To Kill a Mockingbird in Easley Library Bookworms

May 30, 2020 Werner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

Harper Lee's only novel (see below) won her the Pulitzer Prize, and ever since its publication in 1960 has held landmark status in American letters, deservedly. It's been around since I was about eight years old; and though I was (surprisingly) never exposed to it in school, I'd heard of it often over the years, and was aware of its literary stature from the time I was able to understand that concept. But I never read it in my late teens and early 20s, the time when I was reading quite a few 20t Harper Lee's only novel (see below) won her the Pulitzer Prize, and ever since its publication in 1960 has held landmark status in American letters, deservedly. It's been around since I was about eight years old; and though I was (surprisingly) never exposed to it in school, I'd heard of it often over the years, and was aware of its literary stature from the time I was able to understand that concept. But I never read it in my late teens and early 20s, the time when I was reading quite a few 20th-century classics in order to become seriously "educated," mainly because I was put off by the title --I actually thought part of the plot would involve bird killing! In case any other readers out there are under that misapprehension, I'll put it to rest --to paraphrase the disclaimers that often accompany movies, "No mockingbirds were harmed in the writing (or reading) of this book." :-) As I'd known at least since watching the film adaptation back in the 90s, the phrase actually comes from a Southern folk saying, quoted by the narrator's father, "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird," because they're harmless and do nothing but bring people joy by their singing. (That has a symbolic significance here that becomes clear when you read the book.) For a long time, I've viewed this as a must-read; I'm really glad I finally worked it in, and wish I'd done so sooner!

Most people who watch movies with any degree of frequency have probably seen the 1962 black-and-white movie version starring Gregory Peck (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/ ), which is as iconic in the field of cinema as the book is in literature. It's probably the case that most people who haven't already read the novel have some understanding of what it's about based on the film, and that's a good starting point for approaching this review, especially since I'd promised another Goodreader I'd compare the two. (It's been years since I saw the movie, but much of it is the sort of thing you don't readily forget.) So most people will know that it's set in Maycomb, a fictional small town in 1930s Alabama (1933-5, to be exact), and concerns lawyer Atticus Finch's defense of a black man falsely accused of rape, seen through the eyes of his grade-school-aged daughter, "Scout." That's true, and the movie is mostly faithful to the book (the plotting differs in one respect, as I recall, but not significantly) and equally powerful in its way. But the book has a great deal more depth and texture than the movie, as is typically the contrast between the two art forms. Also, the rape case isn't even mentioned until about 100 pages in. As much attention is given to reclusive neighbor "Boo" Radley, his social isolation, and his boogeyman status among the town's children. (Boo is in the movie, too, but I'd say that he doesn't have as much prominence as in the book.)

First novels very seldom win Pulitzers, and it's amazing that this one is the work of a novice writer. (Of course, that owes a great deal to Lee's fruitful collaboration with an editor employed by her publisher --again, see below!) It's extremely well written, tightly structured, displays a deft weaving of plot lines, and populated with vivid, nuanced characters. Scout's narrative voice, from her perspective then as a child but filtered through the perception of her grown-up self, is pitch-perfect. The setting comes to life as surely as if the reader was there, evoked with such assurance because it's one Lee knew; she based Maycomb on her own small home town in south Alabama, where she was a child in the 30s. (She was herself a lawyer's daughter; Scout is in many ways her alter ego, and she also based Scout's friend Dill on her own childhood friend Truman Capote.) Lee's moral vision includes a searing exposure and indictment of racial prejudice, which is set in a particular time and place but has universal significance beyond the setting, and which will (or at least should!) make you profoundly angry. She also has a quiet and positive wisdom, with something profound to say about how we relate to anyone who's different from us, not just racially.

Since 2015, most reviews of this novel have had to address its relationship to the supposed "sequel," Go Set a Watchman. Lee's first draft of this novel was a lot longer, much less tightly constructed, and much less focused and powerful in the effect of its message. Luckily, she was blessed with a publishing-house editor who saw its potential, and who worked with her to trim and refine it into the masterpiece they were both happy with, and that we know. This left the first draft in manuscript, which was still laying around in Lee's possession in 2015, the year she turned 89. (She would die the following year, before she turned 90.) Throughout the intervening 55 years, she'd made no attempt to have this published, and had in fact declared her intention not to publish another novel. Soon after the 2014 death of Lee's sister and longtime lawyer, her new lawyer found the manuscript and supposedly obtained the "consent" of the nearly deaf and blind author to its publication, a claim that's been disputed by people who knew Lee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Set_... ). Personally, I haven't read the "sequel," and have no desire to.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the novel which Lee intended, at least for most if not all of her life, to be her single contribution to American fiction. She says much more in that single work than most authors say in bibliographies that might take a whole page to record. This might be the greatest novel written in the U.S. in the 20th century; and I say "might" only because there are still some important 20th-century novels I haven't read. It's certainly the greatest one that I have read! ...more

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