The Scarlet Letter

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrated by: Michael Learned

Length: 2 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Written in the winter of 1849, The Scarlet Letter unfolds the story of Hester Prynne, a young woman branded as an adulteress in the harsh Puritan world of 17th-century New England. As Hester calls on her inner strength to transcend her shame, the scarlet letter ceases to be a stigma and finally becomes Hester's symbol of self-affirmation. This dramatic reading heightens the sense of lyric poetry that permeates every line of Nathaniel Hawthorne's great novel.

Public Domain (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Horrible Reader

I really like The Scarlet Letter, but this reader is TERRIBLE! She has zero differences in voice for different characters. When characters are speaking, she doesn’t even pause between them to even hint it’s a new character speaking. It was confusing. She has no emphasis on words, no variance of pitch. Very disappointed.

A Classic! Worth reading! The Narrator did not do it justice.

I like the Scarlet Letter- some books really are just better when read rather than listened to. I felt the Narration distracted from the story - but I’m not sure why other than maybe she could’ve done a better job differentiating characters from one another when reading.

“The words came tumbling out”

Here I am almost 60 and had never read The Scarlet Letter. Somehow it was never assigned to me, unlike every other student of the past century. But, I had learned what I was supposed to think of it by proxy. Everyone knows it’s the story of Puritan sexual oppression. Duh.

The story is a brilliant illustration of how moral law, civil law, and even ceremonial law meet. The sin of adultery is the only one that must involve 2 people and therefore presents this opportunity of one being punished under civil law and one left “unscathed.”

Hawthorn also captures the reality of how Satan works upon the heart of the sinner. Convincing us our sin is too much to be forgiven even by Christ. That we must keep our sin stained souls hidden in darkness to protect ourselves, our status, and the social fabric of our communities.

Finally, we are shown the beautiful redemption that is given to us when we repent, and confess, and receive by faith the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with our merciful God. And, by contrast, the defeat of Satan and all his power.

Michael Learned is the spot on choice as reader. Her voice is one of calm and reserve. She reads the story simply and beautifully, the way a teacher might read to a class. She does not perform voice characterizations because it’s not what the story calls for. That would remove the listener from the beauty and the integrity of the tale.

My only objection is her pace. Because the book is written in a nearly extinct version of English, it requires some mental translation. I am fortunate in that I am biblically literate and read from different centuries regularly. But I did have to “rewind” a few times when my mind couldn’t keep up either my ears. I can’t imagine the struggle an unchurched teen with no concept of Christianity, sin, repentance, and redemption would have trying to decipher the point of this book. No wonder they all just accept the simplistic interpretation the teachers of the sexual revolution have handed them.

Great Narration

Michael Learned really brought this old classic to life with her heartfelt narration, exposing the souls of the characters so deftly. I listened for the sake of re-reading a classic, but enjoyed it more than any prior reading, thanks to her narration.

Disappointing

L wanted to read this classic as I had never done so. It was listed as unabridged but it was not.
DISAPPOINTED!!!!

Not unabridged.

Tried to use this for homeschooling. Large portions left out. This is definitely not an unabridged version and should not be advertised as such.

A but hard to follow but I loved it

The story is excellent and the performance too. It mist be the structure of the book that makes it a somewhat difficult listen. However I still think this audiobook is completely worth it.

Still A Classic

Well done. The story is timeless and remained the most memorable part of experience. The reader did not seek to make herself the star.

ok

Justin, OK story little bit boring but one of the classics that you have to listen to

Abridged version

I like the story. This 3 star is only for it being abridged when it said it was not