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Has anyone read this?... If so, would you recommend it?  I have to read it over the summer, so I just want to know what other people think about the book.

Hi Zero,

I had to read it in high school. Remembering how I felt about it then (haven't read it since) it was really dry and had long boring parts, but kind of interesting. I remember disliking the end, too, although I have no recollection what the end is. Still, it's a worthwhile read and should be read understanding Hawthorne wrote it in the nineteenth century - so the themes it deals with (like Puritanism) just don't seem as applicable today - but if you are able to read it in its context, you might like it.

Thanks.   Haha, that sorta worries me.  <.<  >.>  All year, I've read like one book. 

I'm not a big reader, to tell you the truth.  Kinda weird I registered for this site actually. :P  Well, I have to read "The Scarlet Letter" as a summer reading assignment, including a study guide. DX  I've only read the first 8 pages or so and I can't remain focused...  It doesn' t "draw me into the story,"  you know?   I read and my mind wonders.  The next thing I know, I'm a page down, and I've no idea what I read.

I hope it gets better ;)

Oh dear god I hated that book.  Hated hated hated most of the characters and the apparent premise of the story.

Yes, yes, the ending sucks too. 

I'm going to literary hell for saying that. . .

Basically:  the Puritans sucked and love is nice.

Hawthorne is just not my thing.  Neither are Steinbeck or Hemingway.

I'm not a fan of Steinbeck either....

*Sigh*  This sucks.  I've got to read it for a class I haven't even started yet!  Not only that, but I also have to do a study guide including: The author and his times; Form, structure and plot; Point of view; Characters; Setting; Diction; Concrete detail/imagery; Figurative language; Theme; Significance of the title; a Memorable passage; Additional comments... All before even the first day of class.

I am sad. Haha

I can only imagine what students today do - in my time people used Cliffs notes instead of reading the book. I have a vague recollection of doing that one time - it was with something horrible. A lot of the great dead white writers get assigned in school, a lot of it has to do with the board of ed if you go to public. Just force yourself through it. I had a summer reading once called "Travels with Charley," I think I'll go google it now. I read it in the car while my family drove to Florida or something and I hated it so badly I wanted to dive out of the car.

Oh my god, Steinbeck. Somehow I didn't know that. I think I repressed that book until just now.

Haha, that's terrible.  I wish never to read "Travels with Charley," lest I dive out of a moving vehicle.  Man, I guess I'm going to have to read this book sooner or later, or they'll just drop me from the class. 

Just don't make the mistake of watching the Demi Moore movie instead. That's even more horrendous than the book.

Noted.  Haha, I'd look stupid trying to have a book discussion without having read the book; only having watched the movie.  XD