Dreams Shattered…Laughed, Cried, Lessons Learned, Laughed
More… Not To Kill a Mockingbird, but
Brilliant in its own way. This book is best read with an open mind, just sit
back and enjoy the storytelling and the ride it can take you on. Harper Lee can
tell a story like few others can. Is it as good as To Kill a Mockingbird, of course not, but really they are not the
same in their publication purposes.
If you have lived under a rock for the past little while
then you might not know the controversy surrounding the biggest literary moment
in 50ish years that was this book. It is an unedited draft of what eventually
became the great To Kill a Mockingbird.
While I don’t want to believe the sayings about Harper Lee’s ability to approve
the publication of the draft into a novel, part of me can’t deny that it might
be true. I have always thought the reason she didn’t publish a second book was
because nothing could top To Kill a
Mockingbird. Whether that is the
case or not, I don’t understand why Go
Set a Watchman would be published in its draft form with little editing.
As I look at some of the reviews of the book, I realize we
are all like Scout. We idolized Atticus as a god-like figure (myself included,
I just love his character!) Yet, he is still a human who is imperfect and we all
reacted just like Jean Louise with our own form of retaliation. Many of us are
completely unwilling to be associated with Go
Set a Watchman, which (at least to me) proves that Harper Lee really does
understand people. At the same time we realized that Harper Lee is also an
imperfect person who was slightly pushed off the center of her god-like author
status as well.
After reading Go Set a
Watchman I am reminded of how important it is to have a good editor and
publisher. To Kill a Mockingbird might be the product of Harper Lee, but it
took more people to make it truly amazing. I am not sure this novel could have
held its own without first being published in its classic version first.
To Kill a Mockingbird
was originally titled Atticus. It was
about Atticus (and maybe Jem too), where Go
Set a Watchman was really more about Jean Louise/Scout. I felt everything
she felt and that is what I loved most about the book. That, plus the parts of
the book revolving around the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood. Once a To Kill a Mockingbird fan, always a fan.
I did feel like there might be a generational divide and/or
a geographical divide with this book. I couldn’t figure out half of what was
being talked about at first. It took a little bit longer to get into for that
reason. Even with that, I still read the book in about 24 hours.
The most disappointing thing was the lack of Jem. How I miss
him. Then again, perhaps it is best to have one character who can retain their
honor with nothing tainted. Some characters were just left out completely (such
as Boo), but there is a chance they didn’t exist in this first writing before Mockingbird came about. Then there were
things that weren’t wrapped up at all. I am sure this time we will really never
know what happened.
Here is the Best Review I found in Goodreads. It is by
someone who seemed to get the point:
“First, let me say that this book IN NO WAY affected
my opinion of "To Kill A Mockingbird". If anything, it made me love
it more. In my mind, it is even more of a masterpiece from having read it's
predecessor, or, as Harper Lee herself described it, the parent of Mockingbird.
And Harper Lee herself has lost no respect from me.
The characters become even richer from seeing their future selves in Watchman. There are scenes and dialogue here that showed up in her later effort. She fleshed out some characters and limited others.
And forget the hype about Atticus being a racist. He was a product of his times who thought that the South was not ready for complete equality of the races. It was Alabama in 1955, for goodness sake. He joined the Klan and went to a few meetings so he would know whose faces were under the hoods, in order to limit the harm they could do. All the newspaper articles about this book failed to mention that little detail. Atticus is still Atticus, but more of a human being here, less of a saint. Jean Louise has grown up, and like all kids in their 20's, thinks she knows everything. Dill and Jem make appearances via flashbacks, and we see another side of Calpurnia.
We should bow down in reverence to the editor who suggested to Lee that she tell the story from Scout's childhood perspective. It was a brilliant idea, Lee took the advice, and Mockingbird was brought into existence as the book so many of us have loved all our lives. This book, if published then, would never have achieved the fame and importance of Mockingbird.
To finish, I am so glad I read this book. I was apprehensive at first because I didn't want this one to ruin my love for Mockingbird, but as I said in the beginning, it made me love it more. It just goes to prove how much readers invest in literary characters who can sometimes become more real and influential that the people we actually live with.”
The characters become even richer from seeing their future selves in Watchman. There are scenes and dialogue here that showed up in her later effort. She fleshed out some characters and limited others.
And forget the hype about Atticus being a racist. He was a product of his times who thought that the South was not ready for complete equality of the races. It was Alabama in 1955, for goodness sake. He joined the Klan and went to a few meetings so he would know whose faces were under the hoods, in order to limit the harm they could do. All the newspaper articles about this book failed to mention that little detail. Atticus is still Atticus, but more of a human being here, less of a saint. Jean Louise has grown up, and like all kids in their 20's, thinks she knows everything. Dill and Jem make appearances via flashbacks, and we see another side of Calpurnia.
We should bow down in reverence to the editor who suggested to Lee that she tell the story from Scout's childhood perspective. It was a brilliant idea, Lee took the advice, and Mockingbird was brought into existence as the book so many of us have loved all our lives. This book, if published then, would never have achieved the fame and importance of Mockingbird.
To finish, I am so glad I read this book. I was apprehensive at first because I didn't want this one to ruin my love for Mockingbird, but as I said in the beginning, it made me love it more. It just goes to prove how much readers invest in literary characters who can sometimes become more real and influential that the people we actually live with.”
I loved reading your review of this book, as it coincides completely with mine. I loved Go Set a Watchman. Despite the controversy. I loved seeing the grown-up Jean-Louise, and the older Atticus. It was a beautiful book.
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