2 March 2024. "The Blithedale Romance" by Nathaniel Hawthorne was first published in 1852. I read the Penguin Classics publication of it (shown). This book is about 247 pages, so it is considerably shorter than "The Rainbow" by DH Lawrence which I finished prior to it and you can read my thoughts on that HERE. That one took place at the end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s and was first published in 1915. So with "The Blithedale Romance" I am heading a little bit back in time. "The Rainbow" took place outside of London in England. This one takes place in New England of America in a rural area outside of Boston.

The book is a type of Utopian work; at least has the goal of creating a utopia where people who are, for whatever their own reasons are, disenchanted by the individualistic work and strive for yourself system and seek to establish a farm in which everyone works collectively in a socialistic way to survive together. That is the background situation really. The real story is as between a few individuals, cross motives, curious mysteries, questionalbe relationships, disappointed love and one character who just cannot mind his own business. The book blub on the back says that his language is sometimes "erotic". . .I think that is very much an over-statement put in there just to sell books; it really is not. There is a little bit of the idea of Lolita in there but it is not 'in your face' so to speak and nothing is remotely as sexually charged as other works I have read (i.e., think of Lady Chatterley's Lover, or even certain seens in The Rainbow and what I anticipate in the book I am reading now "Women in Love."

I enjoyed the various social issues of the day woven into it. One was of The Temperance Movement and the idea espoused in there that that was doomed to failure because it offered no alternative for the working classes to escape the drudgery of their existence. Another is the women's movement. Another was the role of the criminal justice system to either punish or reform criminals. And of course the idea of socialism. By the way, it failed at the Blithedale farm as well.

There seemed to be a little inspiration of Wilkie Collins in this as well with The Veiled Lady (character in it) which added a bit of a mystery to the book; along with the curious and mysterious Mr. Moodie; as well as the mystery of who little Pricilla was and why she was with the older dubious philanthropist Mr. Hollingsworth. I enjoyed that about this book a lot. I have enjoyed several of Wilkie Collins' works. The Moonstone is in my favorites of all time. So, yes, I really enjoyed that aspect of this work.

The characters were also well done and colorful / unique which also was good. All in all a very enjoyable read. Now I am off to continue with the characters of "The Rainbow" in its follow-up novel "Women in Love" by D H Lawrence.