Go Set a Watchman

[Lisa]

August buddy read

[Buck]

Well I have finished it, and it definitely warrants discussion. I wonder how others are coming along with the reading of this. My memory banks leak; it will begin to seep away. How far along are you?

[Lisa]

Just started during the night.
Definitely hooked from page 1. The descriptions of Scout's home coming are evocative.

Maybe share your thoughts with spoilers Buck, wouldn't want them to leak off into the atmosphere.

[Buck]

Lisa wrote: "Just started during the night.
Definitely hooked from page 1. The descriptions of Scout's home coming are evocative.

Maybe share your thoughts with spoilers Buck, wouldn't want them to leak off into the atmosphere."

I've started writing down my thoughts. Otherwise, I wouldn't know anything a week from now.

Scout went through my home town on her way to Maycomb. I'm younger than she, but I remember the way things were. My childhood was in the time and place (The South) of this novel.

[Buck]

I went back and reread the discussion thread for To Kill A Mockingbird. Interesting.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Lisa]

When traveling to Maycomb, Scout crosses the Chattahoochee, which I had never heard of before.

I looked up the poem that she refers to.

The Song of the Chattahoochee- Sidney Lanier

Out of the hills of Habersham,
Down the valleys of Hall,
I hurry amain to reach the plain,
Run the rapid and leap the fall,
Split at the rock and together again,
Accept my bed, or narrow or wide,
And flee from folly on every side
With a lover’s pain to attain the plain
Far from the hills of Habersham,
Far from the valleys of Hall.

All down the hills of Habersham,
All through the valleys of Hall,
The rushes cried ‘Abide, abide,'
The willful waterweeds held me thrall,
The laving laurel turned my tide,
The ferns and the fondling grass said ‘Stay,'
The dewberry dipped for to work delay,
And the little reeds sighed ‘Abide, abide,
Here in the hills of Habersham,
Here in the valleys of Hall.'

High o’er the hills of Habersham,
Veiling the valleys of Hall,
The hickory told me manifold
Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall
Wrought me her shadowy self to hold,
The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine,
Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign,
Said, ‘Pass not, so cold, these manifold
Deep shades of the hills of Habersham,
These glades in the valleys of Hall.'

And oft in the hills of Habersham,
And oft in the valleys of Hall,
The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone
Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl,
And many a luminous jewel lone
-- Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist,
Ruby, garnet and amethyst --
Made lures with the lights of streaming stone
In the clefts of the hills of Habersham,
In the beds of the valleys of Hall.

But oh, not the hills of Habersham,
And oh, not the valleys of Hall
Avail: I am fain for to water the plain.
Downward the voices of Duty call --
Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main,
The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn,
And a myriad flowers mortally yearn,
And the lordly main from beyond the plain
Calls o’er the hills of Habersham,
Calls through the valleys of Hall.

[Lisa]

Buck you are referring to Atlanta?

[Buck]

I grew up near the Chattahoochee. My sister lives now in the hills of Habersham.

As school children we had lessons about the poet Sidney Lanier, and later we kept a boat on Lake Lanier, named for him. Lanier's most well known poem, I think, is The Marshes of Glynn.

Yes, I'm from Atlanta.

[Lisa]

So Lanier was local? Eccentric by any chance- thinking of what happened to cousin Joshua & the comparison.

I'll need to look at images, sounds beautiful.

[Buck]

Lisa wrote: "So Lanier was local? Eccentric by any chance- thinking of what happened to cousin Joshua & the comparison.

I'll need to look at images, sounds beautiful."

I had to Google Sidney Lanier. He was born in Macon Georgia 1842, died N. Carolina 1881, was in Confederate army. Don't know about comparison to cousin Joshua; had to Google him too.

There is a lot of history that is background to Harper Lee's novels that maybe you, being from SA, aren't familiar with, but for Americans, especially southern Americans, it is part of the culture - The American Civil War 1861-65 and its aftermath, or as we were taught its correct name to be - The War Between The States.

[Buck]

There is a minor, but pivotal, character fairly late in Go Set a Watchman (once we get to the meat of the story) named Grady O'Hanlon. I remember men like him. My spouse attended high school with the sons of such a man. He had a restaurant not far from my high school. When black people tried to enter there, he threatened to bludgeon them with a pick handle. He became quite a celebrity. We thought him a clown. He ran for governor of our state; we were astonished when he was elected. (He was succeeded by a peanut farmer who later became US president.) In Watchman, I picture O'Hanlon with this pick-handle-wielding man's face and voice.

[Buck]

Lisa wrote: "So Lanier was local? Eccentric by any chance- thinking of what happened to cousin Joshua & the comparison.

I'll need to look at images, sounds beautiful."

Here is a link to one of my photographs, my daughter and grandson on the bank of the Chattahoochee: http://www.buckward.net/buckwardmainl...

[Lisa]

Lovely picture Buck

Part 1 (do not proceed unless you are done with part 1)

(view spoiler)[ Scout is returning to Maycomb junction on her annual visit. I can't call her Jean Louise. Her journey is slow and marked by beautiful descriptions of her surrounds and a slow change from city- Scout to country- Scout.But few people took advantage of the roads, and why should they? If you did not want much, there was plenty. & When she dressed, she put on her Maycomb clothes: gray slacks, a black sleeveless blouse, white socks, and loafers. Although it was four hours away, she could hear her aunt’s sniff of disapproval. We know that she is not typical of her time & Im guessing not typical of a Southern women her age; but her father & upbringing were not exactly typical.

We meet her sometimes boyfriend Henry. Love whom you will but marry your own kind was a dictum amounting to instinct within her. Henry Clinton was Jean Louise’s own kind. He's Jem's friend, her father's protege and protective of Scout. Aunt Alexandr doesn't believe he's good enough for Scout, he's 'the wrong sort'. Scout's ambivalence about their relationship is interesting; needing to be with her kind, but not wanting to be tied down yet, wondering if there is someone else out there for her. She was almost in love with him. No, that’s impossible, she thought: either you are or you aren’t. Love’s the only thing in this world that is unequivocal. There are different kinds of love, certainly, but it’s a you-do or you-don’t proposition with them all.

Jem's death is revealed in one line. her brother dropped dead in his tracks one day. this hit me like a punch to the gut. Just that one line, little explanation, a beloved character from a classic dies. I wanted to warn that headstrong brother with Scout. Lee's abrupt revelation and lack of explanation is brilliant, that's how the death of a loved one feels, abrupt and unexplained with gradual understanding of a loss.

Atticus. One of those atypical literary heroes, a hero in my eyes and his daughter's He had been a big man before age and arthritis reduced him to medium size. He was seventy-two last month, but Jean Louise always thought of him as hovering somewhere in his middle fifties—she could not remember him being any younger, and he seemed to grow no older..
Now older and unwell, bearing up under pain with his characteristic tenacity She wondered how she would behave when her time came to hurt day in and day out. Their relationship is as strong and beautiful as ever, I love how much of their love, devotion and respect is unsaid.

Aunts Alexandra. O boy. Every young lady knows someone like this. Someone who who dictate terms of exactly who you should be. No, she didn’t. Alexandra saw what Maycomb saw: Maycomb expected every daughter to do her duty. The duty of his only daughter to her widowed father after the death of his only son was clear: Jean Louise would return and make her home with Atticus; that was what a daughter did, and she who did not was no daughter. all of her attacks are emotional and she certainly goes for the throat, yet she loves her brother deeply. And Scou knows and can rout her enemy.
(hide spoiler)]

Really enjoying this so far, hope to read a lot this weekend.

[Rob]

Maybe I am misremembering, but we're Henry or Alexandra in TKAMB at all?

[Lisa]

Henry wasn't.
I think Alexandra was mentioned- she feels familiar

[Buck]

I vaguely remember Alexandra in Mockingbird, I think. Or at least there were Atticus' relatives. Henry was Jem's friend, lived across the street. I don't remember him from Mockingbird.

[Buck]

I had a library hold on Go Set a Watchman, both the ebook and the audiobook. There were quite a few people ahead of me, so I had expected a wait of several weeks. I was looking forward to the audiobook read by Reese Witherspoon, and then suddenly the ebook became available, so I took it. I was surprised to get it so soon after its release date.

[Buck]

Lisa wrote: "Really enjoying this so far, hope to read a lot this weekend."

I've run across mentions of a book store that is offering its customers refunds for the book. It's average rating on goodreads is 3.53. I wonder if it's rated so low because people are disappointed in it compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, or if it is rated so high because it is buoyed up by To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Lisa]

Buck wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Really enjoying this so far, hope to read a lot this weekend."

I've run across mentions of a book store that is offering its customers refunds for the book. It's average rating on g..."

I was chatting to the proprietor of a quaint little book store called Hemingways. (Their classics collection is awesome!) He was raving about Go Set a Watchman. I think 3,5 is pretty good- it also hasn't been around very long.

[David]

I'm just short of half way finished. It isn't as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, but those are big shoes to fill. It is by no means a bad book. It does move more slowly, in my opinion and doesn't have the mysterious Boo Radley acting as the carrot on the end of a stick to move you through it. I was interested to find out where the title came from to see if it had as much import as the title To Kill a Mockingbird had. I guess I'll have to get to the end to find that out.

[Lisa]

Part 2

Jean Louise looks back on her childhood as Scout, a juvenile desperado, hellraiser extraordinary.
(view spoiler)[ One of her reflections includes when she, Jem & Dill had a "revival". The description of the over-the-top revivalist mission, coupled with a child's interpretation, Scout's "baptism" and Dill's "Holy Ghost", had me howling with laughter. It was better than their game of Boo Radley from Mockingbird. Against this we understand how much around Scout has changed including the loss of Jem and absence of Dill. I'm not sure if Scout herself is aware of how much things have changed, and I wonder if she remains in a relationship with Henry because of what he reminds her of. (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

Part 3

Lee creates an incredible sense of foreboding here, like when a roller coaster laboriously ascends an incline and pauses just before plummeting to earth. I found myself holding my breath through out these chapters.

(view spoiler)[ We are treated to the rumor mill of a small town via Aunt Alexandra and her friends via the "blower" (what a fantastic description of a telephone). It is clear that the only opinion that matters to Jean Louise, is that of her father. She is pretty brave to face the church.

She's a stalwart as is shown in her reflection of Jem's funeral- wearing a hat because it would have made him laugh. The absence of Jem seems like a gaping hole.

Atticus supported Uncle John (pretty sure he wasn't a character in Mockingbird) through med school by the time he was forty-five he had accumulated enough money to retire and devote all his time to his first and abiding love, Victorian literature, a pursuit that in itself earned him the reputation of being Maycomb County’s most learned licensed eccentric.
Once again, Lee's characterization leads me flabbergasted.

We discover the origins of the title are biblical Isaiah 21 v 6: For thus hath the Lord said unto me , Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

And Scout's world is shattered. She has idolized her father since she could understand, has followed him everywhere. Atticus is seen as a true man of INTEGRITY, HUMOR, AND patience... There was also a phrase for him: pick at random any citizen from Maycomb County and its environs, ask him what he thought of Atticus Finch, and the answer would most likely be, “I never had a better friend.”... His private character was his public character.

Finding him at a Maycomb City Council meeting listening to the despicable Mr O' Hanlon sends Scout reeling and questioning her world, it has the reader questioning everything Atticus has ever done. Her entire being is based on did not stand alone, but what stood behind her, the most potent moral force in her life, was the love of her father. She never questioned it, never thought about it, never even realized that before she made any decision of importance the reflex, “What would Atticus do?” and Had she insight, could she have pierced the barriers of her highly selective, insular world, she may have discovered that all her life she had been with a visual defect which had gone unnoticed and neglected by herself and by those closest to her: she was born color blind.

I hope that there's more too it, I too feel betrayed by Atticus's actions. (hide spoiler)]

[Buck]

David wrote: "I'm just short of half way finished. It isn't as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, but those are big shoes to fill. It is by no means a bad book. It does move more slowly, in my opinion and doesn't ha..."

The source of the title is mentioned a couple of times in the book. I thought the first had occurred fairly early on. Lisa mentions it in her hidden spoiler in message 22.

I finished the book a couple of weeks ago. Its detail fades, but It left a firm impression.

[David]

Buck wrote: "David wrote: "I'm just short of half way finished. It isn't as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, but those are big shoes to fill. It is by no means a bad book. It does move more slowly, in my opinion ..."

Yes, I've already come to a part where the source of the title is quoted from the Bible verse, but there were characters that represented mockingbirds, like Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird, so the title resonated throughout. And Scout names Radley as a mockingbird at the end. I was wondering if the title held that sort of importance and for that I do need to wait for the end to see if it does.

[Buck]

David wrote: "Yes, I've already come to a part where the source of the title is quoted from the Bible verse, but there were characters that represented mockingbirds, like Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird, so the title resonated throughout. And Scout names Radley as a mockingbird at the end. I was wondering if the title held that sort of importance and for that I do need to wait for the end to see if it does. "

The metaphor of the watchman is personified in Atticus Finch. It hadn't really registered with me until you alluded to the mockingbirds. Watch for references.

[Buck]

Oh, and, by the way. With regard to the quote from To Kill a Mockingbird, to me its just as great a sin to kill a blue jay.

(Lisa - I guess there aren't blue jays and mockingbirds in South Africa. Are you familiar with these birds? We see them or hear them every day.) In The Hunger Games and Mockingjay they have been genetically combined.

[Kaycie]

Hi all! I just joined the group - Lisa invited me because I was reading Go Set a Watchman. Nice to join in! :-)

I am reading GSaW after just finishing a re-read of TKaM. What stands out to me most is that GSaW is definitely a early draft of TKaM, and I love seeing what an author went through progressing a story from Watchman to Mockingbird. The raw ideas are there in GSaW, but nearly as refined as TKaM.

As examples, some paragraphs are word for word the same as TKaM. The paragraph about the Conninghams versus Cunninghams is one of them. Also, with Atticus's trial in TKaM (view spoiler)[, Scout refers to it in GSaW like he WON. She also mentions things like his rationale for taking on the case and different details about it that are not the same as TKaM. I do like the way that the story ended up going in TKaM better. It was more realistic. (hide spoiler)] GSaW also seems like it was Lee's more raw emotions and personal memories put into a story, which is frequently what a first draft ends up being! Love seeing what it was able to be refined into.

As to some previous questions, Alexandra was in TKaM. She moved in with the Finchs shortly before Atticus's trial to help with the kids. Uncle Jack also made a very brief appearance in TKaM. He punished Scout "unfairly" for a fight she was in with a cousin.

Also, I am listening to the Reese Witherspoon audiobook. It is quite good, and Scout might forever sound like her in my head. :-)

[Buck]

Hi Kaycie - I noticed the disparity you mentioned in your spoiler. I don't remember Cunningham spelling from Mockingbird. I remembered something about an aunt coming to take care of the kids, but I couldn't remember her name or any of the details.

Since one can't help but compare these two books, it does seem that it would be beneficial to read them together. I read that Harper Lee referred to Watchman, not as a first draft, but as the parent of Mockingbird.

[Kaycie]

Right, I read that she took the book to a publisher or agent, and they said that they liked it, but they'd prefer to read the story about the court case so she went back to the drawing board and came up with Mockingbird. So yes, its not REALLY a first draft, but it kind of is a first draft. You can see all of the emotions she was trying to get down on paper for her novel, and even though the story is different and such, she has the same (albeit refined!) emotions conveyed in Mockingbird.

I do recommend reading them together! For me, it was a great excuse to read TKaM again, and I really did enjoy pinpointing little details that show you how an author went from a draft to a published worldwide bestseller!

[Buck]

Kaycie wrote: "Also, I am listening to the Reese Witherspoon audiobook. It is quite good, and Scout might forever sound like her in my head. :-)"

I like audiobooks and had expected to, wanted to, hear Reese Witherspoon read this one. The ebook came available sooner, so I took it. A good reader can make a good book really good - e.g. Lolita by Jeremy Irons, Harry Potter by Jim Dale. Somehow, I expect that Witherspoon would be a good reader of Watchman.

[Buck]

I just happened across this. It's the sort of image Go Set a Watchman brought to mind. Ruby Bridges, first african-american to attend a white elementary school in the South, escorted by federal marshalls (New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 14th, 1960)

[David]

Kaycie wrote: "Right, I read that she took the book to a publisher or agent, and they said that they liked it, but they'd prefer to read the story about the court case so she went back to the drawing board and ca..."

I recommend reading them together too. I used rereading To Kill a Mockingbird as an excuse to buy the hardcover of Go Set A Watchman and I'm glad I did. I'll probably finish today or tomorrow. This book is good at showing the prejudice of the south, but in a different way than TKAM did. Reading them together has made reading the new one a richer experience.

[David]

Buck wrote: "I just happened across this. It's the sort of image Go Set a Watchman brought to mind. Ruby Bridges, first african-american to attend a white elementary school in the South, escorted by federal ma..."

This is the type of picture I've had in my head too. I had a conversation with my Mom yesterday. She had a boyfriend from the Carolinas when she was 16. I think they met at camp or something. She was from New Jersey. There was a black boy who lived in her neighborhood. While they were together, the boy came walking down the street. She said hello to him and they had a whole conversation. When the black boy left. The boyfriend said he was shocked when she talked with the boy. She was shocked he was shocked. That was in the mid fifties.

[David]

I'm about 50 pages from the end now. I'm wishing I'd read it straight through now. I had to stop for a while. I really liked the senior dance chapter (15). Henry's solution was amusing. It read like a short story imbedded in the main story and I'm realizing there are other chapters that probably read that way, since Jean Louise is often going on mental excursions into her past this way. There's often a yearning in her for the Maycomb she remembers from her childhood, for the way she remembers the people around her. She doesn't particularly like how a lot of them turned out 20 years later, but I suspect these are differences mainly in a child's perspective vs. the adult's perspective having been away and come back. She even thinks about that at times. It makes for a much more dense read than we would have if this book stood on its own. There's a definite dialog going on between the two books, which I'm enjoying. I'm really glad I decided to reread To Kill a Mockingbird first because I would have totally missed that. If you didn't reread TKaM first, I think it would work just as well to read it second. It would read like a flashback and the conversation would go the opposite direction, but probably work just as well.

[Buck]

I returned my copy to the library a couple of weeks ago. I can't remember some of the characters' names. I can't find a list of characters online, except for one of a few of the main characters. Anyone have a link to a list of characters?

[Lisa]

Buck wrote: "I just happened across this. It's the sort of image Go Set a Watchman brought to mind. Ruby Bridges, first african-american to attend a white elementary school in the South, escorted by federal ma..."

I follow a Facebook group called A Mighty Girl- they highlight ordinary girls & women who do extraordinary things. Ruby Bridges was featured a while back. All the pupils left her class for an entire year and only one teacher was prepared to teach her.

[Lisa]

Buck wrote: "Oh, and, by the way. With regard to the quote from To Kill a Mockingbird, to me its just as great a sin to kill a blue jay.

(Lisa - I guess there aren't blue jays and mockingbirds in South Afric..."

Buck, we don't have either, but bluejays are pretty iconic. They show up in American film, TV & books. And isn't their a baseball team called the bluejays?

We do however have finches. Loads of species. I wonder if Lee purposely chose this name for her mockingbird- defending family.

[Lisa]

David wrote: "Buck wrote: "I just happened across this. It's the sort of image Go Set a Watchman brought to mind. Ruby Bridges, first african-american to attend a white elementary school in the South, escorted ..."

David, I could give you a very recent example that's far too similar.

[David]

Lisa wrote: "David wrote: "Buck wrote: "I just happened across this. It's the sort of image Go Set a Watchman brought to mind. Ruby Bridges, first african-american to attend a white elementary school in the So..."

It does seem as though we've devolved in this area. Despite having a black president and many people saying we've moved beyond racism as a result, I think we're probably less evolved, as far as racism, in some ways, than we were in the 70's.

[Buck]

The rationale for the Citizens Council was states' rights. They objected to being told what to do by the United States Supreme Court. This is the same rationale that Confederate aficionados use to justify the Civil War. They say it wasn't about slavery, but states' rights. Even today, with the controversy about the Confederate flag, many people claim it is about their heritage, that it's not a symbol of racism. The tide of that argument turned only after the murder of nine people in a church by a Confederate flag toting white supremacist. The Maycomb Citizens Council objected to being told what to do by the Supreme Court because of what they were told to do.

My forebears fought under the Confederate flag, but I'm not so blind as not to see the truth. I've had this discussion with people in my family - nobody changed their minds. Nobody brings it up anymore because it is divisive. That was the rationale for their support of the Council whether they supported O'Hanlon's point of view or not - 'You have to go along to get along.'

Uncle Jack said Jean Louise was color blind - and she was. She was a minority of one - racism and bigotry were entrenched in her culture. I don't see how she could not have been fully conscious and aware of it. She would have grown up seeing how Atticus related to other people's attitudes. If she had ever shown the slightest inkling of her 'color blindnes' she would have been ostracized and called 'nigger-lover'.

Atticus' and Henry's attitudes towards the Citizens Council, while not laudable, are understandable given the times. What I had trouble accepting was Jean Louise's complete astonishment, that she had been oblivious to their attitudes.

[David]

Buck wrote: "The rationale for the Citizens Council was states' rights. They objected to being told what to do by the United States Supreme Court. This is the same rationale that Confederate aficionados use t..."

I think given the environment Jean Louise grew up in, with her father and Calpurnia, her father walking a line between prejudice and the law, Calpurnia commanding respect in his home and Scout being so young when she witnessed the trial, it was pretty easy for her to put her father on a pedestal into young adulthood. Being away in New York solidified her own views of racism, while at the same time took her away from Maycomb's views of racism at a time when she might have eased into an understanding of them had she stayed. Instead, leaving and coming back after her views solidified became like a culture shock. She was seeing Maycomb and its people with new eyes. Suddenly all her old friends were those people she'd been reading about in the papers. And then even more shockingly, her father and Henry were two of those people as well. For me this was believable. We all become disillusioned about our parents infallibility at different times, some old and some young.

[David]

I just finished the book. I have to say, I was not expecting the twist at the end. It gets into another side of bigotry I wasn't expecting that speaks to what's happening even more today than it was back then because the Internet allows us to flock to those who hold our own opinions more easily than ever before, even when there are very few who hold those opinions. Interestingly, the Internet becomes a bit of a segregationist tool when we follow only the opinions we agree with. And search engines are now being built to pigeon-hole us there. Living in a small town like Maycomb forces those with differing opinions to live side by side, accept each other on some level and learn from each other. It allows people to spot when they're wrong about something, if they're open to seeing it. There are still plenty of people not open to it, but there's always plenty of opportunity for confrontation to shake that loose.

This is my favorite kind of book, the kind that makes me think and look at my own world from a different angle.

[Buck]

David wrote: "This is my favorite kind of book, the kind that makes me think and look at my own world from a different angle. "

I agree with you. I don't think Watchman was as well written a book as Mockingbird, but it certainly is thought provoking. And even though it was written more than half a century ago, it's still timely.

[Buck]

I walked into a room yesterday with a TV on. Ken Burns was being interviewed. I stood and watched this segment. It is the same subject that Harper Lee wrote about 60 years ago.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ken-burns...

I couldn't get a direct link to the video itself. When you get to the CBSnews page, click on the thumbnail- Ken Burns: 150 years after Civil War, America is not post racial. The video is 3 minutes. Please forgive the obnoxious commercial at the beginning.

[David]

I just got back from a library discussion of the book led by a High School English teacher. I really enjoyed the discussion. There were about 15 people and the discussion went all over the place in a good way. I'm hoping to go to another one this weekend, if I get moved up on the waiting list.

[Lisa]

Hi guys,
I've had a family crisis and am not at home at present. My internet access is severely limited. I'm afraid I can't complete this discussion at present and may only be back next week.

[Buck]

Wishing you well, Lisa. And looking forward to seeing you here again.

[David]

Lisa wrote: "Hi guys,
I've had a family crisis and am not at home at present. My internet access is severely limited. I'm afraid I can't complete this discussion at present and may only be back next week."

I hope your family crisis resolves well and quickly. The great thing about message boards is we will all still be here when you get back.

[Buck]

We are almost at the end of the month. I wrote a review near the beginning of the month. Here is a link to it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[David]

I have to say, there are a couple of your points in your review I disagreed with. I think, had it been published first, the ideas expressed in it, particularly at that time, would have been incendiary and caused a controversy. That certainly would have brought attention to it. It would have been different from the attention To Kill a Mockingbird got certainly. My take on its flaws is that this is a first novel. Had it been published as a first novel, an editor would have worked on it more with Lee to smooth out the kinks in it, so we have a very raw version of this first novel we don't usually get to see. But still, I find this to be very good for a first novel. In particular, the scenes that don't seem to contribute to the story much, read to me like inserted short stories. They certainly would have been cleaned up some and made more relevant to the book or possibly even removed.

I think I already mentioned, the different takes on the characters worked for me because we're getting Scout's 8 year old perspective in TKaM and her 26 year old perspective in GSaW after having lived in New ayork for a while. I found it completely believable for her to need to get out of the environment and live in a completely different one with opposite attitudes toward race for her to fully understand the extent of the racism in Macomb and that Atticus was a part of that, even if he wasn't the strongest proponent of the racist attitude. I liked that there was a distinction made between what Atticus would do in a court of law in upholding the law in defense of an innocent black man vs. what he might do in town hall meeting regarding the handling of town affairs. I always felt how he handled the court case was more about his respect for the law trumping any other attitude he might hold.