At some point in your life you may have to read this snooze fest, and I pity the day you are required to read it. Hawthorne takes days to make a point, any statement at all, starting from the unbearable introduction "The custom house" through the last page. There is no action, no humor, no joy, only the character study of the puritan society, and a "brave" woman. Do yourself a favor and get the cliffnotes or use Antistudy.com. Anyone who truly believes this is a good is either a pseudo-intellectual, or they enjoy the same style of Melville, or anything written by Hawthorne. I would give this no stars if possible. 
 
Hawthorne's dull prose really gets to you after a while. The book is filled with antiquated language, and is basically an account of a Puritan woman who suffers because of her adultery. I was forced to read this book for my English class, and it was a terrible waste of time. Hawthorne hits you in the face with run on sentences that take up the entire page. I do have one good thing to say about this book however, for all you insomniacs out there, read it! It induces sleep in minutes! ZzZzZzZzZzZz..... 
 
At some point in your life you may have to read this snooze fest, and I pity the day you are required to read it. Hawthorne takes days to make a point, any statement at all, starting from the unbearable introduction "The custom house" through the last page. There is no action, no humor, no joy, only the character study of the puritan society, and a "brave" woman. Do yourself a favor and get the cliffnotes or use Antistudy.com. Anyone who truly believes this is a good is either a pseudo-intellectual, or they enjoy the same style of Melville, or anything written by Hawthorne. I would give this no stars if possible. 
 