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Title: The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrator: Elizabeth McGovern

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-23-05

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Set in the Puritanical society of 17th-century Boston, this novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, a married woman who has an affair and gives birth to a daughter. Hester refuses to name her lover, but when her estranged husband appears unexpectedly, he determines to discover the man's identity.

© Nathaniel Hawthorne; (P)1996 Harper Collins UK

Members Reviews:

Long on "Tell", Short on "Show"

Nathaniel Hawthorne's gift for style is indefatigable. Throughout the novel, his command of language delivers masterful prose dense with descriptive power.

And therein lies his great weakness. He has a genius for mining the meaning from every action, every movement, indeed, every word of dialogue, but in his exegetical fervor he neglects to simply describe what is happening. What little description he provides is overshadowed by the towering commentary surrounding it.

Perhaps that is why the Puritans are held in such a dismal light in this novel: aside from their intolerance serving as a plot device, they were known for their exegetical prowess, and Hawthorne simply detested in others what was never fully realized within himself. (This speculation serves only to amuse myself.)

Nevertheless, this novel ought to be mandatory reading for all Americans and all students of American culture. Readers and writers alike will only come away from it aesthectically edified and intellectually enhanced.

Good story. Not so good book.

I liked the story very much. It was a good story and my enjoyment of it was much more than I expected to get out of it.

The writing bothered me though. It was a "tell, don't show" book instead of the usual "show don't tell". The characters would have been much more interesting if we actually got to see the experiences that we were told about or if we were shown an actual conversation instead of the majority of conversions just being relayed via the narrator.

Captivating read

It is a classic for a reason...the story is spell-bounding and, once you start it, you won't want to put it down if you're a reader like me? The sacrifices this woman made for her daughter were of the nature only a loving and sorrowful Mother could be capable of. Highly reccomended

slow at first, the author is telling of his own world experience

Not necessarily a religious story, but one filled with humanity. The young fly into life. This story helps illumine the sometimes treacherous path testing each human heart. Therefore, it is worth pausing and listening to the silence that tells of more than surface, but fills the true space of life that requires living truly. Hester is truly a heroine of our times. She never denies the worst in herself as if to conceal...but plainly communicates who she is always in unvarnished clarity for the service of anyone, but especially pearl. Her strength in the worst is to be highly lauded. Very moving written 250 years ago.

A good peek into the Puritans of the day.

Overall, it was quite a good book. It reflected the Puritan ways of the time and the guilt people carried with them as a result.

It also, unfortunately, carried the flowery language of the day when it was written, so that lost a point from me. I considered giving it a 3, but then realised that the writing is very good, even if it's not the style I prefer (I like plot and action).