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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of the best works of American fiction that exists.
The Scarlet Letter = 1.5 stars
Words that Hawthorne obviously likes a lot (and that I now hate):
ignominy
bosom
breast
venerable
epoch
Oh... And we must not forget the exclamation marks! And the long sentences, that continue on and on, even if there should have been a period; wherewith the keyboard or thou printing press wherewithal must not have had a period; even though that's stupid because it sure did have semi-colons; and just so you know, thy is being funny and mocking Hawthorne's writing; even though seriously the sentences would be this long. Yea (he said that a lot too.)
Overall, I thought this book was like a bad sequel. When I learned I had to read this for my literature class, I thought it would be about this ongoing affair. So, therefore, I thought the whole book would be this fancy, old, dirty scandalous novel. And although I wasn't very excited about this, I thought that it would at least be interesting.
Wrong.
Like I said, this was like a sequel of a book that was never published. The first imaginary book (the interesting one that actually detailed all the juicy stuff) should have been called The Scarlet Letter: How It Happened . This book is like the aftermath; the boring stuff no one cares about. Here, let me break it down.
So there's this Puritan ("pure") chick named Hester. She lives in Boston (I think?), back in the seventeenth century. Her old hag of a husband is back in England and he was planning to meet her in the Americas. But ole Hester got tired of waiting. So she had this affair and committed adultery. Along with a prolonged "ignominy" (ugh) a scarlet letter is placed upon her "bosom"..."breast"...whatever. It is a letter "A". So now Hester is walking around with her crazy daughter, Pearl. But then her old husband, "Chillingworth" (I put the quotes because I got the impression that that was just his alias) comes to New England and plans to get revenge on Hester's "mysterious" baby daddy. Right.
The thing is, by chapter...seven, I already knew who the darn father was (I won't say it, even if it's pretty obvious). Okay, maybe that's not all that impressive but I think the mystery should have gone through the whole book. The whole thing felt dry to me. I'm not saying that Hawthorne doesn't write nicely (even if I didn't understand 25% of what he said). It was just...very old. That's really the only way I can describe it. Everyone talked like this: Hath you finished ye book! Yea! Thou book hath badth! Thy ignominy tis glowing celestially!
-_-
Oh! And it was in third person. Ugh.
Just glad I finished this thing for class.
Words that Hawthorne obviously likes a lot (and that I now hate):
ignominy
bosom
breast
venerable
epoch
Oh... And we must not forget the exclamation marks! And the long sentences, that continue on and on, even if there should have been a period; wherewith the keyboard or thou printing press wherewithal must not have had a period; even though that's stupid because it sure did have semi-colons; and just so you know, thy is being funny and mocking Hawthorne's writing; even though seriously the sentences would be this long. Yea (he said that a lot too.)
Overall, I thought this book was like a bad sequel. When I learned I had to read this for my literature class, I thought it would be about this ongoing affair. So, therefore, I thought the whole book would be this fancy, old, dirty scandalous novel. And although I wasn't very excited about this, I thought that it would at least be interesting.
Wrong.
Like I said, this was like a sequel of a book that was never published. The first imaginary book (the interesting one that actually detailed all the juicy stuff) should have been called The Scarlet Letter: How It Happened . This book is like the aftermath; the boring stuff no one cares about. Here, let me break it down.
So there's this Puritan ("pure") chick named Hester. She lives in Boston (I think?), back in the seventeenth century. Her old hag of a husband is back in England and he was planning to meet her in the Americas. But ole Hester got tired of waiting. So she had this affair and committed adultery. Along with a prolonged "ignominy" (ugh) a scarlet letter is placed upon her "bosom"..."breast"...whatever. It is a letter "A". So now Hester is walking around with her crazy daughter, Pearl. But then her old husband, "Chillingworth" (I put the quotes because I got the impression that that was just his alias) comes to New England and plans to get revenge on Hester's "mysterious" baby daddy. Right.
The thing is, by chapter...seven, I already knew who the darn father was (I won't say it, even if it's pretty obvious). Okay, maybe that's not all that impressive but I think the mystery should have gone through the whole book. The whole thing felt dry to me. I'm not saying that Hawthorne doesn't write nicely (even if I didn't understand 25% of what he said). It was just...very old. That's really the only way I can describe it. Everyone talked like this: Hath you finished ye book! Yea! Thou book hath badth! Thy ignominy tis glowing celestially!
-_-
Oh! And it was in third person. Ugh.
Just glad I finished this thing for class.
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Easy and interesting read
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This book is a highly satirical entertaining read. Hawthorn demonstrates his wit and humor, and imparts to us a message and warning. Although near the end it seemed to slow down considerably the rest of the Scarlett Letter was highly entertaining.