A decent short story extended to two hundred and fifty pages by masses of verbose descriptive padding. The depiction of the beliefs and role of the catholic church are worthy of Iain Paisley at his most extreme. ( )

(#41 in the 2007 book challenge)

After being burned badly by The Scarlet Letter in high school, I didn't read any more Hawthorne until we went to Salem last year, and I surprised myself by enjoying it. I confess I mostly picked up The Marble Faun because it came with this recommendation on the back: "This long-overlooked novel is 'must reading' for anyone who relishes crimes of passion set against the picturesque details of Old World landmarks." For some reason, that just slayed me. I mean, I never consciously thought of myself as a person who relished crimes of passion set against the picturesque details of Old World landmarks, but after this book pointed it out, what's not to relish? Anyway, it's about three ex-pat artists living in Italy who become involved with a most foul murder.

Grade: A
Recommended: In addition to the relishers of Old World landmarks as mentioned above, this would be good for people who like books set in Italy (quite a bit of the narration is dedicated to describing the landscape and landmarks of Rome and Tuscany), and for people who like those wacky 19th century Americans abroad stories.