Has anyone else read this wonderful, classic book by Nathaniel Hawthorne? I just started reading it for school this week. I didn't know if I would really like it or what and it sounded just plain weird for a while (of course it would when I thought it was the story about a letter (like the kind you would write to someone) that had blood or something on it! but that was a long time ago when I thought that ) but now that I'm reading it I have to say I'm really enjoying it! Of course I love all classic, deep novels, but this one has a very interesting plotline and it's even got a few twists (like Hester's husband and their past and all the mystery surrounding her "A") which make it all the better...

anyway, anyone else read and enjoyed (or even despised ) The Scarlet Letter? Thoughts anyone?

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-sig by Loafers-

I'll take the latter. I couldn't stand that book. It may have been better had it not been written by Hawthorne. I mean, he took half a page to say one sentence! He kept going off onto tangents. I hate that. And I didn't find much mystery in the story, as they practically told you flat out who Pearl's father was. The really only interesting part was Chillingsworth [that's his name, right?], but even that was dull the way Hawthorne wrote it.

But to each his own, eh? I'm glad you enjoy it.

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going on a journey through my old claims

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Chase a couple hearts, we could leave 'em in shreds
Meet me in the gutter, make the devil your friend
Just remember what I said, cause it isn't over yet

Get.Lost.In.The.Dark.To.Find.Yourself
-sig by Loafers-

It was a little difficult to understand,but I liked it.I read it for school last year.

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^thanks Aliana

But see, I love Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, classics like that. I read them all the time. [I'm on Northanger Abbey right now, which is an Austen one.] But something about that book and Hawthorne...I dunno. I don't like it. I like most classics, just not that one.

We had to read Fredrick Douglass's biography [the whole school did] last year. Now that's even more tedious. One part was great though. About halfway through the book, he's writing on some random thing and then says "but again I digress." I just cracked up. So true.

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going on a journey through my old claims

^hmm, that's really strange. It would seem like if you liked them than you'd like Hawthorne... ah, either way.
(I am happy to hear there's another person out there who likes Dickens though! and Northanger Abbey... what's that book like? (even though that is off-topic ))

Awww, I just got done reading Fredrick Douglass's autobiography and I actually kinda liked it! some of it toward the end was tedious, but I thought it was interesting to read about what the slaves had to go through and how hard it was and everything... I can just imagine what it was like back then and how horrid it must have been! (maybe that's the same thing that attracts me to The Scarlet Letter? )



yay! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it too, Star.

_________________
Chase a couple hearts, we could leave 'em in shreds
Meet me in the gutter, make the devil your friend
Just remember what I said, cause it isn't over yet

Get.Lost.In.The.Dark.To.Find.Yourself
-sig by Loafers-

Meh.. that's all I really have to say. The story was certainly intriguing and mysterious, but like Nurr, it just wasn't the story for me. Nathaniel Hawthorne is a classic writer for sure, but his style of writing is much too... sesquipedal, shall we say. I'm glad you enjoyed it, PD.

I think with me, I really need a plot. And Scarlet Letter didn't have much of a plot for me. I mean, I knew who Pearl's father was, I knew Hester was an outcast, and there wasn't a whole lot to it. It was just them living. And I so dislike stories where it's just people going about their lives. Like I disliked Great Expectations for the most part, because the majority of it was about the guy going about his life. Some bits were interesting, but mostly....nah. I need some sort of point the writer is trying to get to.

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going on a journey through my old claims

I thought the Scarlet Letter was really good, I enjoyed it a lot. Well, enjoyed isn't exactly the right word, as I found it terrifying, but it was a good terrifying.
I did find it slightly annoying the Hawthorne exaggerated the Puritans so much...for general information, they weren't that bad.

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