Before anything, I'd like to say that even though this blog is written in English, I recommend you to do as I did and read the books I criticise in their original language (if you can). This way you'll like them much more and you'll find astute word games and double meanings which will help you read the book in all of its potential.

January 07, 2014

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Criticism:

This book hides, in a story of love, scandal and guilt, the relationship between society and the individual. It tells the story of a woman who becomes an adulterer while her husband is missing and is discovered because, as a consequence, she has a child. This woman is then publicly shamed and separated from society; and the story is about her reaction
towards her new public position, the reaction of the man with whom she was, and the reaction of the town in which the story happens. It is a great novel because the description and depth of the characters is incredibly precise. The themes of shame, guilt, repentance, and the effect that these have on people is explored in great detail. The theme of sin can also be highlighted, and all this joins in a powerful novel in which one must decipher all the symbols and ironies to find a wonderful image of society and of its people and their motivations.
This book is short and it's not dense, but it has a lot of symbolic, edifying and significant content. It's not a book which grips the reader powerfully, and it is also not a boring book which is not interesting. It is a book which leaves a mark behind, and moreover it is a book in which the characters are so well developed and are so real that they are completely understandable. Therefore, from my point of view it is a book that must be read at some point, with a lot of time to spare in order to advance slowly, pondering every element that appears.

Author's official webpage: Nonexistent

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