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| Mass market paperback, 288 pages Published 1971 (originally 1852) Read November 2007 |
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
When I read Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in high school, I hated it. So when the chance came to reread it in ENG 141 last fall, I eagerly passed it up and read Washington Irving's The Sketch Book instead. But I also read three of Hawthorne's short stories ("The Birth-Mark", "Rappacini's Daughter", and "Young Goodman Brown" (a re-read)), and enjoyed them. A lot. So I decided to give another Hawthorne novel a go, and this was the one I picked.
It was all right. Whatever the concentrated Hawthorne of the short stories did for me was not present here. I'm not turned off by his prose style to the extent I was in high school, but I do tend to glaze right over whole pages waiting for something to happen. It started promisingly enough, but halfway through I realized it just wasn't interesting me, as I didn't know exactly what was going on-- but didn't care either. So I finished it dutifully enough, but I already can scarcely tell you anything about but what happened in the book's second half. I'd still like to try some more of his short stories, though.
It was all right. Whatever the concentrated Hawthorne of the short stories did for me was not present here. I'm not turned off by his prose style to the extent I was in high school, but I do tend to glaze right over whole pages waiting for something to happen. It started promisingly enough, but halfway through I realized it just wasn't interesting me, as I didn't know exactly what was going on-- but didn't care either. So I finished it dutifully enough, but I already can scarcely tell you anything about but what happened in the book's second half. I'd still like to try some more of his short stories, though.
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