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Apr 01, 2015Eosos rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I shall borrow a phrase from a friend who described this book as “Just old-fashioned, stilted language”, which really describes what I though about this book quite well. The Custom House story was so not needed and quite boring in its relationship to the actual story. I thought that it might have made a better full length story than the one it was prefacing. I liked the detail on the characters he worked with and the actual building description. I would have rather read about that than the creepy Arthur and Roger. I would have liked to read this book from the point of view of only one of the characters. I'd kind of like to read it from Pearl's actually; she is one of the most interesting characters. Hester is too pious and guilt ridden for me, Arthur is a coward who prefers to berate himself in private and Roger is way too creepy. To me Pearl is the one most affected. She is the product of an 'evil' deed and her view of the situation, how that affected her childhood and her views of her mother could have made a great story. I did find it interesting that her wronged husband was painted as such an evil man, especially compared to her being portrayed as almost a saint and her lover as a man being wronged. For a book with such Puritan themes that does seem backwards.