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Go Set a Watchman

Harper Lee

Why we're reading this: Let’s set the record straight: Go Set a Watchman is NOT a sequel. It is not a Prequel. It is Harper Lee's…more
[close] Let’s set the record straight: Go Set a Watchman is NOT a sequel. It is not a Prequel. It is Harper Lee's first attempt at what was to eventually become To Kill a Mockingbird. It should be judged as such. The Atticus Finch in Go Set a Watchman is NOT the same Atticus Finch of Mockingbird. These two men are very different fictional characters with different qualities. We have all been disappointed at one time or another by the discovery that someone we love is not the person we thought they were. People are complex. No one could ever really be as perfect as the Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. When you read Watchman, ask yourself if this is perhaps not the truer version? This novel, at most, is a companion novel and its value lies in being able to witness first- hand the genesis of a classic in American Literature. Mockingbirds' creation was the right book at the right time for our nation. One can see how Lee's editor advised removal of the preachy parts and Lee's ultimate Mockingbird is strengthened by the use of Scout as a narrator rather than the 26 year old Jean Louise. Go Set a Watchman stands alone as a novel by virtue of the window it opens on the evolution of civil rights and the evolution of a favorite American classic. Highly recommended for those who are interested in examining first- hand the creative process. But if you are just going to whine about how Atticus has been ruined forever for you, by all means skip it. This is not Mockingbird...it's the lump of clay that became the precious novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Still, it is one of my all-time favorite books and nothing can spoil or take away from that joyful, rich experience. Read this for the pleasure of seeing a young writer struggle to bring her vision to life.

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Jul 03, 2015 Mary rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary, race-relations

Go Set a Watchman is NOT a sequel. It is not a Prequel. It is Harper Lee's first attempt at what was to eventually become To Kill a Mockingbird. It should be judged as such. The Atticus Finch in Go Set a Watchman, is NOT the same Atticus Finch of Mockingbird. These two men are very different fictional characters with different qualities. We have all been disappointed at one time or another by the discovery that someone we love is not the person we thought they were. People are complex. No one co ...more

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Dec 10, 2017 Joshua rated it really liked it

Don't believe the hype. This book is an important contribution to the cultural legacy of Harper Lee.

If the reader would like my full review they can follow the link to my site White Tower Musings below:
https://jsjammersmith.wordpress.com/2... ...more

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Feb 28, 2016 Andie rated it it was ok

Every writer has an unpublished book hidden away in a box or a desk drawer. Unfortunately, when a commercially successful writer either dies or becomes mentally infirm, his or her heirs, publishers and/or literary executors just cannot resist the temptation of publishing these manuscripts and wringing every last dime out of the writer's legacy.

Unfortunately, for the most part these books are highly flawed and should never be published. And this is certainly true about Harper Lee's second (and l Every writer has an unpublished book hidden away in a box or a desk drawer. Unfortunately, when a commercially successful writer either dies or becomes mentally infirm, his or her heirs, publishers and/or literary executors just cannot resist the temptation of publishing these manuscripts and wringing every last dime out of the writer's legacy.

Unfortunately, for the most part these books are highly flawed and should never be published. And this is certainly true about Harper Lee's second (and last) novel. It is so obviously an unedited first draft - alternatively mawkishly sentimental and full of over wrought righteous indignation - that it is painful to read.

The book features mot of the characters in To Kill A Mockingbird with several new ones thrown in, and is set twenty years after the first novel. It is now the 1950's and Jean Louise Finch has come home for her annual two week visit. As she arrives she tells herself that the town is the same as it always has been, but within 24 hours she realizes that not only are things different, but to her mind things are decidedly ugly ans the people she loves the most have betrayed her by showing themselves to be not the high minded idealists of her memories, but garden variety racists.

Jean Louise is shocked, SHOCKED by this revelation even though she indulgs in plenty of casual racism herself (she is surprised to see black people driving cars, cannot believe the NAACP is allowed to practice law in Alabama and disapproves of the Brown V. Board of Education decision because of the 10th amendment) She seems to think that because she is not actively burning crosses on black folks; lawns that she is not racist. Yet she says, "They as a people did not enter my world, not did I enter theirs."

Once the blinders fall from her eyes, she sees the town for what it is: A judgemental place full of small minded bigots, the chief among them her aunt, her fiance and her father. The scene where she confronts Atticus is almost comically overblown and the denouement with her Uncle Jack is altogether too pat..

You can see Lee's untutored writing talent in the vignette's about her childhood, and this must be what her original editor saw since she turned this mess into To Kill a Mockingbird.. Unfortunately, a greedy publisher & literary executor has permanently cast a shadow on that gem of a book by publishing this one.
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