"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne


Rating: 5.0

The Scarlet Letter is a wonderfully written romantic thriller. I found it full of suspense and mystery.

This book really starts with a bang. Hester Prynne, along with her baby, Pearl, are put upon the scaffold as acknowledgment and punishment for her adulterous affair. She is forced to wear a large letter A on her chest so everybody can see her sin. She refuses to announce the man with whom she sinned. That's where the mystery and suspense starts. What do the Reverend Mr. Dimmsdale and the newcomer Doctor Roger Chillingworth have to do with everything? Lots.

This book really held my interest. I'd read it before, a long time ago, and had forgotten how good it really is. I had a hard time putting it down. The writing is beautiful and really conveys the Puritanism of the story. The synopsis from Barnes & Noble says it perfectly. "The landscape of this classic novel is uniquely American, but the themes it explores are universal—the nature of sin, guilt, and penitence, the clash between our private and public selves, and the spiritual and psychological cost of living outside society. Constructed with the elegance of a Greek tragedy, The Scarlet Letter brilliantly illuminates the truth that lies deep within the human heart."

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