The Blithedale Romance in Classics and the Western Canon

May 28, 2013 Benji rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: creepy, strong-literary-value, read-in-california, underrated, 36-hours-read

I picked this up on a whim, since I like to go to the library and pick up a random Penguin Classic now and then. Story was interesting, with me having no idea where the plot was headed. I thought it was exciting.

To me, this is an older version of DFW's A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN. The style of the two share a lot, both sharing a rich vocabulary, fearsome descriptive powers, and the kind of self-questioning, look-again/think-again type writing. I had this thought within the first ...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Donald rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book is deeply weird (and good), but I can't explain why. ...more

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May 13, 2017 Roger Burk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Priscilla, Zenobia, Coverdale, and Hollingsworth star in this tale set it, but not really about, a kind of commune set up outside of 1840s Boston where starry-eyed well-to-do young idealists could live together and reform all of society by engaging in the kind of hard agricultural labor that leads to ennoblement. Coverdale discovered that is just leads to hard work. Apparently the commune is based on a real utopian community that the author spent some time in in 1841. More 1960s hippies should h ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Galicius rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american, novel

This turned out to be a rather intense novel that can be explored on many levels and also puzzling along the way. It was investigated quite thoroughly by the Classics and the Western Cannon group here on goodreads. (I wish I had the time to follow all the comments.) The discussions were top level and wonderful.

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