The Scarlet Letter: Reread Dates 9/4-9/30

The Book: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Edition: Signet Classics 199 Pre Reread Notes:

The time has come for the first "2nd Chance book. I think there's something inherently perverse about having 16 year old students read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. After all, on the surface it appears to be a "don't have sex or bad things will happen," kind of story. Once Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale get it on, their entire lives go to the toilet. First, Hester gets pregnant, then when she keeps her mouth shut and doesn't implicate him, she's forced to live as an outcast with the kid. Dimmesdale on the other hand is tormented by his conscience. And her husband shows up and mentally tortures them both.

I don't like this book. Or I didn't when I was 16. I though it was boring and stupid. But I'm older now. I've studied literature on a University level for 4 years. Maybe I'll see something else this time. I'm hoping to.

To be honest, I'm really reading it now because that movie with Emma Stone Easy A came out when I started. I still haven't seen it but I think it looks awesome. I love Emma Stone. And Penn Badgely, who is intensely adorable is also in it. I'm curious to see it, and I want to know what I'm dealing with when I go in. I know it's about a girl who pretends to lose her virginity to her gay best firend and then gets branded a slut, while he gains a stud rep. Deciding to own it, she starts dressing the part and donning Hester's A. This is what I've gathered from the trailer.

So will The Scarlet Letter be worth my second look? Or will I prefer the Pop-Punk infused cute TV actor laden version that takes place in a suburban high school? OK, I think we know the answer to that, being that it's me. But I'm hoping to see something different in the book.

Post Reread Notes:

I don't care how many Gossip Girl cast members make movies about The Scarlett Letter, that book is terrible and no one should have to read it ever again! Awful, just awful.