From the Bookshelf of Should have read classics…

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

Start date: September 1, 2011

Finish date: September 30, 2011

Discussion: Group Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: This is the group read for September.
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What Members Thought

May 13, 2011 Prashant Mudgal rated it liked it

To Kill a mocking bird is set in 60s when apartheid was still at its peak, the difference in skin color mattered a lot.
The book was slow paced, and when I am reading it in 2013 ,it feels that its a bit anachronistic piece of writing.I have not lived in that era so i cant understand.
But then too the idea which is expressed in the book, the title of the book is so justified and alluring that it is a must read for all the people.
There are books which present colossal ideas or move you deeply, and t ...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Vicky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-battle-read, classiques, favoris

I am enchanted with this novel, I've already recommended it to 3 people I know will love it! I'm sure in a more or less distant future that I will be revisiting this novel with pleasure!

It is a difficult task for a writer to leave some things unsaid or only suggested, in my reading experience I've found that it is often the main problem when an adult writes from a children's point of view. The adult in us tries to say everything, to explain all that is said and done, too often forgetting that ch I am enchanted with this novel, I've already recommended it to 3 people I know will love it! I'm sure in a more or less distant future that I will be revisiting this novel with pleasure!

It is a difficult task for a writer to leave some things unsaid or only suggested, in my reading experience I've found that it is often the main problem when an adult writes from a children's point of view. The adult in us tries to say everything, to explain all that is said and done, too often forgetting that children don't necessarily understand the "why" of everything the adult does, that they don't necessarily feel the need to understand it, that they sometimes perceived what adult do or say differently. Dare I say sometimes seeing the simpler truth behind our actions that we are blind to see... Drawing their own conclusion which are not necessarily the same as ours. Children can also leave things to be explained later, an acceptance we adult have a harder time with. It is a tough business to write from a child's point of view, I've seen admirable writer's do it over the years but rarely have I found the result as coherent, plausible, realistic as in "To kill a Mockingbird". Things are left unsaid when needed or simply suggested, it seems credible, like the author has hardly needed to make any compromise to achieve writing from a little one's point of view. Furthermore, the "alienness" of the adult world is almost tangible, it seems so realistic that as a reader I felt that I could remember feeling like an outsider to the adult world.

Children live in the "now", in the moment, not in the expectation of something to come. Harper Lee rendered the magic of living in the present moment, like children do all the time. The novel is full of those instants of intense emotions. I found it enchanting. The scene with the snow is only one example of that.

It is a beautiful story, a realistic portrait of a society and an enchanting immersion in childhood, all wrapped up with detailed, multi-dimensional characters. ...more

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