You know what? It's completely true that texts like these are not a substitute at all for reading the actual book. But they're great for keeping characters straight, and for finding out (topically) what happened in certain chapters. If there was a chapter you had to skip due to lack of time, this might help. But if you had to "skip" all the chapters, the info will be too scanty.
Also, the analyses of the Cliffs Notes gives aren't exactly deep and original; why would you want to copy them anyway? In short, this is a helpful guide; keep in mind your teacher probably has a copy of it, too, and will look for plagiarism and probably style a quiz to make sure a person has actually read the text.
Let me put this clearly: I think sitting down and trying to read a book first off is the thing to do. But when you get so frustrated because nothing's making sense, or your're way intimidate by a book and need to get your toe wet (keep in mind you'll be subject to plot spoilers in Cliffs Notes, though), these can be a good help.
And so can your teacher -- they are good resources for discussing parts of the text where you get the feeling symbolism must be happening, but you're not sure what it is! :)
Also, the analyses of the Cliffs Notes gives aren't exactly deep and original; why would you want to copy them anyway? In short, this is a helpful guide; keep in mind your teacher probably has a copy of it, too, and will look for plagiarism and probably style a quiz to make sure a person has actually read the text.
Let me put this clearly: I think sitting down and trying to read a book first off is the thing to do. But when you get so frustrated because nothing's making sense, or your're way intimidate by a book and need to get your toe wet (keep in mind you'll be subject to plot spoilers in Cliffs Notes, though), these can be a good help.
And so can your teacher -- they are good resources for discussing parts of the text where you get the feeling symbolism must be happening, but you're not sure what it is! :)
