Despite having a degree in literature, I have never taken an American Lit class, so I am on a mission to educate myself. The Scarlet Letter seemed like a good place to start as a) the stage version was coming to town and I’m a big fan of the ‘read the book first’ approach to adaptations; b) compared to some other ‘classic’ novels, The Scarlet Letter is relatively short; and c) I’m a big fan of Easy A (which I didn’t realize at the time was The Scarlet Letter, done up in Clueless-style).
Sadly, my love of Easy A did not translate to a love of The Scarlet Letter. It’s not that Hawthorne’s book is bad- it is fine- but for a book with such a sexy topic (adultery!), there is a real dearth of romantic tension. Instead, Hawthorne focuses on decidedly more serious topics- community morals, personal integrity, revenge and hypocrisy. All of which should make for some interesting reading (and likely was more scandalous when it first came out in the 1850s) but which feels a bit old hat these days.
When I did a quick google of reviews on GoodReads I saw that a lot of people had trouble with the formal, flowery language, and the intro framing device (the ‘author’ finds a scarlet fabric ‘A’ in the customs house he is working in, and then he tells Hester’s story based on what he uncovers from past documents about the scandal). I don’t disagree on either point of criticism, but I wasn’t particularly bothered by them either- I think these are par for the course with books from that period, so maybe my expectations limited my disappointment? My bigger issue was how slowly the action moved once we were into Hester’s story- we meet her when the baby is a newborn and nothing much happens until the kid is kindergarten age, which is the very tail end of the book.
All told, I’m glad I read it so that I can add it to my background understanding of American Lit (and I’m curious to see how Hawthorne fits in with other American classics), but I don’t feel the need to keep this particular novel in my collection. I also look forward to any future adaptions that include Emma Stone- she makes everything better.