I finally finished The Scarlet Letter in 2021, as it is on the reading list for my Comprehensive Exams, which are in October, and my fortitude in persevering through horrible books has increased in the six years since I first cracked the novel’s cover. Since I have now read The Scarlet Letter cover to cover I can, with full and biased authority, tell you to never read this book. Once Hawthorne moves past the narcissism of Custom House description (he worked at one right around the time he wrote The Scarlet Letter), things do not turn around.