by Nathaniel Hawthorne
I first read The Scarlet Letter in the tenth grade. I didn't like it much then, and I forgot most of the plot. My second reading of the book was significantly different. I was gripped by the book's march towards the ruin of the main characters. It was like a car wreck in slow motion -- I was simultaneously repulsed by the impending doom and entranced by Hawthorne's elegant prose. Finishing the book was an exquisite agony, and the tragic ending was somehow both liberating and triumphant. Such books are wasted on the young.
1 comment:
I'm often amazed that books that were required reading in high school are much better when you are an adult.
Post a Comment