To Kill a Mockingbird
Ratings2,507
Average rating4.2
This is the kind of book you should read as a teenager, and then later on in life. Up here in Québec, this book rarely appears on mandatory or recommended reading in school, so I did not get to it for a really looooong time. I saw the movie in my late twenties, and kept telling myself I should read the book. I finally got to it, right in the middle of the noise around its “sequel” (which I have no intention of reading)...
I enjoyed reading Scout's voice and perception of the world around her and all that adults say or don't say around kids. Now I have to put this book in my daughters' hands (one is 22 the other 17) to be able to discuss it with them :)
I would've read it much earlier if I knew it was written from the point of view of a tomboy. ‘twas a delight being in the head of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Great book. I enjoyed every facet of it, and there are many.
Thought Capote's blurb for the book to be perfect;
“Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humour. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable.” -Truman Capote
I will definitely be getting Go Set a Watchman, cause sure as hell one Harper Lee book is not enough.
Not having read this book since high school, I decided to reread it so that I could read the “new” Harper Lee book.
It was definitely better than I remembered. One thing that made it more personal for me, is that my husband is from Alabama. As a Californian, this part of the setting did not stick in my mind when I was in high school, since all southern states were pretty interchangeable in my mind. Now I've been to one of them, and it's that one!
As I read the first few chapters, I was surprised by how well I remembered it. I could tell right away that the writing style was one that I would enjoy.
What I didn't remember well was the very end.
I'm glad that I took the time to read this book again, outside of school. I look forward to reading Go Set a Watchman.
I read this one again in preparation for its sequel-prequel, and thought to myself: whether [b:Go Set a Watchman|24817626|Go Set a Watchman|Harper Lee|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1428234289s/24817626.jpg|44458285] turns out to be a hit or a flop, it will never take away from this amazing piece of literature. [b:To Kill a Mockingbird|2657|To Kill a Mockingbird|Harper Lee|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361975680s/2657.jpg|3275794] will always stand alone as one of the greats. Afterthought: Many find Atticus to be the hero, however, my fondness for the sheriff grows with each read.
I just finished this book for the second time, the first being when I read it in grade 10 for school. I keep forgetting that I did read it for school, mainly because my grade 10 English teacher was no good so I don't have any school-related things to relate it to.
I loved it then, and was worried that I wouldn't love it anymore, but I do. The prose is so lovely and evocative...even if nothing happened, it would be a joy to read. Atticus Finch goes on my “literary crushes” list. I was just as moved by the story as an adult as I was as a teen. This book is a classic for a good reason.
It's about the futility of expecting justice from an unjust society, and the slowness of social change. It's supposed to make you feel sick. But, I did remove a star from my original rating, because of how little has changed. Tom Robinson was a black man accused of a crime he didn't commit, and was killed by the authorities while in custody. Sound familiar? But Tom is barely in the story at all. This is a book about white people talking about black people. What a shame that this racist county can't acquit a black man. What a miscarriage of justice. But that's just how it is. It's about a white man challenging a white colonial system and failing, and the “bad” white people celebrate the status quo and the “good” white people cry tears of rage and the black community is not heard from while Tom Robinson is killed and nothing changes. So some white kids grow a bit and learn about the world, and we don't really hear anything at all about what the black community is going through except that some of them brought Atticus some food for actually doing his damn job instead of putting his feet up and accepting conviction as a foregone conclusion.
I re-read this for the first time since like, high school maybe? For obvious reasons. I know this is a total childhood favorite for many people–it's not for me? I enjoyed it when I read it as a youth but it didn't imprint on me the way some other plucky heroines did. (eg [b:Anne of Green Gables 8127 Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) L.M. Montgomery https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390789015s/8127.jpg 3464264].)So, in anticipation of Watchman, I've noticed a lot of (white) people re-reading it and realizing that maybe it isn't the perfectly anti-racist book they remembered it being? Here's my hot take on that: a Southern white lady wrote it in the 1950sSo yeah, it is totally a story about a white girl learning an important lesson from the suffering of a black man, in a way that would feel extremely icky in a contemporary novel. (OK maybe not given the popularity of [b:The Help 4667024 The Help Kathryn Stockett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346100365s/4667024.jpg 4717423]......) But! I still really did enjoy the re-read, and Scout's voice is so strong and delightful. There's a lot of sharp cleverness here, and a lot of frank talk about race and class and coming of age in the south.Also, I mean, yes Atticus is a great voice for justice blah blah blah but also he is a total dick to a rape/incest victim? (Who is, of course, in turn, being a total dick to a disabled black man.) Also, Scout's “not like the other girls” lifestyle is not very 3rd wave.Still: overall, a lot of this endures fairly well.
The audiobook with Sissy Spacek is wonderful; I can't believe I waited this long to read it.
can't believe i didn't like this as a kid. i actually thought it was boring back then. but at least now i realize how poorly mistaken i was back then. thank god school made us read this
Scout talking about the Cunninghams to Miss Caroline; not supposed to be doing anything that required pants, but instead being a ray of sunshine in her father's life; talking Walter down using Atticus' advice - talk about what ppl are interested in and not what you are interested in; and generally discovering the world. Thes ar my top Scout moments <3
To my surprise I enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird, despite the fact that it wasn't the usual type of novel that I tend to read. I also watched the 1962 movie too, starring Gregory Peck, to enhance my understanding of the points the story was making: it covered most of the major plot elements contained in the book, albeit in a slightly different order, emphasising certain aspects of the novel for dramatic effect and leaving others out; it was an interesting comparison. In this brief review I'm not going to run through the plot, rather I'm going to touch on the various themes which I noticed:
Good versus Evil
“Mockingbirds don't do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
The exploration of what it means to be good or evil is covered extensively. Mockingbirds (such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and possibly even Atticus) are almost entirely good but the characters exhibit and deal with this goodness in different ways, for example Boo hides from evil and Atticus fights it head on. However with Atticus he also understands that good people are weak enough to support an evil cause, for example Mrs. Dubose. Atticus also recognises that we all have a basic level of human dignity which requires respect and an attempt to understand individual points of view, he says:
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
The novel suggests that failure to “stand in the other persons shoes”, leads to intolerance and fear which then leads to prejudice and injustice. Once you take the time to understand why a person is behaving in a certain way then tolerance and sympathy will follow which will then ultimately remove prejudice.
This lesson in morality suggests that you can live with dignity without becoming overly pessimistic at how others conduct themselves. Scout grasps this when later in the novel she acknowledges Boo for who he is not who she thinks he is; he becomes fully human to Scout, illustrating that she has developed into a sympathetic and understanding individual. Despite the pain Boo has suffered, the purity of his heart guides his dealings with the children; he saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell and is the greatest symbol of what it is to be good.
Interestingly, the novel doesn't provide clear guidance on how to approach those people who are integrally evil and who are indifferent to reason. That is left up to the reader to consider alone.
Groups versus Individuals
I mentioned the effect that the irrational grouping of people has in my review of Cats Cradle; while Atticus considers the individual others in the book use religion, race, class, gender or the expected behavioural patterns of society to group people together, set certain standards and norms, create stereotypes and then demand conformity to these; this is sometimes called “prejudice” (see above).
Perhaps the most powerful example is how most people in the book perceive black people: they are either stupid or evil, both assumptions are skilfully dismissed by the author. For example, even though the black characters are of a lower class than the white Ewells they are more law abiding, accommodating and hard working.
Growing Up
The children in the book question what doesn't make sense to them, for example the pervasive prejudice and as the novel progresses the children age and slowly lose their innocence: at the start they equate good to mean Atticus and the citizens of Maycomb and evil is personified in the mysterious Boo. As the book concludes their outlook becomes more realistic and they begin to understand the complex nature of morality: everyone is good or evil to a greater or lesser extent.
To Kill a Mockingbird also condemns standardized school education: memorisation of facts and figures and the hypocrisy shown when it comes to the discussions about the Nazi party and democracy all highlight how schools create conformist children as opposed to critical thinkers who foster shared understanding across the artificial boundaries mentioned earlier.
Courage
The theme of courage was perhaps the most powerful for me. Atticus defines courage are follows:
“It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”
Courage therefore is not the same as power or might, it's about doing what you know is the right thing regardless of what others think (here's an example of this).
As:
“The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”
In conclusion, the skill that has gone into writing this novel is really only understood when you have completed it and thought about the entire story. One the one hand it is a simple morality tale but on the other it really is one of the books that every adult should read before they die.
Fantastic and sad. Easy to see why it's a classic and I regret that it took me so long to read it. It wasn't part of my high school reading, and it's been on my to-read list for years; it was bumped up in my priority list when a friend posted Jem's brief exchange with Atticus after the trial, on Facebook in the wake of the Ferguson situation. So glad I picked it up.
Very impressive characters, great on detail and dialogue. You'll enjoy on main character's experience like you're young again. I love every scenes (especially near the end), you will smile, angry and sad for the character. And got many good quotes from Atticus by the way. However, this is a great book that describe one aspect of our society by story-telling.
I don't know how you review on the great american classics. So I didn't really.
But I did find a few interesting tidbits to write about on my blog http://bookwi.se/mockingbird/
Publicado originalmente: El Extraño Gato del CuentoLo curioso de esta lectura es que me pase un gran tiempo buscando “To Kill a Mockingjay”, la influencia del Presidente me está haciendo mal, y no ayudó nada todos los fanarts ¬¬ No sé si soy la única pero le tengo un tremendo terror a los clásicos, supongo que tiene que ver con que a mí me pidieron leer clásicos en el colegio y no era ese el momento adecuado para mí leerlo. Además que cuando a mí me obligan a hacer algo que no quiero, ese algo no tiene buen futuro en mi aprecio xDNo me arrepiento no haberlo leído antes porque creo que si lo hubiera hecho muchos años atrás no hubiera podido apreciar este libro como lo hice ahora. Es de esos libros de los cuales necesitas experiencia para poder identificarte o conmoverte con los personajes. Estoy casi segura que si me hubieras dado este libro en la secundaria lo hubiera odiado a muerte, porque así era yo, bastante fastidiosa. Ahora que estoy más grande (en realidad mayor, porque no crecí nada), la ternura y inocencia de este libro me ha dejado encantada.Gracias a la perfecta narración de Scout, no recuerdo nunca haber querido tanto tener la necesidad de abrazar hasta ahogar a alguien, los personajes secundarios y principales son extremadamente adorables. Hace un tiempo cuando en el página de facebook hicieron un comentario sobre el libro “Querido Atticus”, no lo había entendido porque en ese momento no había leído Matar a un Ruiseñor, ahora sí y sí, el personaje de Atticus es del tipo por el que temes en todo el libro, sobre todo nosotros que ya nos estamos acostumbrando a que los escritores sean sanguinarios.Twitter Blog Pinterest Tumblr Instagram
It's been years since a book left me with such feeling. I think this book goes to my top ten. I didn't expect that ending, though, it was so sudden. And on the other hand I'm glad it didn't finish the awful way I was thinking about while I was reading. Worth reading. 100% recommended. It's a beautiful book, with a beautiful story and memorable characters.
I am in such deep regret for not being able to read this (as well as The Giver) way back in high school. I remember seeing a film adaptation of this way back when I was still a child, but I don't remember a single detail about it's story. It was all a blur. People kept raving about this book (including USA President Barack Obama) even after it was first published way back in 1960.
Harper Lee has written not just a magnificent story, she also created characters ever put into paper: Atticus, Jem, and Scout Finch, Boo Radley, Dill, the Ewells, Tim Robinson, etc. You will get attached to them in a heartbeat.
This book may be about the court trial of Tim Robinson as it's potential climax, but there is more than that as the story progresses. I really love how they tackled issues about racism and diversity. That everyone should be treated equal despite one's color, race, and nationality. It also talks about the flaws of humanity, and how it's slowly deteriorating.
I recommend this to everyone, young or old. It's just that brilliant and will leave a mark in your heart. You won't easily forget how amazing this book is.
Being Canadian I've managed to reach middle age having never read To Kill a Mockingbird. (I haven't even seen the movie!) It was never assigned for summer reading. I have not had to sit through a class and endure questions like “how are the themes of equality explored?”
I think every American Family must have at least one copy of the book on their shelves somewhere. Part of the “You're An American” kit that includes Fleetwood Mac's Rumors and Monopoly. How else do you explain the $9000.00 a DAY in royalties still being handed over to Harper Lee's estate. They must just back up a dump truck every year and backfill schools across the United States with paperback copies.
Despite all that, it still holds up. While the Hitler bit near the end is a bit much, it manages to be a well balanced, beautiful gem of a story that doesn't dissolve into preciousness or heavy handed moralizing. It's a lovely read.
In the beginning there's a passage where Scout suddenly wakes up to see it has snowed. She's never seen snow and wakes up screaming and says “The world's going to end Atticus, please do something!”. Thought is was really funny and cute then. On finishing the book, I think that phrase aptly summed up the book!