by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Listened to November 2021
It has been a while since I have read a classic so it took me a few pages to get back into the swing of the prose but I didn’t miss anything because the pace is much slower than modern novels. On the surface, this book is obviously about an act of adultery but there is so much more to it. I thought the author offered an interesting statement about perspective; one can control one’s destiny or at least state of mind by choosing to own an action rather than be shamed by it. Thinking back, I am not sure that was overtly mentioned in the book. It could have just been going on behind the scenes in my mind while I read. I think that is what this book does. It makes you think much deeper than the surface meaning which is perhaps why it is timeless (and there is plenty of space for background thought as it plods along).