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cozyreadings 's review for:
The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
2025 reads book 7
When an uninstructed multitude attempts to see with its eyes, it is exceedingly apt to be deceived.
2.5 rounded up to a 3 stars! There are spoilers ahead. TLDR at the bottom for anybody who doesn't want to read my ranting!
This is a rough one to rate. While I did enjoy the story and the complexity of the characters, I absolutely hated the writing style. It looked like Hawthorne discovered what a comma was and used it every possible second, even if it didn't make sense to use it. Now I know this looks like I just dislike run-on sentences, but that is not true at all! Charles Dickens, who is well known for his run-on sentences, is one of my favorite authors. With Hawthorne the over-use of comma's just didn't make sense and made it really hard to get through the story.
The story itself was good. The concept of sin, guilt and hypocrisy was well done. The one thing that I strongly disliked, and which lowered my rating significantly, is the fact that Hawthorne did not let the reader think for themselves. It looked like he really wanted the reader to know how smart he was, and to make sure that they did know he would then tell the meaning of his metaphor in the next sentence. He did this multiple times and it frustrated me to no end. Some examples:
But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price,—purchased with all she had,—her mother’s only treasure!
Pearl gets dressed in a dress made in the exact same colour as the A on Hester's chest:
But it was a remarkable attribute of this garb, and, indeed, of the child’s whole appearance, that it irresistibly and inevitably reminded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom. It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!
As the last touch to her mermaid’s garb, Pearl took some eel-grass, and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother’s. A letter,—the letter A,—but freshly green, instead of scarlet!
But the brook, in the course of its little lifetime among the forest-trees, had gone through so solemn an experience that it could not help talking about it, and seemed to have nothing else to say. Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom.
This is just a handful of examples, but there are so many more! My kindle highlights (and sassy comments on them) are public so anyone who wants to see me lose my mind with them is free to check them out.
The character of the priest was incredibly frustrating to read. Most of the plot is about who Pearl's father could be. Hester promises the father to keep her mouth shut, and she does indeed do so. Where she has to carry around the A on her chest, the father of the child keeps his secret. The book makes a big show showing the differences between the open guilt and the guilt that was felt in secret, but it was absolute bullshit to me how it was portrayed. Quotes like:
Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?” “I do verily believe it,” answered the clergyman. and:
Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! made it seem like the turmoil of the secret father was way worse than the open scorn and humiliation poor Hester had to endure. And then he dares to blame her for how he is feeling.
Having said that, the fact that the priest managed to make me so angry shows that Hawthorne managed to put down a well-written character, so I'll give him that.
It's my first classic in a while that greatly disappointed me, but at least I know Hawthorne isn't for me.
TLDR; while the story is great, Hawthorne has a rough writing style with too many commas and run-on sentences to make the reading enjoyable. On top of that he doesn't let the reader think for themselves, but explains his metaphors to make sure that everybody knows how clever it really was. Not for me unfortunately.
When an uninstructed multitude attempts to see with its eyes, it is exceedingly apt to be deceived.
2.5 rounded up to a 3 stars! There are spoilers ahead. TLDR at the bottom for anybody who doesn't want to read my ranting!
This is a rough one to rate. While I did enjoy the story and the complexity of the characters, I absolutely hated the writing style. It looked like Hawthorne discovered what a comma was and used it every possible second, even if it didn't make sense to use it. Now I know this looks like I just dislike run-on sentences, but that is not true at all! Charles Dickens, who is well known for his run-on sentences, is one of my favorite authors. With Hawthorne the over-use of comma's just didn't make sense and made it really hard to get through the story.
The story itself was good. The concept of sin, guilt and hypocrisy was well done. The one thing that I strongly disliked, and which lowered my rating significantly, is the fact that Hawthorne did not let the reader think for themselves. It looked like he really wanted the reader to know how smart he was, and to make sure that they did know he would then tell the meaning of his metaphor in the next sentence. He did this multiple times and it frustrated me to no end. Some examples:
But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price,—purchased with all she had,—her mother’s only treasure!
Pearl gets dressed in a dress made in the exact same colour as the A on Hester's chest:
But it was a remarkable attribute of this garb, and, indeed, of the child’s whole appearance, that it irresistibly and inevitably reminded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom. It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!
As the last touch to her mermaid’s garb, Pearl took some eel-grass, and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother’s. A letter,—the letter A,—but freshly green, instead of scarlet!
But the brook, in the course of its little lifetime among the forest-trees, had gone through so solemn an experience that it could not help talking about it, and seemed to have nothing else to say. Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom.
This is just a handful of examples, but there are so many more! My kindle highlights (and sassy comments on them) are public so anyone who wants to see me lose my mind with them is free to check them out.
The character of the priest was incredibly frustrating to read. Most of the plot is about who Pearl's father could be. Hester promises the father to keep her mouth shut, and she does indeed do so. Where she has to carry around the A on her chest, the father of the child keeps his secret. The book makes a big show showing the differences between the open guilt and the guilt that was felt in secret, but it was absolute bullshit to me how it was portrayed. Quotes like:
Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?” “I do verily believe it,” answered the clergyman. and:
Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! made it seem like the turmoil of the secret father was way worse than the open scorn and humiliation poor Hester had to endure. And then he dares to blame her for how he is feeling.
Having said that, the fact that the priest managed to make me so angry shows that Hawthorne managed to put down a well-written character, so I'll give him that.
It's my first classic in a while that greatly disappointed me, but at least I know Hawthorne isn't for me.
TLDR; while the story is great, Hawthorne has a rough writing style with too many commas and run-on sentences to make the reading enjoyable. On top of that he doesn't let the reader think for themselves, but explains his metaphors to make sure that everybody knows how clever it really was. Not for me unfortunately.