad things--as written by some lady with a black-and-white and yet arbitrary sense of morality.
Even in the 1790s, this had all the literary merit of Twilight.
Even in the 1790s, this had all the literary merit of Twilight.
Mar 02, 2010
I can't remember! I know I read it for my course on the American novel, but I've got to go back and refresh my memory on this one.
Jan 04, 2010
Ashley
rated it:
Not well known, but one of the first American bestsellers. I had to read it for a paper in college but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Jun 26, 2007
Lindee
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I hated every second I spent reading this book. So much so that I have no problem with ruining it here. It's about a naive teenage girl who falls in love with a soldier, is seduced by him, betrayed by her best "friend," runs away from her family in England to sail to colonial America, is shunned, has the baby and dies before her family can find her (they loved and supported her all along but due to evil characters could never communicate with her). The book was written as a warning
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May 31, 2011
Becky
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somehow in all of my years studying American lit, I missed this classic--the first best-selling novel in the U.S. worth a read ;)
Aug 27, 2008
Rebecca
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Being that this was written by a woman in the late 1700's, it is instructive to young women in the ways of morality...so it's kind of dramatic. But, it was considered and American best seller before Uncle Tom's Cabin, so I thought I'd better give it a go.
Dec 10, 2010
Julie
rated it:
Quick read. Very interesting as a product of its time, especially when seen in relation to the sentimental &/or gothic American literature which followed (which is the context in which I read it). Not exactly a stellar read by itself, though.
Feb 22, 2008
Jack
rated it:
This is one of those novels with a sensationalistic moral about proper feminine conduct, but it's not a terrible example of its type. I think I have a soft spot for this novel because I've written on it.
