The Scarlet Letter (Penguin Classics) @ richardeward.com

The Scarlet Letter (Penguin Classics)
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Penguin Classics

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• One of the best novels ever
  'The Scarlet Letter' is a beautifully written and perfectly balanced classic of American literature, addressing in a lean 251 pages countless issues of the human experience: love, the nature of sin and shame and repentance, revenge and mercy, civilization and wild, society and ostracism. In bald terms, 'The Scarlet Letter' is absolutely one of the best pieces of writing ever, um, written.
  A lot of people seem to take umbrage at Hawthorne's affected 19th-century style. My advice to you: get over it.... more info

• Sin, Redemption
  I think the many readers who were forced to partake of this classic were angry at their English teacher for making them read a book so wordy, detailed, and archaic in language. Many of the reviewers' complaints are about the author's style, which is definitely an acquired taste. Hawthorne doesn't merely give you a scene; he tries to tell you what time it is, how and why it is happening, and what each character is thinking as they enter the room. In this way, this can be a turn off to a leisurely reader; it... more info

• Hawthorne's Masterpiece
  Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is a tale of secret love, adultery, and sadness. Every person should read this timeless American novel at some point in their life. The strength of Hester Prynne is unusual for novels composed during the time this was published, and is therefore a revolutionary literary work. My only complaint is the length of "The Custom House," however horrible this sounds, I would just skip it, it does not add to the plot of the novel anyway.

• A wonderful piece of literature, however
  I completely agree with most HS students that this book should be optional reading for them because HS teachers should very well know that there are many different minds that need very different kinds of reading material and exposure to variety is not always a good thing that's why you end up having reviews of books like this by some HS students who puke on it rather then have savored it like I did. My reasons for really loving this book is because of the historical/puritan life and manners I like to read... more info

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