The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings

I think it is one of the most realistic and wonderful books that carries you in the past, in the “dark age” of America. A hypocrite religion, true love and a woman of power and ambition for her family and future. The Scarlet Letter is just wonderful!

Final Rating: 4.25

Enjoyed the deeper psychological meaning behind the characters choices and how they lived with those choices. Enjoyed how guilt was portrayed and the effects it has on the psyche and body. Its a good story and should be enjoyed for what it is.

1/5⭐
Absolutely awful old-timey garbage. Who actually enjoyed this book? It was so boring nothing happened for like 200 pages. And I had to do a test on it

Bellissimo racconto, personaggi molto vivi, il puritanesimo vs il peccato nelle vita dei coloni americani a Boston. 8

Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman. Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or—and the outward semblance is the same—crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more. The latter is perhaps the truest theory.

I honestly love this book and have no idea what people mean when they say it is unreadable, the language is WONDERFUL.
Here are a couple of quotes I loved:

“Continuously, and in a thousand other ways, did she feel the innumerable throbs of anguish that had been so cunningly contrived for her by the undying, the ever-active sentence of the Puritan tribunal.”

“His form grew emancipated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it”

“He now dug into the poor clergyman's heart, like a miner searching for gold; or, rather, like a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man's bosom, but likely to find nothing save mortality and corruption.”

” To the untrue man, the whole universe is false - it is impalpable - it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself, in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow or, indeed, ceases to exist.”

“The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child. And she was gentler here than in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it, and one and another whispered as the passed ‘Adorn thyself with me, thou beautiful child, adorn thyself with me!' - and, to please them, Pearl gathered the violets, and anemones, and columbines, and some twigs of the freshest green, which the old trees held down before her eyes. With these she decorated her hair and her young waist, and became a nymph-child, or an infant-dryad, or whatever else was in closest sympathy with the antique wood.”

Seriously, did we read the same book?!

super quick and fun read! I wouldve loved to read this in one sitting but i spent 10 days fixing my sleep schedule so i never had time to read as i was so tired in the day time ugh

Dimmesdale can suck my balls. Chillingworth can suck my balls. Glad dimmesdale died: it was deserved. Stupid how he barely redeemed himself ONLY because he was dying and Hawthorne making it seem like this monumental character arc, like no, he did not CHANGE one bit

“We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep.”

“In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it... She stood apart from mortal interests, yet close beside them, like a ghost that revisits the familiar fireside, and can no longer make itself seen or felt.”

“Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman. Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survives, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or—and the outward semblance is the same—crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more.”

For a child dancing in the field, unaware of her mother's grief. For a priest who realised what really mattered. For a woman who refused to yield...For a letter that became a badge of honour and courage.

Actual Rating: 2.5

Honestly, this book kinda sucks. I'm really sorry if you have to read it for school and analyze it, because I read it for leisure and didn't like it.

For one, this book is incredibly boring. There are pages of useless description that add nothing to the story. Yes, I am aware that classics tend to have far more description than books nowadays, but at least the descriptions are usually conducive to the plot. Not in this case. My eyes kind of glazed over some of the pages because they were irrelevant to the story. The pacing in this book is so weird. So weird. It kind of (emphasis on kind of) follows Pearl through her early life. Except... she's a baby in one part. Then she's four. And then she's seven. There's no in between. It wasn't hard to follow, just irritating.

As for the plot... it's kind of awful. Basically, Hester commits adultery and the guy she does it with struggles with his guilt until the “epic” and “majestic” conclusion at the end. Let me tell you. The description on the back of this particular copy is so deceiving. It sounds so great, and cool, and epic and it's just... not.

I didn't like the characters. Arthur kind of pissed me off with his selfishness and Hester was just eh. And Roger? That was just one weird, messed up dude. There was nothing compelling for me in this book.

Anyways, this book was pretty bad except for the writing. Really, I read classics for the writing. I find it so beautiful and elegant, and books just aren't written the same way today. Hawthorne's writing is absolutely lovely. I loved learning new vocabulary words from this book (somnambulism!) and maybe I'll use them to enhance my own writing.

Overall, this book, to say it frankly, sucks. Everything is awful except for Hawthorne's writing itself and the historical connections you can make for it. Again- I apologize if you have to read it for school. Good luck to you, good sir.

Skip the first 20%. It's about the author's life as a worker in custom-house. It might be the best description of the daily life of a worker in a custom-house, still doesn't make for a good reading.

The story seems like it could be good, Esther is a young woman is sent to this puritan town in America by her husband, and wait for him there. She ends up pregnant, and the townspeople decide not to kill her, the usual penalty for that crime, but to brand her clothes with the A letter.

However, the story purposely focus too much on the description of the characters and their feelings, with numerous metaphors and useless descriptions. No content at all.

PLEASE see the mots likes reviewer here, she got it right!

Read 3:33/8:55 40%

A very slight story, massively over-written!

I liked this book about Puritan ethics and hypocrisy. I found the reactions of the townspeople to Hester interesting as time goes by.

Read it in high school. Hated it then, not so sure now.