The Nathaniel Hawthorne Audio Collection Audiobook

" Reading along with the 11th grade English Lit class "

" This is barely worth reading even to say "I read it." If you can get through The Custom House (the first forty pages) without falling asleep, then Bravo. It doesn't get much more interesting from there. I'm all about classics, but save your energy on this one. So many better classics to spend your time on. "

" Hate. Only book I ever sparknoted in high school. For real I read all the others, even grapes of wrath... :P "

" Good book cool premise, but weird writing style and a little too contrived. "

" I read this as assigned reading in high school, so my opinion of the book is cluttered with all the stupid analysis of the symbolism, the rose symbolizing the joy and the thorns representing the pain and blah blah. That would have ruined any other book, but this classic survived because... well... the same reason all classics survive. Because it's great, and because it deals with the human condition in an honest way. This book delves into the nature of hypocrisy, sexism and discrimination. "

" I dont remeber disliking this book so much when I read it in high school. There is a decent story in there somewhere but it's buried in an extremely long an pointless introduction and a lot of drawn out descriptions that I found myself skimming through. For all the words the author uses, I felt like there was much to be desired in the story. He spends way too much time dining on and on about things we could care less about and should have put more effort into the plot and character relationships. I'm glad I read this because it's a classic but I'm glad it's over and I won't be reading it again. "

" What can I say? I don't enjoy classics. And everyone seemed to die or fade away at the end, I didn't feel like there was any sort of happy resolution or acceptance. "

" This is a reread from years ago. I always feel bad for people in societies that don't have the whole truth and are forced to suffer because of a lack of understanding. The contrast between Hester and Dimsdale is well done. "

" I really did not like this book. I had to force myself to finish it. "

" I've heard some good things about this book, so I thought it would be good to read. I was sadly mistaken. I tried reading it, I really did, but whenever I tried to I fell asleep. I read bits and pieces of it, and I know what happened but I couldn't stay awake to read it. "

" "In short, unpleasant as was my predicament at best, I saw much reason to congratulate myself that I was on the loosing side , rather than the triumphant one. . . "

" maybe it was because i was forced to read this in HS, or it is not my preferred genre, but it was painful. "

" Read several times in school. Stuck with me. Great illustration of the evil of bias and hypocrisy. I have experienced being an outsider to some extent my whole life. So, I think that's why this one is important to me. "

" This has to be one of my favorite classics I have read yet! I loved the setting of historical New England and how Hester's punishment of wearing the scarlet letter effected everyone in the story. Overall, I was very pleased and cannot resist from rewarding this book five stars. "

" I read the Kindle edition, Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables (bargain edition typeset for the Kindle) Dec 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I liked the old fashioned English. The story was a real page turner, I couldn't wait to get back to the story every time I had to stop. "

" I've tried reading this about eighteen times. Still haven't finished it. My wife says that this is her history teacher's favorite book of all time. Her second favorite book? Probably something equally dull. "

" Solid 3 1/2 - 4 stars.<br/>Loads of description and not as haunting as I would have liked, but still really good.<br/>Extremely, extremely well written though a bit heavy handed.<br/>I feel smarter after reading it :) "

" I had to read this for school, and surprisingly enough it wasn't terrible! The descriptions were interesting and the style of the narration made it interesting. "

" Almost done with this - so good, and either I've forgotten or I've never read it before. "

" Another great story by Hawthorne, full of Gothic elements and all types of social commentary. The only reason this one isn't getting a 5 star rating is that the ending was weak and appeared to negate the overall societal themes of the novel. "

" Full of ominous settings, descriptive characters and mysterious occurances, this story was not at all what I thought it might be. Although I thought it to have witchcraft in the 1800s New England as it's theme, it was so much more than that. And, the ending was quite satisfying. A good read. "

" Loved it! The Great American Novel! "

" I should read this again, its been since high school and next week we are touring the house near Boston. In HS I thought it was boring, but I was pretty young at the time, maybe it aged better or maybe I did. "

" A classic, I am told. I read it in HS and reread because we went to the house on vacation last year. <br/>Rereading did not make it any more interesting that I remember from years. ago. "

" Hmm, not my favorite, although I want to head down to Salem and tour the house now! "