So, as we just finished the very dense novel Heart of Darkness, I find it only fitting that I also finish my independent reading book The Scarlet Letter as its font and page length rival that of Conrad's. It was really difficult reading both those books at the same time as while the page amounts weren't small, the amount of words and details was at times very annoying.
The novel overall was okay, but personally I was very bored with it. That's not to say that it was bad, not at all. I just wasn't as interested in this book than my last independent reading book and found it a little boring. I don't know why, but for most of the book I was really disinterested and couldn't get into it. Now, there were some good things that came out of Scarlet Letter. I will admit that the story is a very interesting idea and I enjoyed learning a little more about the Puritan culture. For those of you unaware, The Scarlet Letter is the story of a woman, Hester Prynne, who lives in a Puritan Community and commits adultery with someone. She is then forced to wear a Red A on her clothes as a sign of shame and be shunned by the community. I also really enjoyed how this novel was written in a "modern" way. Since this book was written back in 1850, many would expect it to be very dense and a little hard to follow. Surprisingly, it's the opposite. The book was (for the most part) easy to follow and wasn't as dense as many people would imagine. Weirdly enough, this book was easier to follow than my post 20th century book (Sound and the Fury).
Really, I can't give an honest opinion on this book as it was an interesting story, I was just too uninterested to care about it or ever get into it. If this sounds like it would be an interesting story, by all means read it. Honestly, I think reading Heart of Darkness put me off of it as the font and page styles are very similar and it reminded me of the densest book ever.
Nice post, Austin! I agree that *The Scarlet Letter* was not nearly as interesting to read as *The Kite Runner*, but I do think that for an older book, it was a LOT better than others written in the same time period. I truly was surprised by how modern a style it was written in compared to what it could have been. Sure, some parts weren't all that entertaining, but that's bound to happen with a book that is about things that don't really interest us. I would much rather pick up a book about fantasy and adventure than a book about the drama within a small Puritan community, but what can you do? For a book that was about a topic that didn't really spark my attention, I thought it was very well written, and have therefore declared it a good book. :)
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