To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

Like countless others before me, I fell in love with To Kill a Mockingbird. I read it for the first time in 8th grade and I've returned to my old favorite many times since. Each time I reread it, I find a new facet to appreciate. From racism and untraditional friendships, to parent-child relationships and the fight for justice, Lee's novel is full of time enduring and relevant subjects. ( )

To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee Harper ( )

I always get a little nervous before reading classic works like To Kill a Mockingbird. All too aware of how good the book is supposed to be I - perversely - start worrying that I won't like it. What if it's dull and trite and pretentious? What if it's only famous because it's old enough for learned scholars to have analysed it to death and decided it's a paradigm of postfeminist premodernist literature, or something? What if, secretly, everyone just likes the film but claims to like the book in a misguided attempt to look refined?

Obviously my misgivings are usually unfounded; [b:Heart of Darkness|1836885|Heart of Darkness (English Penguin Library)|Joseph Conrad|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189005950s/1836885.jpg|2877220] is the only 'classic' I've read that left me underwhelmed. And Mockingbird was a sheer delight to read. I've not actually seen the film and only knew that the story involved a white lawyer defending a black man in pre-WW2 Alabama. But that's like saying Les Misérables is about a French guy stealing some bread. The book is about race and sex, and about adulthood as viewed by the untarnished eyes of a child, and Harper Lee tells it beautifully. ( )

I always get a little nervous before reading classic works like To Kill a Mockingbird. All too aware of how good the book is supposed to be I - perversely - start worrying that I won't like it. What if it's dull and trite and pretentious? What if it's only famous because it's old enough for learned scholars to have analysed it to death and decided it's a paradigm of postfeminist premodernist literature, or something? What if, secretly, everyone just likes the film but claims to like the book in a misguided attempt to look refined?

Obviously my misgivings are usually unfounded; [b:Heart of Darkness|1836885|Heart of Darkness (English Penguin Library)|Joseph Conrad|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189005950s/1836885.jpg|2877220] is the only 'classic' I've read that left me underwhelmed. And Mockingbird was a sheer delight to read. I've not actually seen the film and only knew that the story involved a white lawyer defending a black man in pre-WW2 Alabama. But that's like saying Les Misérables is about a French guy stealing some bread. The book is about race and sex, and about adulthood as viewed by the untarnished eyes of a child, and Harper Lee tells it beautifully. ( )

Backcover:

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird

There have been very few books I can count that I know that I will continue to read for years.

Off the top of my head some of my 'will always read books' includes everything Madeline L'Engle wrote. I always re-read The Secret Garden when I am not feeling well and stuck in bed. I absolutely love Stephen King's The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. And Judith McNaught's Whitney, My Love gets me every time even though it's problematic in all of my re-reads. I can now add To Kill a Mockingbird as one of my 'will always read books'.

I am sure better reviews have been written about this book but all I can say is, 'well done.' This book made me think and grieve for fictional characters like I haven't done since Stephen King's The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower 7).

The main character of Scout Finch is six years old when the story starts. We follow Scout, her family, and the town of Maycomb, Alabama from 1933 through 1935.

Scout is a precocious child as is her older brother Jem. We find out that Scout has lost her mother when she was a baby and is raised by Atticus and their black housekeeper Calpurnia. We also have the children's friend Dill who visits in the Summer and who Scout reckons she will marry when she is older. The children become fascinated with the Finch's neighbors the Radley's and make up stories about the housebound Arthur (called Boo by the children) and without realizing it Boo has noticed the children and leaves them tokens of his affection.

Though Scout sees her father that she calls Atticus (yeah that would not have flown in my house at all) as old and not really good at anything she slowly gets her eyes opened to how brave her father is and how much the town sees him as its moral center.

There are shifting plots in To Kill A Mockingbird, but all of them intertwine and work together very well. The main plot of this book is that of Atticus defending Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of rape of a 19 year old girl.

Courage is when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.

The trial scenes in the book that Ms. Lee describes made me hold my breath. She did such a good job I felt as if I was sitting next to Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill as they listened to what Tom was being accused of. I was right there with Dill crying inside at the horribleness of people to stand by and let someone be accused of something that all parties had to realize was a lie and treating people differently just because they are not white.

The closing oral argument that Atticus Finch said to the jury was perfect in every way.

Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'.

Ms. Lee's look at race relations in this book I thought was topical in the 1960s when it was written and is still a topical conversation in 2015. I initially posted that the constant use of the "n" word kept throwing me in this book and after any character used it I flinched. I know that it was totally true how people spoke about blacks in this country, but it still makes me grieve a little inside that people were casually racist back then. Heck even the character of Mr. Link Deas that I was rooting for made me irritated every time he kept referring to Tom Robinson's wife Helen, as his girl.

I think most people like to claim in this country that there is no racism and people are really not prejudice at all and then I remind them look at the recent deaths of black men and women in this country. Tell me that we still don't have a problem with race. We demonized black men and women in this country because there are still racist notions in most Americans mind that black men and women are bigger, aggressive, and can kill them.

I was really appalled at a lot of comments I read on articles dealing with the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. You sometimes forget how ugly people still are in the U.S. Heck, read any articles talking about President Barack Obama sometime.

I am never not going to be thankful about being born in a different time and place. I know I am lucky to be doing what I am doing, to have the right to vote, to be able to sit where I want and not have anyone think that just because I am of a different race that I don't matter. I fought really hard to be where I am in my career and life and it still galls me that I know that some people think that I only have this job because I am a black woman. Some people will never think it could possibly be because I kick butt at my job.

Continuing the discussion of race is the character of Calpurina that takes care of Jem and Scout and who she considers her children. Calpurnia really got to me since I feel a little like her too. She speaks "right" at home with the Finch's, but when she is at her black church she speaks just like the other members of the congregation. I loved her conversation with Scout and Jem explaining it would be like putting on airs. I realize that I do this as well. I don't lapse into "black speech" when I am back home in PA. I call it my hometown patois. Honestly, I didn't even consciously realize that I do this until I read that passage in this book.

The ending though, that about did me in. This right here is my favorite passage in the book. There are so many passages I love, but this one made me close the book for a second and re-read it again and again.

It was summertime, and the children came closer.
A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him.
A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips.
Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.
It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's.
The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home.
Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces.
They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.
Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house.
Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.
Summer, and he watched his children's heart break.
Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.

I plan on watching the movie this weekend since this Monday is a federal holiday. ( )