The Scarlet Letter (Penguin Classics)
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Scarlet Letter.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 23814)
This was my third time reading The Scarlet Letter. The first time was during my junior year of high school. I actually enjoyed it, though literature of the nineteenth century was such a mystery to me then that I shied away from the creaky long words and felt proud of myself for succeeding in merely following the plot. When I first read it to teach it last year, I was enraptured. This year was the same. Hawthorne has such an impressive command over language. The eloquence of his lang...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
recommended to Ramberto by:
Kristyne Torruellarecommends it for: Amercan Literature Lovers
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 1989
recommends it for:
Marquis deSade
I found my old high school review of this book. Here's a little bit of my assessment. Apologiese in advance:
If there is a hell, Hawthorne is the devil's sidekick, and the first thing you're given (after the stark realization that you're in hell, on fire, and this is going to last forever) is this book. And you have to do a 10 page paper praising the wondrous virtues of this massive waste of time. And after you've finished writing (in your own blood, mind you) your stupid paper, you are gi...more
If there is a hell, Hawthorne is the devil's sidekick, and the first thing you're given (after the stark realization that you're in hell, on fire, and this is going to last forever) is this book. And you have to do a 10 page paper praising the wondrous virtues of this massive waste of time. And after you've finished writing (in your own blood, mind you) your stupid paper, you are gi...more
Like this review?
yes
(6 people liked it)
6 comments
(2.5-3.5) Every since "The Scarlet Letter" was first written it has been acclaimed for its interesting story and excellent literary prose. For me, this book wasn't a dull read; at times it was difficult to put down because I was drawn into the drama of events that surround the main characters. One of the things I really enjoyed about this novel was the majesty of the old English. In the depiction of a few events, Hawthorne's style struck me as rather wordy--it wasn't my favorite style-...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1998
recommends it for:
Any reader who doesn't mind 19th-century diction
Actually, I've read this book twice, the first time when I was in high school. Reading it again after some thirty years, I was amazed at the amount of meaning I'd missed the first time!
Most modern readers don't realize (and certainly aren't taught in school) that Hawthorne --as his fiction, essays and journals make clear-- was a strong Christian, though he steadfastly refused to join a denomination; and here his central subject is the central subject of the Christian gospel: sin's guilt and...more
Most modern readers don't realize (and certainly aren't taught in school) that Hawthorne --as his fiction, essays and journals make clear-- was a strong Christian, though he steadfastly refused to join a denomination; and here his central subject is the central subject of the Christian gospel: sin's guilt and...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 1996
recommends it for:
penyuka sastra klasik
The Scarlet Letter (1850) adalah salah satu karya klasik sastra Amerika yang penting, di samping Moby Dick (1851) dan Leaves of Grass (1855). Di bagian depan buku yang saya miliki, terbitan tahun 1960, ditulis bahwa pada umur 45, Nathaniel Hawthorne kehilangan pekerjaannya di Dinas Beacukai Salem. Bertahun-tahun kemudian, ia berkata pada orang yang telah memecat dirinya, "Tuhan memberkati kalian!" Karena dengan memecat dirinya, Hawthorne punya kesempatan untuk mela...more
Like this review?
yes
12 comments
Read in January, 2003
Hester Prynne in 1642 sentenced in Boston to wearing a scarlet A on her dress because she's pregnant as a result of an affair; her husband who's been presumed lost at sea shows up and promises to punish the man who did it; he takes a new name, Roger Chillingworth, to aid him in his plan; Pearl, the baby, becomes unruly as she grows up and rumors fly that she's going to be taken away from Hester; Hester goes to speak to Governor Chillingworth and he says she can stay with Hester; Minister Dimmesd...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
The scarlet Letter is a book that is considered to be one of the most famous books of literature. The story is not very complex but the way the story is written and its ideas that run deeper are. When reading the book, I found that it was hard to follow at times. The author, Hawthorne, would simply go on about things that had little importance to the chapter I was currently reading. I was a times discouraged by this book because it was long and it was on top of doing many assignments that...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Yes, yes, I know, everyone hates The Scarlet Letter.
But I've got a special fondness for it. When I was in tenth grade, our English teacher gave us a list of topics to choose from for our Scarlet Letter Essay. Discuss the changing role of women, analyze the symbolism of the forest, etc. This was the first time I'd been asked for literary criticism.
So I was flipping back through the book and writing down examples, cataloging any appearance or reference to anything supernatural, and ...more
But I've got a special fondness for it. When I was in tenth grade, our English teacher gave us a list of topics to choose from for our Scarlet Letter Essay. Discuss the changing role of women, analyze the symbolism of the forest, etc. This was the first time I'd been asked for literary criticism.
So I was flipping back through the book and writing down examples, cataloging any appearance or reference to anything supernatural, and ...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in February, 2005
This book is quite interesting, not because it simply has a scenario of society versus the individual, but also the most peculiar characters to go with it. Each character represents themselves as an individual.
The mother is your basic quiet character and mostly predicitable, which didn't quite strike me as far from characters like John Procter, but then you have a character like Pearl, a rampant little demon child who makes the story all the more cute. She constantly tries to unknowingly mak...more
The mother is your basic quiet character and mostly predicitable, which didn't quite strike me as far from characters like John Procter, but then you have a character like Pearl, a rampant little demon child who makes the story all the more cute. She constantly tries to unknowingly mak...more
Like this review?
yes
2 comments
Read in January, 1962
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Five stars for The Scarlet Letter? Are you sure?
Yes, I affirm!
The five star status is deserved in a very specific, personal sense. I suspect an explanation of that sense could scarcely help you in determing whether to read it for yourself. If you read with something of that imperative in mind, and I bet you sometimes do, then I'm not sure my dope is so straight or my deal so low down.
The specific sense, then.
Eight grade, I was assigned the book in an honors English class....more
Yes, I affirm!
The five star status is deserved in a very specific, personal sense. I suspect an explanation of that sense could scarcely help you in determing whether to read it for yourself. If you read with something of that imperative in mind, and I bet you sometimes do, then I'm not sure my dope is so straight or my deal so low down.
The specific sense, then.
Eight grade, I was assigned the book in an honors English class....more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
recommended to Natalie by:
This book was brought to you by the (scarlet) letter Arecommends it for: adulterers, folks interested in old times, puritans, literary types
Hadn't read this since high school. I remember it being one of the required readings for English class that I liked the best. But reading it now, I was a bit bored. Except for Shakespeare, I don't seem to enjoy reading old timey dialogue. Plus, there are many passages of description that just go on and on and on and I found myself skimming or skipping parts all together due to boredom. Don't get me wrong, I find the overall story itself to be wonderful. I really think that Hawthorne wrote a wond...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in January, 2008
How I got through high school and college without being required to read this book, I'm really not sure, especially as an English major growing up in the Boston area. And in spite of what I feared - because it is usually "Required Reading" - I actually enjoyed it very much!
Hawthorne's juxtaposition of the natural world of the forest and the sea with the town (Boston) and its strict and dour inhabitants gives insight not only into the time of which he writes (late 1600s) but his own...more
Hawthorne's juxtaposition of the natural world of the forest and the sea with the town (Boston) and its strict and dour inhabitants gives insight not only into the time of which he writes (late 1600s) but his own...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 1983
recommends it for:
Everyone
I know people loathe this book and I understand why. Hawthorne often takes three pages to state what could have been said in two sentences. But if you plow through the stiff language and knock-you-on-the-head symbolism, you'll find at the heart of this story, an amazing soul in the character of Hester Prynne. From the beginning, Hester must face the staggeringly raw deal Life has handed her. From her decrepit, malevolent husband to her cowardly, self-loathing lover to her demonic child to t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
It's interesting giving a star type rating to a classic novel. And then I put my mouse over the stars to assign it a value and I'm reminded that I'm not giving a review of the quality of the novel, but of my enjoyment of the novel. I don't take pleasure in things that drag on or are filled with superfluous flowery verbage. I'm not a big Dickens fan, for instance, although, I do have a soft spot for great expectations. If I didn't have to give a star rating to this book, I wouldn't. I read t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Fans of longwinded authors
Tell me there's something I missed with this book. It goes nowhere. If one gets past the horridly tedious writing style (think the worst of "A Tale of Two Cities", "Tess of the D'urbervilles" and "Wuthering Heights" thrown together into a blender set first to "liquefy", then to "publish", and you'd be right about there), one is left with a story totally bereft of any action, consequence, or intrigue. There's scarcely a moral implication to be ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in November, 1995
Spoiler alert! Woo-hoo!
Let me preface this by saying that I was never one of those kids in high school who just hated reading, and wouldn't be conned into doing it. On the contrary, I was one of those dorks who was done with the reading list for the whole year by Thanksgiving break. I even borrowed books- books that were not required, mind you- from my friends in other English classes. But I really HATED this book in school. I retain an intense dislike of it to this day, though I haven't...more
Let me preface this by saying that I was never one of those kids in high school who just hated reading, and wouldn't be conned into doing it. On the contrary, I was one of those dorks who was done with the reading list for the whole year by Thanksgiving break. I even borrowed books- books that were not required, mind you- from my friends in other English classes. But I really HATED this book in school. I retain an intense dislike of it to this day, though I haven't...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone who enjoys reading books that requires a lot of patience
We read this novel for English, and at the end of it...I was so relieved! This book was about a sinner named Hester Prynne. Hester committed adultery with the local minister, Rev. Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale. She is punished by her town, Boston, and is required to wear a Scarlet Letter, the letter A for adultery.
Honestly, I did not enjoy reading this book at all. I had such a difficult time understanding what Hawthorne was trying to say, especially since he interrupts the story with his opinion....more
Honestly, I did not enjoy reading this book at all. I had such a difficult time understanding what Hawthorne was trying to say, especially since he interrupts the story with his opinion....more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment