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 time as well (1840s). Not knowing anything about the story beyond "Hester is an adultress who gets to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest for punishment" was an advantage, as I really was in suspense about what was going to happen to her daughter Pearl and the relationship between her former husband and her secret lover.

The truths of human nature - love, jealousy, revenge, shame, passion - are revealed as timeless in Hawthorne's story.