No matter what they say...you have to read this book!

books:


	• To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee Grand Central Publishing, 1988 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 1744 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An Instant American Classic!

Ever since Harper Lee published her only novel, she has remained as reclusive as J.D. Salinger. Sadly, she has accomplished the almost impossible by writing the great American novel of all times. The characters become multi-dimensional and alive at times. Set in the deep South, the story is told from Scout's point of view. Scout has been named on countless girls ever since the publication of the book. Atticus Finch is an unforgettable character immortalized by Gregory Peck in the movie version. One of the main reasons that I read this book is to see where Mrs. Dubose played by actress Ruth White's character in the film was about. At first, I thought it was a small part but boy was I wrong. Mrs. Dubose becomes an important figure in the lives of Jeremy "Jem" and Scout Finch as well as the other Finches. The story of a rape and trial is sadly but in the end of America, Scout is like Anne Frank who provides hope in times of hopelessness and revives the hope for a better world in the Deep South where prejudice and racism runs deep alongside lynchings and cruel treatment of African Americans after slavery was abolished in 1865. Since she won the Congressional Medal of Freedom for her services to literature, Harper Lee has still maintained her reclusive nature.

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Forever a Classic, Forever a Joy to Read

What can possibly be left to say about Nelle Harper Lee's classic tale of tolerance and pain, of justice denied and served, of childhood innocence lost to adolescent understanding? Surely it has all been said before in analyzing Ms. Lee's sole published novel, a surprisingly autobiographical recounting of small town Southern justice at the dawn of the pre-civil rights era - the strong sense of tradition and place, the parallelism between Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, the alternating flashes of humor and tragedy, the implicit pleas for social justice.

A work that stands as revelatory for high school freshmen necessarily loses some of that power on later rereading. However, the directness and simplicity of Harper Lee's writing, her ear for the Southern voice and eye for the telling detail, and her remarkable ability to realize memorable characters continue to impress even the mature reader. Atticus Finch stands as an archetype of the righteous but humble man seeking to serve justice and the common good, whatever the cost. Scout is the eternal tomboy, the adventurous young soul grappling with the implications of racial prejudice and injustice while experiencing and conquering her own version in Arthur (Boo) Radley. Boo himself stands as the "unknown other," the feared immigrant or differently colored whom, as Atticus says, we can never know until we put ourselves in their skin. Then there's Dill, the summer neighbor so clearly modeled on the author's own childhood neighbor and lifelong friend, Truman Capote. These are joined by an entire townfull of supporting characters, each memorable and each an archetype in his or her own right.

Lee's master stroke as a writer was to view the events surrounding Mayella Ewell's alleged rape and Tom Robinson's trial through the eyes of a child just emerging into adolescence. Scout struggles to interpret the lives, actions, and attitudes of those around her through the lens of naïve childhood, yet her budding adolescence places her on a cusp. One day she is beating up boys and catching frogs, the next day she's being groomed for Southern womanhood. Nevertheless, Scout forces us through her questions and reactions to confront the inherent irrationality in racial and class prejudices. If it's a sin to kill a mockingbird, as the story's underlying proverb asserts, then who is Harper Lee's mockingbird? At one level, the answer is obviously Tom Robinson, seconded by Boo Radley. Yet perhaps the true mockingbird, sinfully slaughtered, is indeed that very childhood innocence, forever destined to suffer that tragic fate at the hands of incipient adulthood.

To a far greater extent than one might imagine, Harper Lee drew much of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD's material from her own life. The lawyerly and reserved father, the small town life (hers was Monroeville, AL), the deceased mother (hers was emotionally distant and psychologically troubled), the scarily unseen neighbor's grown son, the cranky, busybody neighbor, the oddly effete childhood friend - these and numerous other story elements came from Ms. Lee's direct family and childhood experiences. Ms. Lee even borrowed the theme for Jem and Scout's climactic school pageant, "Ad Astra Per Aspera," from Kansas's state motto, a little fact she picked up there while assisting Truman Capote with his research for IN COLD BLOOD. I highly recommend as a companion piece to this novel Charles Shields's MOCKINGBIRD: A PORTRAIT OF HARPER LEE.

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Not your airport novel

If you're looking for a fast plot, kick a$$ characters who overcome insurmountable odds, then you should look elsewhere.

If you're looking for the gritting truth, set at a Southern pace (i.e. slow), where things are never quite what they seem on the surface (i.e. small towns), and good does not always prevail (i.e. what ever happened to Dill and why did it have to happen to Tom), then I recommend this American classic.

I've read a few of the reviews and was actually surprised that some didn't like it. While I understand that nothing appeals to all audiences, it was still a shock to me. And the reason for that is that when you love something, it's hard to see why other's don't.

A small percentage of reviewers said that nothing happened and the characters are one-dimensional. While this feedback is obviously valid for those who made it, I have to disagree. The women in the town (esp the Auntie and Miss Maudie) were perfect examples of complex characters living through a very changing (and challenging) time. If you read a bit below the surface, I believe the average reader should be able to pick that up.

Jem was another example of a complex character. We watched him cross that threshold from a little boy to a young man. To me this was proven by his periods of quietness and his behaviors.

Because the story was written to reflect, as closely as possible, true life during a particularly period in American culture, it may seem a bit slow to those accustomed to and prefer contemporary/speculative fiction.

I'm was born in the South and therefore found the dialogue to be quite accurate of how we spoke during my childhood. This helped me to relate to it and build more of a bond to the characters.

Every now and again, I find (as I get older -- not sure how relevant that is for the younger audiences) you want to read a book that stays with you. You're not in the mood for a Stephen King (tho he is a master story teller). Instead you want something slower, something with a little more meaning to it so that you when you put it down, you have to sit in silence and reflect on what you've read and why you liked it so much.

This is not a book that I would've read in high school (cliff notes was my preferred method). Unfortunately I did not have the patience nor the maturity (that adjective is reflective of me only) to understand how good people can make bad decisions and still not be bad people. One of the toughest things to do is to stand up in front of an angry mob and tell them that you don't agree with. This, I think, is one of the crucibles of the novel.

For me, this is one of the best books I've read and completely understand why it has won a Pulitzer. She deserves it.

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No matter what they say...you have to read this book!

Most of the time, I get really pumped about reading books. And most of the time, I get so frustrated and don't finish them. That, however, was not the case with this book!!
Usually, my decription of "great" literature means a bunch of long words scrambled together into a sentence leaving the reader to meditate a REALLY long time and figure out what it means. I was SO excited to find out that this book wasn't like that!! This book was so much fun to read because I didn't have to stop and think every two seconds!
The characters in the book are so...real. Atticus reminds me SO much of my Dad in the sense that he will think things out, and when threatened, he doesn't get all worked up. I actually got a kick out of the story being from Scout's point of view. The world is a completely different place in an eight-year-olds eyes, and that's what made so much of a difference in the way this book was written. So, I say, give it a read!! It's worth the time.

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To Kill a Mockingbird, To Read an Amazing Book

Harper Lee only wrote one book, To Kill a Mockingbird, but it was truthfully above anything I've read before.
This story begins in the un-eventful county of Maycomb. In a life drained of interest, Jem and Scout are raised, they will never know what is to come. One summer, a boy named Dill becomes their friend and takes an interest to the house nextdoor. Arthur (Boo) Radley is a concealed man who they've never seen in their lives, but they think the know the story. Is he really a man that only comes out at night to kill flowers and eat cats?
Along the way, behind the scenes a trial goes on. A black man is accused of raping a white girl. In a world so racist, things change, people die, and eventually no matter how many paper cuts you get, you can't put that book down.
I've never read anything like it in my life and I don't think I'll find something that meaningful in a long time. It opened my eyes to the world and anybody who loves a thrilling tale with jumps along the way to get you attached, should read this book. I vow never to get on another plane without it tucked inside my bag.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

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