Steve's review
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee, Nelle Lee
Steve, you shouldn't be too satisfied to know that you had me faked out until the last paragraph. I'm a gullible sort, after all, the type who actually believed there was such a character as Sidd Finch!
I should have known something was up when you said that you just decided to write a review of a book you had read in 8th grade. And I should have caught on sooner, of course, as soon as you ripped into poor Jem!
Hahaha. Oh man, that was a thing of beauty. It was worth the price of admission just to read the word "Dopplecracker."
I too, Susan, have fallen prey to your husband's tomfoolery (stevefoolery?)
While I have read this book as an adult I would have to admit to not LOVING it until my third re-reading of it. I must tell you that the very best chapter is number 11. Mrs. Dubose is such a hateful character and yet I have this unwanted compassion for her when Jem is calling her an old hell-devil and screaming at her.
You and April. You just go together so well.
Kelly, I have the feeling that the word "stevefoolery" will be heard in this household many times in the future--it's perfect! I do think that you've both raised a good point and that is the possibly very different impressions that this book (or any book, I guess) would make on a child versus an adult. I read it when I was so young that I don't even remember how old I was. I didn't fully understand everything, and I'm sure I didn't read it with a critical eye. Atticus was a god, case closed. If he or Scout or Jem were flawed in any way, it went right over my head. Maybe I'll take your advice and have a look at Chapter 11, though.
Steve's review
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Nelle Lee
Steve's review
rating:
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,...more
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,...more
Steve, you shouldn't be too satisfied to know that you had me faked out until the last paragraph. I'm a gullible sort, after all, the type who actually believed there was such a character as Sidd Finch! I should have known something was up when you said that you just decided to write a review of a book you had read in 8th grade. And I should have caught on sooner, of course, as soon as you ripped into poor Jem!
Hahaha. Oh man, that was a thing of beauty. It was worth the price of admission just to read the word "Dopplecracker."
I too, Susan, have fallen prey to your husband's tomfoolery (stevefoolery?)While I have read this book as an adult I would have to admit to not LOVING it until my third re-reading of it. I must tell you that the very best chapter is number 11. Mrs. Dubose is such a hateful character and yet I have this unwanted compassion for her when Jem is calling her an old hell-devil and screaming at her.
You and April. You just go together so well.
Kelly, I have the feeling that the word "stevefoolery" will be heard in this household many times in the future--it's perfect! I do think that you've both raised a good point and that is the possibly very different impressions that this book (or any book, I guess) would make on a child versus an adult. I read it when I was so young that I don't even remember how old I was. I didn't fully understand everything, and I'm sure I didn't read it with a critical eye. Atticus was a god, case closed. If he or Scout or Jem were flawed in any way, it went right over my head. Maybe I'll take your advice and have a look at Chapter 11, though.