To Kill a Mockingbird in Around the World in 80 Books

Oct 17, 2006 Elizabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction

Bittersweet poignant story. You really feel like a child of the South.

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Jun 24, 2008 Suvi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1940-1969, _north-america, novels, the-south

If a book is written from a child's point of view, I tend to skip it. That was the reason why I was putting this off, even though I was interested in the topic and liked the fact that it was set in the South in the 1930s. I also wanted to see why this is considered as one of the greatest American novels of all time. Well, I did see where people were coming from and why this is such a loved story, especially in the United States. It had this charming and nostalgic atmosphere, which made me want t If a book is written from a child's point of view, I tend to skip it. That was the reason why I was putting this off, even though I was interested in the topic and liked the fact that it was set in the South in the 1930s. I also wanted to see why this is considered as one of the greatest American novels of all time. Well, I did see where people were coming from and why this is such a loved story, especially in the United States. It had this charming and nostalgic atmosphere, which made me want to go back in time when I was a carefree child. Had I read this during the summer, I would have had a glass of lemonade in my hand while sitting on the garden swing in a warm breeze of wind.

Lee knows how to evoke the sweet childhood alongside the serious undertone of the trial and racial issues. It soon becomes clear that the prejudice and mean-spiritedness towards certain groups of people is incomprehensible to children, which I personally think shows that it is completely unnecessary and ridiculous. In the story one of the teachers abhors Hitler's actions, but at the same time says that it was about time someone taught the Negroes a lesson because they didn't stay in their proper place anymore. What a load of crappy hypocrisy, Ms. Whatever-her-name-was. I would also say (based on the book and my own experiences) that racism is a completely learned behaviour. Children repeat what they hear at home, they don't even necessarily know the meaning of the words they're spitting out, let alone why it is wrong to say such things.

However, had I read this earlier in life it would have probably worked a lot better for me. I'd say that this would serve its purpose in schools' compulsory reading lists. Adolescents at a certain stage in their lives would take out a lot from this. I understand why people love this so much, but at the same time I can't consider it as nothing more than one of many canonical classics. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath for example is in my opinion many ways far superior, whereas Lee falls short in both her writing and characterizations (mostly with the children). ...more

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Aug 13, 2009 Erin (NY) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, read-in-2010, book-club, my-bookclub-pick

I really loved this book. There was just so much to it and lots of things to think about. I thook a long time to read it, but that's mostly because I stopped a lot to think of various paragraphs I just read, of their implications. The story is told from the perspective of a young girl, so there are some things she doesn't understand, which you can deduce if you think about it, which ads an extra dimension to the book.

We are discussing it in my book club tomorrow and I am really excited to talk a ...more

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