Go Set a Watchman in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Aug 22, 2015 Renata rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, grownup, worst-bestsellers, re-read

Eh, okay, I read all the controversy about whether or not Harper Lee actually wanted to publish this or not. I know a lot of my librarian friends opted not to read this at all because of their discomfort with the whole process, which I understand. But ultimately I was too curious to resist and I threw myself onto the library's long waitlist for this.

When it came in for me, I was pleasantly surprised, because it's like... not terrible. It's funny and has some great dialogue. But, I'm also definit Eh, okay, I read all the controversy about whether or not Harper Lee actually wanted to publish this or not. I know a lot of my librarian friends opted not to read this at all because of their discomfort with the whole process, which I understand. But ultimately I was too curious to resist and I threw myself onto the library's long waitlist for this.

When it came in for me, I was pleasantly surprised, because it's like... not terrible. It's funny and has some great dialogue. But, I'm also definitely on board with the "feels like an unpolished draft of To Kill a Mockingbird that wasn't meant to be published in this form" crowd. There are weird vignettes that don't seem to go anywhere.. almost like a short story collection with a frame narrative, but not quite that. But those stories were very charming and full of Scout's strong narrative voice, which made TKAM so endearing. It also refers back to the events of TKAM but in a slightly different form.

Anyway, let's talk about the ~shocking reveal~ that Atticus is a racist. I... liked it? If you look back at Atticus in TKAM there is definitely a paternalistic quality there (um, I mean, not just because he's literally Scout's father). And his "oh I mean I don't think they should be LYNCHED anymore, no, but the NAACP is just taking things TOO FAR" attitude is pretty realistic for a 70-something white dude in the south in the 1950s.

(view spoiler)

anyway, no, this is not going to be the enduring classic that TKAM is, but there's some sharp character pieces here, and an interesting muddle of racial politics in the Jim Crow south. I would love for this to get the Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography treatment with annotations and whatnot, because I think it's most interesting as a weird artifact rather than a standalone novel.
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re-read for the pod:
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestseller... ...more

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Jul 15, 2015 Melle rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015, adult, fiction, southern, small-town, racism, copyright-2015, alabama, united-states-of-america, homecoming

This probably isn't going to be a very popular opinion, but, overall in terms of themes, I liked this just as much and maybe even a little better than To Kill a Mockingbird. It certainly isn't as crafted or as polished or as optimistic as TKaM, but GSaW is much more real, much more human, and it is a book that found me at the right place and time in my life. While TKaM is a book about aspiration and childhood, GSaW is about realism and adulthood, especially what is now termed "emerging adulthood ...more

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Jul 17, 2015 Stacey rated it really liked it

Thought-provoking and well-written. Definitely should not be interpreted as a sequel (nor was it the intent). Among other things, an interesting view of how difficult it can be to go home again. I'm glad that Jean Louise remains true to herself as an adult. ...more

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Jul 21, 2015 Mia rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2015-books

So... that happened. Overall it just felt unfinished and kinda dull. There were a couple interesting moments, but really this is just an early draft of TKM and shouldn't have been published... or at least should have been published as an academic study of an early draft of a classic novel, not as a sequel or companion to TKM.

...more

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Jun 13, 2015 Eunice added it · review of another edition

I find it difficult to give this a star rating with everything surrounding its release, so I'll just proceed with my thoughts. While the following are not really spoilers, some may want to go into this read without knowing much about it, thus my label as a spoiler.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Aug 29, 2015 Kara rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction

I'm very glad I read this because of its role in literary and social history. I also enjoyed reading about the To Kill a Mockingbird characters later int heir lives, though as a first draft it of course had weaknesses.
I do take issue, though, with the fact that the book doesn't have some kind of introduction or foreword explaining that this was a first draft that Harper Lee wrote before changing tracks to write TKAM. It is not an edited sequel, nor should it be read as such. ...more

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