Matar Un Ruisenor (Paperback) by Harper Lee - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

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The Next Best Boo...: * What are you reading?	19709	19963	45 minutes ago

Dec 05, 2007

Denise rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

bookshelves: bookgroup, books-i-love-so-much-i-bought, classics, made-into-movie

Read in December, 2004

recommended to Denise by: Bookgroup
recommends it for: Everyone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I looked up Harper Lee online this is her only published book. However, she did write a few articles that one can find and read online:
Love in other Words - Vogue
Christmas to me - McCalls
When Children Discover America
Romance and High Adventure

Her full name is Nellie Harper Lee - I bet she dropped the Nellie part so publishers would mistakenly think she was a man and read her material. She is also still alive and living in Monroeville, Alabama. And once you rea...more

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Mar 11, 2008

Kim rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

bookshelves: classics, frosh

Read in October, 2009

Why is it when I pick up To Kill A Mockingbird , I am instantly visited by a sensory memory: I’m walking home, leaves litter the ground, crunching under my feet. I smell the smoke of fireplaces and think about hot cider and the wind catches and my breath is taken from me and I bundle my coat tighter against me and lift my head to the sky, no clouds, just a stunning blue that hurts my eyes, another deep breath and I have this feeling that all is okay.

Why? Why this memory? I m...more Why is it when I pick up To Kill A Mockingbird , I am instantly visited by a sensory memory: I’m walking home, leaves litter the ground, crunching under my feet. I smell the smoke of fireplaces and think about hot cider and the wind catches and my breath is taken from me and I bundle my coat tighter against me and lift my head to the sky, no clouds, just a stunning blue that hurts my eyes, another deep breath and I have this feeling that all is okay.

Why? Why this memory? I mean, this takes place in Alabama and mostly in the summer, well there is that one climatic scene on Halloween, but I bet it’s still hot enough to melt the balls off a brass monkey.

It must be the school thing, my daughter just finished reading it, prompting me to give it another go, to fall back into Scout’s world and pretend to be eight and let life simply be.

How is that? How can life for Scout be simple? I mean, she lives in the south, during the depression, she has to deal with ignorant schoolteachers and town folk, her ideas of what is right, what is what it should be are laughed at by her schoolmates… man, and I thought my childhood was rough.

Still, she lives in this idyllic town, I mean, except for the racism and the creepy neighbors and the whole fact that it’s, you know, the south…(forgive me… I’m not immune to the downfalls of the north, I mean, we had witches and well, Ted Bundy was born here…) But, there’s this sense of childlike innocence to this book that makes me believe in humanity… even in the throes of evil. What am I saying here? I guess, that this is a good pick me up.

What I also get from this book is that I have severe Daddy issues. I consume Atticus Finch in unnatural ways. He is the ultimate father; he has the perfect response for every situation. He is the transcendent character. My heart melts at each sentence devoted to him and I just about crumble during the courtroom scene.

Am I gushing? I sure am. I was raised by a man who thought that Budweiser can artwork was the epitome of culture. That drinking a 6-pack was the breakfast of champions. That college was for sissies. He could throw out a racial slur without a single thought, care or worry to who was around. I won't even get into the debates/rantings of a 16 yr old me vs a 42 yr old him... What a role model.

So, I thank Harper Lee for giving me Atticus. I can cuddle up with my cider and pretend that I’m basking in his light. I can write this blurb that makes sense to maybe a handful but that is okay, I am approved of and all is good.
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Oct 14, 2008

Meghan rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

Read in January, 1993

If I could give this no stars, I would. This is possibly one of my least favorite books in the world, one that I would happily take off of shelves and stow in dark corners where no one would ever have to read it again.

I think that To Kill A Mockingbird has such a prominent place in (American) culture because it is a naive, idealistic piece of writing in which naivete and idealism are ultimately rewarded. It's a saccharine, rose-tinted eulogy for the nineteen thirties from an orator ...more If I could give this no stars, I would. This is possibly one of my least favorite books in the world, one that I would happily take off of shelves and stow in dark corners where no one would ever have to read it again.

I think that To Kill A Mockingbird has such a prominent place in (American) culture because it is a naive, idealistic piece of writing in which naivete and idealism are ultimately rewarded. It's a saccharine, rose-tinted eulogy for the nineteen thirties from an orator who comes not to bury, but to praise. Written in the late fifties, TKAM is free of the social changes and conventions that people at the time were (and are, to some extent) still grating at. The primary dividing line in TKAM is not one of race, but is rather one of good people versus bad people -- something that, of course, Atticus and the children can discern effortlessly.

The characters are one dimensional. Calpurnia is the Negro who knows her place and loves the children; Atticus is a good father, wise and patient; Tom Robinson is the innocent wronged; Boo is the kind eccentric; Jem is the little boy who grows up; Scout is the precocious, knowledgable child. They have no identity outside of these roles. The children have no guile, no shrewdness--there is none of the delightfully subversive slyness that real children have, the sneakiness that will ultimately allow them to grow up. Jem and Scout will be children forever, existing in a world of black and white in which lacking knowledge allows people to see the truth in all of its simple, nuanceless glory.

I think that's why people find it soothing: TKAM privileges, celebrates, even, the child's point of view. Other YA classics--Huckleberry Finn; Catcher in the Rye; A Wrinkle in Time; The Day No Pigs Would Die; Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret; Bridge to Terabithia--feature protagonists who are, if not actively fighting to become adults, at least fighting to find themselves as people. There is an active struggle throughout each of those books to make sense of the world, to define the world as something larger than oneself, as something that the protagonist can somehow be a part of. To Kill A Mockingbird has no struggle to become part of the world--in it, the children *are* the world, and everything else is just only relevant in as much as it affects them. There's no struggle to make sense of things, because to them, it already makes sense; there's no struggle to be a part of something, because they're already a part of everything. There's no sense of maturation--their world changes, but it leaves them, in many ways, unchanged, and because of that, it fails as a story for me. The whole point of a coming of age story--which is what TKAM is generally billed as--is that the characters come of age, or at least mature in some fashion, and it just doesn't happen.

All thematic issues aside, I think that the writing is very, er, uneven, shall we say? Overwhelmingly episodic, not terribly consistent, and largely as dimensionless as the characters.
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Nov 13, 2007

Ashley rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”(p. 20)

I love this book and this idea of reading being like breathing. As Scout did, I read early too, and often. Every night before bed I would read and still do. I saw a Twilight Zone Episode once where the main character loved to read and only wanted to be left alone to do so. After falling asleep in the vault of the bank where he worked, he awoke to a post-disaster world where only he wa...more “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”(p. 20)

I love this book and this idea of reading being like breathing. As Scout did, I read early too, and often. Every night before bed I would read and still do. I saw a Twilight Zone Episode once where the main character loved to read and only wanted to be left alone to do so. After falling asleep in the vault of the bank where he worked, he awoke to a post-disaster world where only he was left. He busily gathered together all the books he wanted to read, all organized and stacked up. Just as he chose one to start with, his glasses fell and he stepped on them trying to find them. It was terrible and I remember feeling horrified that this man would never get to read again! Such a thought had never occurred to me. This semester I had to get glasses myself after suffering migraines from reading. I was so nervous at the eye doctor because the thought of not being able to read was too much for me. Of course, I only needed readers, but when I ran across this quote, I thought about how much like breathing reading is for me.

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” (p. 87)

Never say die! Fight the good fight no matter what! I love the anti-defeatist message in this quote. Even though Atticus knows the deck is stacked against him, he tries anyway. He understands that sometimes you have to fight the un-winnable fight just for the chance that you might win. It makes me think that what he’s trying to teach his children is never to give up just because things look dim.

“...before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.” (p. 120)

As Shakespeare said, “To thine own self be true.” That’s really all that matters. At the end of the day, when you lay down, you have to know that you did the right things, acted the right way and stayed true to yourself. Again, Atticus understands that the town is talking; he has to explain to his kids why he continues against the tide of popular thought. He sums it up so well here.

“We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.”(p. 320)

I love the sad way this quote sounds. It is clearly the thoughts of a child, for hadn’t Scout just given Boo his dignity as they were walking home? Hadn’t she and Jem given him children to care for and watch over? But she knows too, even from her child’s perspective, that they could never give him anything close to what he had given them—their lives. It just sounds so beautifully sad.
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Jul 25, 2007

Mona rated it:

(review of isbn 0446310786)

bookshelves: favorites, law, literature, social-justice

Owns a copy — Read in July, 2007

I read this book a long time ago, when I was ten years old. I remembered nothing from it except thinking it was really, really good. And here I am, thirteen years later. I picked it up again because I was curious about what my reaction would be to it now.

The book follows three years in the life of Scout Finch, her brother Jem, their father Atticus, and their fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the era of the Great Depression. The first half of the novel focuses mainly on Scout and...more

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Dec 07, 2007

Jennifer Brown rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

bookshelves: american-literature, books-i-ve-named-pets-after, classics, fiction, own

Read in March, 2005

Notes from an academic discussion about the book:

Each time I read this book, a different “universal truth” jumps out at me. When I was younger, I pondered the themes of prejudice, kindness, and dignity that run through the book, but now that I’m considerably older, what stuck out to me this time were the themes of innocence, and loss of innocence running through the whole book.

This reading I was particularly caught by the child-like perspective that the book gives e...more Notes from an academic discussion about the book:

Each time I read this book, a different “universal truth” jumps out at me. When I was younger, I pondered the themes of prejudice, kindness, and dignity that run through the book, but now that I’m considerably older, what stuck out to me this time were the themes of innocence, and loss of innocence running through the whole book.

This reading I was particularly caught by the child-like perspective that the book gives each of the events. From the kids all thinking anything that touches the Radley property is poisoned, to Scout’s minimal understanding of the words used in the trial, but her complete understanding of the concepts. Likewise, with the exception of the trial, throughout the book innocence trumps experience. A particular example was when Scout first finds the goodies in the Radley tree. She finds the gum, ponders its origins, and decides that she’d like chewing the gum better than being all grown up about it. Jem, who always represents a more mature (but not much more until near the end) perspective, and he makes her spit it out when he finds out where she got it from. In the end though, Scout’s innocence let her get a good chew out of a wad of gum.

I think the fact that the book takes place over three years helps show the contrast between the innocent time at the beginning of the book, when Scout was six, and Dill, Jem and she played as relative equals, to Scout’s first day of school where Jem begins to brush her off as the “little sister.” By the end of the book, when Scout is nine, she may be physically older, but it seems that she is even more sheltered by Jem, who thinks the concept of the trial may be too grown up for her. He moves through the story from her equal to her protector, which only helps to keep Scout innocent through the book.

In the end though, the book really proves that there is something magical and golden about innocence. There is a purity and truth in innocence—whether it’s a dignified response to an unfair world, or simply an acceptance of things even if they are strange and different.

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Aug 21, 2008

gieb rated it:

(review of isbn 9793269400)

Read in August, 2008

kalau hanya ada satu jenis manusia, mengapa mereka tidak bisa rukun? kalau mereka semua sama, mengapa mereka merepotkan diri untuk saling membenci (hal 431)

kutipan di atas berhasil mengingatkan saya, bahwa beda itu perkara besar pada zaman kita. bahkan, kondisi hari ini, beda tak lagi dilihat dari luar, dari kulit tubuh dan pakaian, tapi dari dalam, dari iman.

ketakutan mbah harper lee ini sekarang lebih merajalela. hari ini, dengan mudah darah muncrat dari seorang manu...more

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Aug 05, 2007

Rishi rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

Read in December, 1996

recommends it for: no one

A friend of mine once commented that To Kill a Mockingbird was the most racist book he'd ever read.

I agree with him. Now, I know this book is drawn from the author's true experiences, but she choose to write a novel and thus I will judge it as a novel. With it's irrevocable integration into the American (and Canadian) public school curricula, I think this novel has probably done more to perpetuate racial stereotypes than any other single force.

If I had to sum up To Kill ...more

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Nov 12, 2008

Hasna Diana rated it:

(review of isbn 9793269400)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in November, 2008

Buku ini akan menjadi buku fave-ku sepanjang masa.. TOP BGT! Serasa sudah lama banget ga ketemu buku yang bagus, tapi baca buku ini, mengobati rasa kehilangan itu.. alhamdulillah..

Membaca halaman awal buku cerita setebal 533 halaman ini, benar-benar sebuah upaya yang tidak ringan. Tidak terlalu paham apa yang dimaksud penulisnya, tapi biarlah, tetap saja dibaca halaman demi halamannya, mungkin nanti juga akan mengerti.

Cerita ini dikisahkan dari sudut pandang Scout, seoran...more

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Aug 08, 2008

Roos rated it:

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bookshelves: furious

Read in August, 2008

Dah selesai...bentar baru nulis reviewna nih...hehehehe.
Duh mau nulis apa yah...bukunya Bagus banget ternyata...

"Kau tidak akan pernah bisa memahami seseorang hingga kau melihat segala sesuatu dari sudut pandangnya...hingga kau menyusup ke balik kulitnya dan menjalani hidup dengan caranya." Harper Lee.

Quotation ini sebenarnya sudah lama diajarkan sama orangtuaku, jika kita terlalu sempit dalam menanggapi suatu permasalahan. Terutama saat kita mengeluarkan ...more Dah selesai...bentar baru nulis reviewna nih...hehehehe.
Duh mau nulis apa yah...bukunya Bagus banget ternyata...

"Kau tidak akan pernah bisa memahami seseorang hingga kau melihat segala sesuatu dari sudut pandangnya...hingga kau menyusup ke balik kulitnya dan menjalani hidup dengan caranya." Harper Lee.

Quotation ini sebenarnya sudah lama diajarkan sama orangtuaku, jika kita terlalu sempit dalam menanggapi suatu permasalahan. Terutama saat kita mengeluarkan komentar mengenai tindakan atau perilaku seseorang yang kita anggap tidak atau kurang baik, pasti keluar pertanyaan: Bagaimana kalo kamu diposisi mereka? Apa yang kamu lakukan?...Wakkkssss.

Ini pertanyaan yang tidak mudah dijawab...Persis apa yang dikatakan Atticus kepada Jem dan Scout, ketika mereka selalu menanyakan tindak-tanduk orang-orang yang tinggal di Maycomb County. Dengan latar belakang Kehidupan warganya yang beragam kita jadi bisa memahami apa yang dilihat Scout melalui mata pemahaman seorang anak terhadap orang dewasa disekitarnya. Dan bahwa manusia itu tidak selalu yang kita sangka, kadang mereka bertingkah aneh dan diluar nalar karena mereka memang menginginkan seperti itu. Contoh saja nih Mr.Dolphus Raymond yang selalu membawa botol dibungkus kertas coklat dan cara minum seperti orang setengah mabok...anak-anak pikir dia minum wisky atau minuman beralkohol lain dan pantas untuk dijauhi, tapi ternyata botol itu selalu berisi Coca Cola. Anehnya, dia lebih suka orang berprasangka terhadap dirinya sebagai orang yang mabok. Disini Faktor MANUSIA-lah yang membedakan satu dengan yang lain. Selain mengajarkan mengenai kedewasaan melalui keterbukaan dan kasih sayang, To Kill a Mocking Bird juga mengajarkan bagaimana menjadi Wanita Terhormat...*halah*. Dibagian ini aku agak geli...

Beruntung juga Jem dan Scout mempunyai ayah seperti Atticus meski membesarkan dua anak seorang diri dia cukup mampu menjadi ayah dan ibu sekaligus. Dan Jem maupun Scout pun bukan tipe anak pembangkang, tapi anak-anak pintar yang suka menanyakan apa yang mereka pikirkan.

Buku yang bagus dan Wajib untuk dibaca...
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Jul 22, 2008

Amang Suramang rated it:

(review of isbn 9793269400)

bookshelves: goodreads-indonesia, indonesian, world-literature

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Amang by: Goodreads Indonesia
recommends it for: Goodreaders Indonesia

Tahun 1930-an. Suatu periode yang disebut Great Depression, ketika Perang Dunia I menyedot uang begitu banyak hingga akhirnya ekonomi dunia ambruk. Amerika, negara yang kuat saja akhirnya ikutan mengalami zaman susah. Sesusah kisah hidup petani Cunningham yang diceritakan dalam buku ini, sampai-sampai si Walter Cunningham --teman sekelas Scout di kelas 1-- bersekolah tanpa sepatu dan cuma punya satu baju bersih. Atau dalam film-film Charlie Chaplin, digambarkan saking susahnya sampai-sampai Char...more

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Jul 22, 2008

nanto rated it:

(review of isbn 9793269400)

bookshelves: history-and-sociology, nant-s-book, novel

Read in August, 2008

Alurnya masih terasa lambat. Sepertinya memang begitu seharusnya untuk menggambarkan ketegasan Aticus yang berpesan kepada anaknya tentang usaha melawan rasialisme dengan pemikirannya. Ia tetap menghormati pendapat mayoritas yang berbeda dengan dirinya, yang utama buat Aticus adalah, "sebelum aku mampu hidup bersama orang lain, aku harus hidup dengan diriku sendiri. Satu hal yang tidak bisa tunduk pada mayoritas adalah nurani seseorang(hal. 206)."

Perlawanan atas rasialisme ...more

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Sep 23, 2007

Núria rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

bookshelves: 2007, 4-muy-buenos, literatura-en-ingles, mios, siglo-xx

Read in August, 2007

No sé por qué, yo siempre me había imaginado que 'Matar a un ruiseñor' estaría todo más centrado en Atticus Finch y lo noble y buen abogado que es, todo muy judicial, así que me he llevado una grata sorpresa al ver que todo estaba narrado desde el punto de vista de una niña que va creciendo y las historias de niñas, no niños, que crecen son mi debilidad. Así que podemos ver toda la hipocresía y las injusticias de la sociedad a través de sus ojos. La protagonista es Scout y tiene un ...more No sé por qué, yo siempre me había imaginado que 'Matar a un ruiseñor' estaría todo más centrado en Atticus Finch y lo noble y buen abogado que es, todo muy judicial, así que me he llevado una grata sorpresa al ver que todo estaba narrado desde el punto de vista de una niña que va creciendo y las historias de niñas, no niños, que crecen son mi debilidad. Así que podemos ver toda la hipocresía y las injusticias de la sociedad a través de sus ojos. La protagonista es Scout y tiene un hermano que se llama Jem; los dos se han criado en un ambiente liberal, en que les han enseñado a pensar por si mismos y a intentar ser justos con todo el mundo. Por eso cuando descubren que en realidad la sociedad no siempre se rige por los mismos principios que les han enseñado en casa (básicamente que la justicia no se pone siempre de parte de quien se la merece), la decepción y el golpe que se llevan es considerable, sobre todo para Jem. Quizás no lo sea tanto para Scoutt porque las niñas ya estaban acostumbradas a que no se las tratara con justicia respecto a los chicos.

Atticus es el padre de Scout y Jem. Y realmente está hecho del material que están hechos los literary crushes. Es noble, tranquilo, pacífico y valiente, lucha por lo que cree aunque sepa de antemano que va a perder, no le gusta salir por ahí y se queda en casa leyendo, lleva gafas y va notando que se hace mayor. Scoutt es una niña algo muchachote. Por eso consideran que es una niña rebelde, porque hace las mismas cosas y juega a los mismos juegos que se ven naturales en los chicos. Cuando aún es pequeña aún le permiten comportarse como un muchachote, pero a medida que va creciendo incluso ella se va dando cuenta que tendrá que dejar atrás todo esto para ser una dama y comportarse correctamente. Pero aún siendo una dama puede conservar su personalidad y no convertirse en una chismosa superficial más, como ha conseguido hacer la señorita Maudie, su vecina, que es casi como una figura materna para los dos hermanos. La señorita Maudie es un personaje que me ha fascinado, porque es una mujer que, aunque aparentemente ha aceptado las normas, sigue siendo ella misma, sigue teniendo su carácter y no mordiéndose nunca la lengua.

Me han encantado todos los pasajes referentes a la casa donde vive encerrado Boo Radley, porque en cualquier infancia ha habido una casa que decíamos que estaba encantada y que nos daba miedo, pero a la vez suponía una tentación irresistible para ir a investigar y a explorar. Y también me ha encantado el detalle de que en la escuela regañen a Scoutt porque ya sabe leer, porque se considera que sólo la escuela tiene derecho a dar una educación uniformizada para convertir a los niños en cabezudos que piensen todos igual, mientras que todo el conocimiento que viene de fuera es rechazado, porque es como peligroso.

Y el final me ha parecido magnífico. Es una novela redonda, porque al final se recupera una anécdota que se había mencionado justo en la primera página y de la que yo ya me había olvidado. Me gusta como Scout se hace mayor. Me gusta que el libro nos diga que nos hacemos mayores cuando ya no miramos tanto al futuro con ilusión sino al pasado con nostalgia; cuando nos damos cuenta que ya hemos aprendido lo esencial, que ya no aprenderemos nada más realmente importante, porque las bases de nuestra personalidad ya están cimentadas; cuando entendemos que ya no tenemos que tener miedo de fantasías que nosotros mismos nos hemos inventado; cuando somos capaces de ponernos en el lugar de otra persona, porque al fin y al cabo esto es lo principal que les ha enseñado Atticus a sus hijos: a ser capaces de ponerse en el lugar de los otros y entenderlos. Es por todo esto que es una novela tan valiosa. Y preciosa. Y acabas queriendo tanto a los personajes que cuando se termina te da pena tener que despedirte de ellos.
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Jun 05, 2007

Razzberry Bint-Johari rated it:

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Read in May, 1982

A beautiful, if painful, coming-of-age story. Set in fictional small town in Alabama, the story talks about life in Depression-hit America. It starts out with an affectionate description of the sleepy southern county. Scout and her brother Jem are raised by their widowed father Atticus and their housekeeper, Calpurnia. Their summers are consumed by grand plans to lure the recluse Arthur “Boo” Radley out of his spooky home. The ladies meet for missionary teas and “bathed before noon, after ...more

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Jul 30, 2007

Steve rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

The following was a review I wrote April 1. I've since come to view it in a different light, and now believe it's one of the finest books ever written.

April 1

It's funny how things can change. I recall really liking this book the first time I read it back in about 8th grade. Maybe I should have just left well enough alone. It was a pleasant memory from my youth. Why spoil things by picking it up again as a more clear-sighted (some might say jaundiced)adult? I probabl...more The following was a review I wrote April 1. I've since come to view it in a different light, and now believe it's one of the finest books ever written.

April 1

It's funny how things can change. I recall really liking this book the first time I read it back in about 8th grade. Maybe I should have just left well enough alone. It was a pleasant memory from my youth. Why spoil things by picking it up again as a more clear-sighted (some might say jaundiced)adult? I probably wouldn't view my favorite book from 4th grade, The Secret Weapon, the same way either. The intense drama of a glue-fingered benchwarmer called in at the end of the big game to catch the winning touchdown might seem shallow and contrived to the current me.

I realize I'm swimming against the tide here, but how many of you have reread this supposed masterpiece in your more mature years? With that perspective, I can't be the only one to see Scout as the rather obvious wish-fulfillment of Harper Lee. Reading since infancy, brave as any boy, inherently fair-minded, a noble spirit well beyond her years... C'mon, Harper; you've got to give her some flaws mere humans can relate to. Now Jem, in comparison, was a run-of-the-mill dullard. As written, he's not necessarily going to grow up to be the depraved male in a Lifetime movie, but it's clear that Ms. Lee doesn't much care for this kid with the penis. And Dill? How can we not think of him as the future Truman Capote, fat and affected?

My real problem with the book, though, now that my blinkers are off, is the pure perfection of Atticus. His progressivity knows no bounds. You're going to tell me that a lawyer is capable of empathy and integrity?!? And where is the complexity of context, you might ask. Wouldn't this son of the South, to be at all realistic, have wrestled a grudge match against himself, his Doppelcracker, if you will? Even modern-day hacks know to include that much conflict.

Clearly, Atticus is a balm to assuage white guilt for a nasty racial past, but I wonder if that by itself qualifies as clothes for the emperor. Ironically, people who are happy to applaud the courage Atticus displayed in standing against popular sentiment will likely castigate me for doing the same.

Whenever you take an extreme view (and I know I have; even defying Oprah, for chrissake), you have to wonder what that says about you more than it does about the work under review. Maybe had this been March 31 or April 2, I would have felt differently, but today I felt a strange need to rock the Goodreads boat. Did anyone fall out? Happy AFD!
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Sep 03, 2008

Jimmy rated it:

(review of isbn 9793269400)

Read in March, 2010

To Kill a Mockingbird (The Movie)

Etnis Afrika-Amerika, yang sekarang lebih sering disebut sebagai Afro-Amerika adalah kelompok etnis di Amerika Serikat yang nenek moyangnya berasal dari Afrika di bagian Sub-Sahara dan Barat. Umumnya, rakyat etnis Afro-Amerika berdarah Afrika, Eropa, dan Amerika asli. Dulu, etnis ini sering disebut dengan sebutan “negro” atau “colored” yang juga merujuk kepada warna kulit hitam orang yang bukan penduduk Amerika Serikat. Namun sekarang, seb...more To Kill a Mockingbird (The Movie)

Etnis Afrika-Amerika, yang sekarang lebih sering disebut sebagai Afro-Amerika adalah kelompok etnis di Amerika Serikat yang nenek moyangnya berasal dari Afrika di bagian Sub-Sahara dan Barat. Umumnya, rakyat etnis Afro-Amerika berdarah Afrika, Eropa, dan Amerika asli. Dulu, etnis ini sering disebut dengan sebutan “negro” atau “colored” yang juga merujuk kepada warna kulit hitam orang yang bukan penduduk Amerika Serikat. Namun sekarang, sebutan kulit hitam atau “black people” lebih sering digunakan karena penggunaan kata “negro” dan “colored” dianggap sebagai penghinaan bagi etnis Afro-Amerika ini. Bahkan, kata-kata tersebut juga sering digunakan untuk mendiskriminasikan mereka.

Sejarah masuknya bangsa kulit hitam ke Amerika Serikat, dimulai dengan diperdagangkannya bangsa ini ke Amerika bagian Selatan sejak tahun 1607 sebagai budak. walaupun pada akhirnya pengimporan bangsa kulit hitam ini dilarang pada tahun 1807. Bahkan, setelah Abraham Lincoln, salah satu tokoh yang menentang perbudakan dilantik menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat pada tahun 1860, perbudakan pun dihapuskan melalui status hukum pada tahun 1863. Berdasarkan sensus di Amerika Serikat, pada tahun 1790, populasi warga Afro-Amerika berjumlah 757.208 atau 19,3% dari total populasi Amerika Serikat pada saat itu. Dan, jumlah itu terus mengalami pertumbuhan dari tahun ke tahun hingga berjumlah 37,1 juta jiwa pada tahun 2003.

Namun, seiring dihapuskannya system perbudakan di Amerika Serikat, perlakuan berbeda dan tindakan diskriminasi rasial masih terasa kental diawal dan pertengahan abad ke-20, dan itu pula yang membuat bangsa kulit hitam mulai bangkit selawan diskriminasi terhadap etnis mereka. Puncak dari perlawanan mereka terjadi pada tahun 1960-an yang ditandai dengan munculnya Gerakan Hak Asasi Manusia yang dipimpin oleh Martin Luther King, Jr dan juga Roy Wilkins yang menuntut perlakuan yang lebih baik terhadap bangsa kulit hitam. Kini, kelompok etnis ini bisa mendapatkan kehidupan dan perlakuan yang lebih baik dan manusiawi baik dibidang ekonomi maupun sosial, meski tidak dapat dipungkiri kalau diskriminasi itu masih kerap terjadi yang terbukti dengan masih adanya kesulitan-kesulitan yang dialami oleh kelompok etnis ini untuk akses kesehatan dan mendapatkan pekerjaan. Salah satu tokoh muslim yang juga ikut memperjuangkan penghapusan diskriminasi terhadap kaum Afro-Amerika adalah Malcom X yang mendirikan Organization of Afro-American Unity pada 28 Juni 1964.

Pada tanggal 11 Juli 1960, Harper Lee menerbitkan sebuah novel berjudul “To Kill a Mockingbird” yang ceritanya didasarkan pada pengamatannya terhadap keluarga, tetangga-tetangga, serta kejadian-kejadian diskriminasi rasial yang terjadi sekitar tahun 1936, dimana saat itu Haper Lee masih berumur 10 tahun. Novel ini sendiri telah diulas di setidaknya 30 koran dan majalah, serta menempati peringkat teratas setelah Injil, sebagai buku yang harus dibaca orang sebelum meninggal (every adult should read before they die). Novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” menjadi satu-satunya karya Harper Lee yang diterbitkan.

Pada tahun 1962, novel ini pun diadaptasi menjadi sebuah film yang berjudul sama, yang disutradarai oleh Robert Mulligan. Film “To Kill a Mockingbird” berkisah tentang seorang duda bernama Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), yang berprofesi sebagai pengacara di daerah Monroeville, Alabama pada tahun 1932. Dia mempunyai dua anak yakni Jem Finch (Philip Alford) dan Scout Finch (Mary Badham). Pada saat itu, Atticus menjadi pengacara yang membela seorang lelaki kulit hitam bernama Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), yang dituduh melakukan tindak pemerkosaan terhadap seorang perempuan kulit putih bernama Mayella Violet Ewell (Collin Wilcox). Konflik film ini menjadi menarik karena pada saat itu diskriminasi terhadap kulit hitam masih berlangsung, yang membuat sebagian besar kulit putih merasa berhak menghukum kaum yang menurut mereka adalah warga kelas dua. Warga sekitar sendiri sangat menyayangkan kenapa Atticus mau menjadi pembela kulit hitam di pengadilan. Adapun kasus ini sendiri adalah kasus fitnah yang mirip dengan kasus Yusuf yang difitnah dan dituduh hendak memperkosa istri Potifar seperti tertulis dalam Kitab Suci. Sepertinya halnya Yusuf, Tom Robinson akhirnya dinyatakan bersalah oleh para juri yang mendapatkan tekanan dari kelompok masyarakat pembenci kulit hitam, dan kemudian dibunuh dengan alasan melarikan diri dalam perjalanan ke penjara. Karakter Jem dan Scout sendiri sangat memainkan peran penting dalam membuat film ini lebih hidup. Mereka digambarkan sebagai anak-anak yang ceria, punya jiwa petualang, serta punya prinsip dalam hidup terutama dalam membela keadilan. Film hitam-putih yang berdurasi 2 jam dan 11 menit, dirilis pada tanggal 25 Desember 1962 dan didistribusikan oleh Universal Pictures. Film ini berhasil meraih tiga piala Oscar dari sembilan nominasi untuk kategori Aktor Terbaik (Best Actor), Skenario Adaptasi Terbaik (Best Adapted Screenplay), dan Artistik Terbaik untuk film jenis Hitam Putih Terbaik (Best Black and White Art Direction).

Kenapa berjudul “To Kill a Mockingbird”? Kalau diperhatikan disalah satu narasi cerita film ini, sempat dijelaskan tentang karakteristik burung Mockingbird. Burung ini digambarkan sebagai burung yang tidak pernah bersarang di atap rumah, dan tidak pernah mengambil hasil ladang para petani. Intinya burung ini tidak pernah merugikan orang, malahan burung ini mengeluarkan suara yang sangat merdu untuk menghibur orang. “To Kill a Mockingbird” bisa diartikan membunuh makhluk yang tidak berdosa. Sama dengan para korban tindakan diskriminasi rasial, mereka tidak memilih untuk dilahirkan sebagai kulit hitam, dan mereka juga tidak melakukan tindakan yang merugikan orang lain. Melakukan tindakan diskriminasi terhadap mereka (atau pun diskriminasi untuk isu lain) sama saja dengan membunuh mereka, mungkin tidak selalu secara fisik tapi secara psikis. Namun, bukankah membunuh secara psikis biasanya lebih sakit rasanya. Melakukan tindakan diskriminasi berarti “you are killing a mockingbird!”.
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Aug 11, 2008

miaaa rated it:

(review of isbn 9793269400)

bookshelves: ophelia-s-library

Owns a copy — Read in August, 2008

recommended to miaaa by: goodreads indonesia
recommends it for: navyk

cara scout melihat dunia kecil di sekitarnya sangat menarik. menurutku di masa resesi dan diskriminasi rasial seperti itu dia beruntung memiliki ayah seperti atticus, memiliki saudara seperti jem, sahabat seperti miss maudie serta pengasuh seperti cal.

kehidupan mereka memang berubah setelah atticus membela seorang kulit hitam, tapi harper lee menutup buku ini dengan baik. kau tahu kehidupan mereka tidak akan sama lagi, tapi mereka akan baik-baik saja.

menurutku gaya penuli...more

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Jan 05, 2008

Deanna Pickering rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

Read in January, 1982

recommends it for: Anyone, period

Mrs. Pat Brunner, my 8th grade English teacher, first taught me this book. Mrs. Brunner was a very special teacher to have, passionate and sweet and charming and knowledgeable (hey, Mrs. B!). So when I saw how excited she was about this book - she clearly and unabashedly showed us that she was over the moon about it - I was all-in. (And by the way, that was a very dangerous position for her to be in with a junior high English class - one wrong move and we all would have written her off as a c...more Mrs. Pat Brunner, my 8th grade English teacher, first taught me this book. Mrs. Brunner was a very special teacher to have, passionate and sweet and charming and knowledgeable (hey, Mrs. B!). So when I saw how excited she was about this book - she clearly and unabashedly showed us that she was over the moon about it - I was all-in. (And by the way, that was a very dangerous position for her to be in with a junior high English class - one wrong move and we all would have written her off as a crazy adult we couldn't relate to no matter what.)

The detail of Lee's descriptions is captivating - right off the bat. "Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." I felt like I lived there in Maycomb County with Scout and her family. Mrs. Brunner was positively radiant as she read this passage aloud to us, as her first example of Harper Lee's beautiful writing style. You can see further evidence of Lee's detailed approach to writing simply by reading Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, which Lee helped him research and to which she contributed a great deal of material (without much credit from Capote - check out Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by Charles J. Shields).

Harper Lee's ability to weave deep-seated morality lessons into a highly enjoyable story is another reason I love this book. She never seems preachy, and her meanings are close enough to the surface to be accessible to every reader, but her widespread symbolism and allegories do not interrupt the flow of Scout's childish (okay, so she's a very intelligent child) narration of seemingly simple events.

The biggest reason, however, that I continue to go back to this book to stay in touch with Atticus Finch. What a noble man - loving and disciplined father and teacher, stalwart member of his community, and the one person the judge knew he could count on to fairly represent Tom Robinson. We could all do much worse than to strive to emulate Atticus in our own lives.

Finally, I agree heartily that the film version is remarkably brilliant and really managed to capture the essence of this incredible book.(less)

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Aug 01, 2007

Jill rated it:

(review of isbn 0446310786)

Read in June, 2005

recommends it for: Republicans

It's too easy to write a review about this book that describes the adventures of a young girl nicknamed "Scout," who only looks at the world through precocious eyes. It's too easy to describe Harper Lee's only published, though brilliant, novel as a biography, if you will, of the Jim Crow South. Yet for all the straightforward simplicity of the story, we do find in it the tremendous depth of raw human depravity, as well the supremacy of ethics and righteousness that all mankind can as...more

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Dec 14, 2007

Amanda rated it:

(review of isbn 0446310786)

bookshelves: 2008, books-i-highly-recommend, fer-teenagers-kids-and-younguns, perhaps-i-shall-read-it-again

Read in November, 1994

November 21, 2008
It's been a long many years since I last read this novel. So it seemed high time to read it again. And this time my eyes have been opened to the loveliness that is Jem Finch. What a passionate and honorable young man. How did I never notice this before???

November 23, 2008
Full Circle Observation: Jem ends up with a wonky left arm, just like Tom Robinson. How did I never notice that before? I tell you peeps what--you've GOT to read this book paying speci...more