To Kill a Mockingbird

I haven't read this book in decades. I liked it when we had to read it in high school, but at that time I wasn't really aware of the craft, or the depth of the subtext, or the skill of the author. But now...I'm amazed at the richness of this work. It is 65 years old, and still has immense impact. It doesn't come across as dated, or objectionable, as so many books of that era do. The text is layered and nuanced, the character work superb. Scout and Jem are so relatable. Atticus is so admirable, AND has faults and flaws of his own. Maycomb County is America writ small. This novel is deeply political, uninhibited in its social commentary, and yet is simply about some children growing up.

The denouement of Scout walking arm in arm with Boo show more Radley as she takes him home, in order to preserve his dignity 'like any other gentleman' shows just how much she's learned. Her simple gesture of human kindness made my throat close up.

What To Kill a Mockingbird does so brilliantly is hold up a mirror to society, showing all the racism, sexism, classism, and rigidity of social expectations, and also the everyday human strength, goodness and quiet heroism. More than any other book I've read, it deserves its Pulitzer. show less

I'm sure there are those out there who don't like this book, but I'd be hard-pressed to understand why; I love everything about it. The music of the language. The characters. The portrait of Southern, small-town life and a moment of transition from one time into the next. The themes. Scout's relationships with her brother and her father.

Most of the time I don't reread my favorite books: they mark a moment in my life when they touched me and remain as ghostly reminders into my present. But I think this is the sort of book that grows as its readers grow, and I look forward to discovering what it has to offer my future self.

What impressed me most about this nearly perfect novel is how well Harper Lee pulls off one of the most difficult tricks in writing: to write a story for adults told through the eyes of a child. Scout, the narrator, is eight to ten years old in the two years covered by this story, and almost everything she recounts is told in a way that a precocious tomboy would have experienced it and in words she would use. I rarely came across something I doubted a child would have noticed at the time or told in the words of an adult reflecting.

I’ve seen the movie at least twice, but one of the blessings of age is that I didn’t recall the plot perfectly. One thing I did remember was Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch. To drive that out show more of my mind, I pictured my great-grandfather, justice of the peace, as well as almost everything else in a small Southern town, with gray hair, a blind eye, and a deep voice. My mother would have been about the same age as Scout, so that helped complete the picture.

How long is the list of stories that were excellent both as a novel and a movie? This certainly belongs on it. show less

I somehow escaped reading this at school, and, perceiving it as "something we read at school" never bothered much about it since. After all, we all know what it's about...

Now I finally have read it, I would say that I'm pleasantly surprised. Scout is an engaging and funny narrator, and the story is a lot more complex than I imagined. It's not just a simple attack on racism, but a more nuanced look at how issues of race and class might have been perceived (by white people) in a small town in the American South in the thirties. The child narrator device allows Lee to question some basic assumptions, but of course it only provides a single point of view and doesn't really allow her to represent the black characters in very much depth.

When (unnecessarily) reviewing a book as widely read as To Kill a Mockingbird it is interesting to consider why it is generally considered one of the all-time greats. The prose style is pleasant enough but not extraordinary, the story is fairly simple and straightforward, the characters are quite lively and believable but some lesser-known novels also have those. What this book has in spades that all too few works of fiction is heart. At the risk of sounding “totally gay” I find this book wonderfully charming, heartwarming and compassionate.

The book is a mixture of the "Southern Gothic", and a coming of age "Bildungsroman" story of two kids Scout and Jem. The gothic part features a creepy neighbor who is possibly some kind of flesh show more eating mutant. This aspect of the story is intermingled with a charming story of day to day childhood in Maycomb, Alabama, then the story takes a dark turn as they gradually become aware of man's inhumanity to man. The weirdo next door become much less interesting under the circumstances.

We often talk about world building in genre books on Goodreads, escapism into alien worlds, fantasy lands and such, what Harper Lee has done here with the setting of Maycomb Alabama is even more remarkable. There is a vividness, a sense of place in this book, that immerses the reader into the story. The narrative is full of warmth, wit and wisdom, the book is brimming with wisdom and quotable lines like:

“There are just some kind of men who—who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”

I love books that touches the emotional core, that make me feel something. Most novels I read are just for entertainment and if I get that I am a happy customer. However, this book puts me into a state of reverie after finishing it, by so doing it has transcended from being just another novel to read until the next one to something to cherished. It is a mystery and a shame that Harper Lee never wrote another novel, but the single book she has written is worth more than most authors’ entire bibliography. show less

I'm really surprised I hadn't reread this book more recently. I still love it, Scout and Jem's innocence and goodness shine through it all, and the wry humour of always knowing slightly more than the children do is a delight to read. Yes, I'm aware of the many problems (the world doesn't really need more stories of women who lie about rape, all the black characters are sidelined and stereotyped) but for me the story is worth it.

I decided to reread To Kill A Mockingbird to prepare for Go Set A Watchman, making this my fourth time reading it, and I love it more than ever. It’s a classic for a reason and teaches an important lesson that still needs to be taught today. The first time I read it I didn’t finish it. I was in high school, I didn’t care for reading and the teacher didn’t talk about what we were reading. I read it on my own in college and loved it. The characters are well defined, Scout and Jem are children and naive while these events are going on, they don’t understand everything, but notice when people are hypocrites or when they feel something isn’t right. The go to each other, Calpurnia or their father when they notice these things. show more Calpurnia is raising them right by teaching them how to treat all people. Atticus is wise and stands up for what he believes in, I know his character seems unrealistic, but I hope there were people really like him in the south during that time. The other characters are just as well written as the main characters, you understand where everyone is coming from and why they do what they do. The plot all comes together nicely from Tom Robinson to Boo Radley. The book takes on people’s judgements on others being completely wrong and harmful. Boo Radley was feared because people didn’t understand him or why he stayed shut in, yet he saved Jem and Scout. Tom Robinson was killed because he was black and even though the Ewell’s were proved to be lying, he was found guilty since he was black and the Ewells were white and because Tom knew he didn’t have a chance in the white court system he tried to escape and was killed. It’s a lesson that stands the test of time, in an unfortunate way, we still have problems with racism and misconceptions about people who are different than ourselves. It’s kind of sad To Kill A Mockingbird is still so relevant. show less