To Kill a Mockingbird

by
Harper Lee

published	October 1988 by William A. Thomas Braille Bookstore
first published	1960
binding	Hardcover
isbn	1569564426 (isbn13: 9781569564424)
pages	561
description	"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."<...more [close] "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up. Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber [close]
date added	05-15-08 edit book

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | more...

discuss this book

topics	replies	last activity
Banned books, Banned authors	3	05/20/2008 04:14PM
Assigned Reading in High School	37	05/14/2008 07:06PM
Did she write this?	37	06/13/2008 06:10AM

new topic | see all topics »

groups with this book

view all groups »

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 120848)

Denise rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

01/25/08

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 read about her and her fami...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

6 comments

Núria rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

09/23/07

bookshelves: 2007, literatura-inglesa, owned

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.
...less

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

add a comment

Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

06/27/08

bookshelves: 2007, classics, contemporary-fiction

Read in August, 2007

Set in a small town in Alabama in the mid-1930s, Mockingbird follows the lives of Jean-Louise Finch, or "Scout", her older brother Jem and their friend Dill over the course of two or three years during which they taunt their never-seen neighbour, Arthur "Boo" Radley, read to the cruel-tongued Mrs. Dubose as she fights off her morphine addiction, and get into fights with schoolmates over their father, Atticus Finch, defending a black man, Tom Robinson, arrested for rapi...more Set in a small town in Alabama in the mid-1930s, Mockingbird follows the lives of Jean-Louise Finch, or "Scout", her older brother Jem and their friend Dill over the course of two or three years during which they taunt their never-seen neighbour, Arthur "Boo" Radley, read to the cruel-tongued Mrs. Dubose as she fights off her morphine addiction, and get into fights with schoolmates over their father, Atticus Finch, defending a black man, Tom Robinson, arrested for raping a white woman.

The trial is apparently based on a true story, and I hear there are also similarities between Lee and Scout, but I don't know anything about that. This is one of those books, like Catcher in the Rye, that every student in Canada and America has to read in high school, but which no one else has read. I can see why it's a classic, and high school is the best time to read it. As an adult, and especially one with limited knowledge of US history and a degree in literature, I found To Kill a Mockingbird incredibly heavy-handed and obvious. Very little is left to the reader to figure out on their own. In fact, it was so shoved down my throat that if it hadn't have been written so engagingly, and the trial so fascinating, I would have really struggled to finish it.

"If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man," said Atticus. "So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process. Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom's jury, but you saw something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail. When that crew went away, they didn't go as reasonable men, they went because we were there. There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads - they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life."

"Doesn't make it right," said Jem stolidly. He beat his fist softly on his knee. "You just can't convict a man on evidence like that - you can't."

"You couldn't, but they could and did. The older you grow the more of it you'll see. The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any colour of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you someting and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash."

The unsubtle moralising and preaching, for me, got in the way of an otherwise good story. The characters are so cliched they must be true to their time and place, and the connection between the townsfolk hating Hitler because he judges and persecutes Jews, and then doing exactly the same thing not just to black people but also poor white people too - and each other, in fact - is pretty blatant. Not that it's not true - we can all be pretty hypocritical at times - but my point is that there's no subtlety in this book.

The use of Boo Radley's character in capturing the prejudice-born-of-ignorance of the three young children, stands in for the towns' attitude towards the black population. Every lady is a gossip, every man a rustic. Over it all, little 7, 8 year old Scout's voice documents it all with many shifts in diction. There are times when she slips and, while her vocabulary can be explained by having the father and upbringing that she had, her "gonnas" and "ain'ts" disappear at moments of adult reflection. Her adjectives, her reading of body language and what's going on between adults, speaks of a greater understanding than she shows when she speaks. Ah well, it's no That Eye, The Sky but "it ain't bad neither."

And it's probably done wonders for the American social conscience. Some messages are just too important to let slip between the silky lines of wankerite literature....less

Like this review? yes

16 comments

Ashley rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

11/13/07

“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. ...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 thought 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 she 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.
...less

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

add a comment

Daniel rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

04/26/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 1964

This is a classic in every sense of the word. The movie, of course, was amazing and Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was, I believe, his greatest role. If you have the time look at his career, Gregory Peck that is. In our day of celebrity-hood and celebrities endorsing causes, Peck has a great lesson to teach them. He chose his roles based on the importance of the message in the script. You can go to imdb.com and review his career or probably netflix, but here was a "star" who...more This is a classic in every sense of the word. The movie, of course, was amazing and Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was, I believe, his greatest role. If you have the time look at his career, Gregory Peck that is. In our day of celebrity-hood and celebrities endorsing causes, Peck has a great lesson to teach them. He chose his roles based on the importance of the message in the script. You can go to imdb.com and review his career or probably netflix, but here was a "star" who never took on the silly trappings of celebrity, but used his power to get scripts produced into films just so the public could hear the message, the little bit of truth embedded in that story that could change hearts and minds and even go right to the audience's soul and touch them in a place where the cinema rarely goes in this day and age. The book was a must for everyone in the South especially in the 50's and 60's when I was growing up, but perhaps even more so today and perhaps globally it should be required reading so the world can understand where we were to appreciate how far God has taken us toward truth, unity and unconditional love. "To be loved by a black person" I heard a comment recently on PBS by an African-American radio personality about being black and what was the best part of his ethnicity. His response was, "the joy, the honor of being loved by black folks; because they know how to love you in a way that I can't explain." I was privileged to grow up being loved by a woman named, Nettie Hill. She was my "mammy". I know this is a racist term today and it bordered on slavery, but I was a baby and all I understood was that she loved me and I loved her. One day when I was about 5 (1956) I was outside playing with my white neighbor friend and Nettie brought me my jacket to put on so I wouldn't be cold. Then she kissed me and I kissed her. As she walked away, my neighbor said, "You just kissed a nigger!" I was shocked and hurt. I'd only heard that term once or twice and all I knew was that it was mean. I immediately blurted out in shock at his ignorance, "No, I kissed Nettie! Nettie's not a nigger!" I rode on the back of the bus with Nettie. I spent a lot of time at house off Jefferson Street, the only white boy playing ball in the street. her children and grandchildren got my hand-me-downs because I was the youngest of four and the end of the line in my family. I last saw Nettie 30 years ago before she died to introduce my wife to her. She said, "Danny, you were the prettiest baby I ever had." I felt five years old and I blushed. My brother and I were the only white people at her funeral. I saw the civil rights movement through Nettie's eyes. Her niece was one of the little girls who integrated Little Rock's schools. I owe her so much, so much. Her daughter came to my mother's funeral and we just hugged and cried. When Atticus Finch walks out of that courtroom and all the black folks in the balcony silently rise, one of the eldest leans down to tell Scout, "Get up when your father passes" Scout asked why and the old man said, "Because a great man is passing." To be loved by black people is a wonderful thing and I can't explain it. I just know they know how to love unconditionally and with all their hearts....less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

2 comments

Dacia rated it:

(review of isbn 0446310786)

04/08/08

bookshelves: audiobook, childrensnovels, kid-stuff, notsooldclassics, thoughtplay, veryemotional

Read in March, 2008

I really enjoyed this book. However, I do not understand why so many people try to use it to teach "deep thoughts" about human nature, freedom, equality, etc. to high school students. It seems to me to not work as an adolecent book at all.

The story was written in language and manner that would appeal to children. There was a story in it for children. 10-12 year olds would probably like the book for its humor and adventures. They probably would absorb little of the deeper mean...more I really enjoyed this book. However, I do not understand why so many people try to use it to teach "deep thoughts" about human nature, freedom, equality, etc. to high school students. It seems to me to not work as an adolecent book at all.

The story was written in language and manner that would appeal to children. There was a story in it for children. 10-12 year olds would probably like the book for its humor and adventures. They probably would absorb little of the deeper meanings, but that's ok. Adults are far enough removed from childhood to be able to look back at the book and understand all the deeper trains of thought. However, adolecents are not. They lack the distance to truly appreciate the innocence that Scout portrays. They lack the experience to CARE about the bigger lessons. I imagine any 8th - 10th grade literature class would find this book a bore and miss both the beauty and wisdom within it.

As an adult though, I found both. The story was beautiful. Scout was a classic heroine: tomboyish enough to appeal to boys as well as girls, a rebellious streak that endears her to frustrated children, a quick mind and impetuous insight that reminds adults of just how intelligent a child can be. In so many ways she reminds me of Mary from "A Secret Garden" taken out of 19th century England and put down in 1930's Alabama. There was so much history and idealism in her life in a small southern town so long ago. So different and yet so similar to my own upbringing in a small Texan town a half century later. The way Scout saw problems, grew INTO problems, and learned to deal with them was remarkably accurate considering the limitations of language within a child's tale. I thuroughly enjoyed this book, and learned something as well. To me the most valuable lesson wasn't in the way Atticus (spelling? I listened in audio)taught Scout and Jim to be "colorblind". Instead, the lesson I found most valuable to myself was how he taught them to deal with their peers and neighbors who weren't. This day in age, racism isn't quite dead yet. I see far less of it in my own generation, but old habbits die hard, and there is still plenty in the generation of my parents and grandparents. Even more important - people have begun to discriminate in ways that have nothing to do with race. Sexual orientation is of course the "hot button" issue right now. When one sees his/herself as "tolerant", it's hard not to believe yourself also morally superior to others. Atticus takes pains to remind us all that while we don't have to absorb the beliefs of others, the fact that they hold such beliefs doesn't make them monsters. I'm not advocating hatred or discrimination, and I certainly believe that anyone who displays such things violently should be punnished. However, it made me reconsider some people in my life I'd written off as hopelessly narrowminded, and made me realize that just because they were narrowminded in one way didn't mean they were totally worthless in all ways. That's a hard lesson to internalize, but it's an important one. ...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

5 comments

Steve rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

04/11/08

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 it at that--a pleasant memory from my youth--rather than picking it up again as a more clear-sighted (some might say jaundiced)grown-up. I probably wouldn't view my favorite book from...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 it at that--a pleasant memory from my youth--rather than picking it up again as a more clear-sighted (some might say jaundiced)grown-up. 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 who was called in at the end of the big game to catch the winning touchdown might seem shallow and contrived to the current me, too.

I realize I'm swimming against the tide here, but how many of you have reread this supposed masterpiece as mature adults? 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 we mere humans can relate to. Now Jem, on the other hand, was just 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 like 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 sheer 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 contextual complexity, you might well ask. Wouldn't this son of the South, to be at all realistic, have wrestled a savage grudge match against himself; his Doppelcracker, if you will? Even a hack with the faintest of ties to post-modernism would 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 clothing 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!
...less

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

4 comments

Tori rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

02/05/08

Read in May, 1999

recommends it for: everyone

I was in 8th grade when i first read this book. I thought I was wicked cool because my sister was reading the same book (she was 17 and i was 13).

For the most part, I didn't really know what rape was and the seriousness of the topics of this book: racism, gender rights, sexual violation, the corruption of several institutions, learning/teaching hate, ect.

It was really interesting to read this book again when I was 17, in comparison to when I was 13, it was a whole 'nother world from when...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comments

Jennifer Brown rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

12/07/07

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 each of the event...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.

...less

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

1 comments

Deanna rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

01/06/08

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

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

add a comment

Cavel[miissy] rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

04/15/08

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Cavel[miissy] by: teacher
recommends it for: patient readers who are up for challenges

Harper Lee used complex vocabulary words in <u>To Kill A Mockingbird. As a reader it is best if you don't know the words to get the meaning. In getting the meaning you'll then understand the text and its deeper meaning. The first few chapters were not quite interesting and made me lethargic. At times I felt like giving up but if I did so I would be a disappointment to myself.

When Dill was introduced in the book to Jem, Scout and to the readers, we could see a change. The style that Ha...more Harper Lee used complex vocabulary words in <u>To Kill A Mockingbird. As a reader it is best if you don't know the words to get the meaning. In getting the meaning you'll then understand the text and its deeper meaning. The first few chapters were not quite interesting and made me lethargic. At times I felt like giving up but if I did so I would be a disappointment to myself.

When Dill was introduced in the book to Jem, Scout and to the readers, we could see a change. The style that Harper Lee used demonstrated how the usage of slangs were present. This was seen with the way how the characters conversated. Jem and Dill were good friends but to Scout he was her boyfriend and soon to be husband. Their immaculate curiosity to know if Arthur Radley was alive and in the house went far. Jem made Dill's persuasive ways get the best of him and went over and touched the Radley's house. That was not the end, he also went over to the house in the night and almost got shot. Atticus their father had little ideas about their schemes to them. Really he knew all about their plans and intentions.

The trial scene I disliked. This is so because Tom Robinson was African American and before he was tried he was already founded guilty.I think this because there was seperation in Maycomb between the different races. It was wrong for someone of opposite color to married or mingle with someone who was not from their race. The part that really made me melancholy was when Tom got shot for escaping. I think that the other people look at this that he was guilty thats why he ran. I think he ran because he knew he didn't raped Mayella Ewell. This to him was like killing a mockingbird because mockingbirds have not done anything wrong but sing lovely music so why should we kill them.

In the last two chapters it was ironic. Ironic in the sense that Arthur who was the suspect of curiosity became Scout's
friend and also her hero. He is her hero because he saved her life. That tree that Bob Ewell stumbled on also saved them. Scout finally got to live out her fantasy of holding a good conversation with Arthur. It was sad that Jem and Dill didnot get to witness it. Jem did not get to do so because he was unconscious and Dill was in Meridian.

If you are a reader that don't give up that easy on reading then this book is for you. Also if you are interesting in the ways of the south their nurse Calpurnia's personality is a good exmaple. This book is fascinating and for Harper Lee to put the climax in the last pages is brilliant. ...less

Like this review? yes

1 comments

Mona rated it:

(review of isbn 0446310786)

07/25/07

bookshelves: favorites, law, literature

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 Jem's c...more

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

add a comment

Anna-Kristina rated it:

(review of isbn 0446310786)

06/08/08

bookshelves: amazing

Read in June, 2008

recommended to Anna-Kristina by: Sally
recommends it for: Anyone & Everyone

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, d...more "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, "To Kill a Mockingbird" follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.
Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from "Dracula" and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often.

I didn't actually write that, except the quotation mark in the first sentence, but anyway! That's is what the book is about, and it's amazing!! By far one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Read it to find out yourself!...less

Like this review? yes

1 comments

Razzberry rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

06/05/07

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

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

add a comment

Ashley rated it:

(review of isbn 0061120081)

06/05/08

Read in August, 2006

recommends it for: Everybody

Harper Lee describes her only book as a simple love story, but it is much more than that. To risk sounding cliché, it is a classic story of childhood and growing up. I can relate to Scout growing up around a bunch of adults. You take on their ways and understand more than you should at such a young age. Yet, you still have your innocence about you, but you can sense what is right and what is wrong. Somehow you still believe that folks are just folks. You have an imagination that runs wild...more