Think like a CRITIC

[Brantford]

Keep in mind that Go Set a Watchman was Harper Lee's first novel and was rejected by publishers. Now lets take a look at the quality of the writing.

The technical writing in this book was often problematic. It was long winded and the narrative voice was inconsistent which could be confusing. Lee would occasionally use both a 3rd person and 1st person narrative in the same paragraph. These are common mistakes for a young, inexperienced writer.

Did the writing style in this book bother you or confuse you at any time? Were you constantly aware of the writing issues as you were reading? Or perhaps you didn't even notice?

Do you think the inexperienced writing was a distraction from the story or was it really not an issue for you?

[Karen]

Lol? I didn't even notice. My first reaction to the storyline : I thought it was ok. That goes for the plot and writing but further along into the story I liked it more.
A 3 out of 5 for me.

[Colleen]

The biggest problem I found with the book, was that if you stand back and look at the "plot", without having at least some prior knowledge of To Kill a Mockingbird, I am not sure how anyone could see the strong relationship between Atticus and Jean Louise. It didn't feel like she showed much history as to why Scout idolized her father. I knew the massive extent of this from the other novel but there was only minor reflections on her youth with Atticus. It really felt like the novel focused more on her relationship with everyone else, her uncle, her aunt and Henry. Yet the whole book is a coming of age in terms of Jean Louise realizing that what you see as a child isn't always what is reality, as it related to her relationship with Atticus.

I noticed the 1st person, 3rd person switcheroo, but it didn't really bother me. I think perhaps I've read to much bad fiction in my reading career, it just seemed normal LOL.

[Anna]

I didn't really notice the 1st person/3rd person issue too much but I did find the writing a bit jumpy at times. Overall it didn't bother me. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing how she originally envisioned them prior to Mockingbird. I didn't have huge expectations for this book so I wasn't disappointed. I think I was more curious than anything.

I agree Colleen, that the book was really more of a coming of age theme than anything else.

[Kathryn]

I listened to this and I didn't notice the changing voice so it didn't bother me. I did notice that it seemed long winded at times. Not that this is a problem of only inexperienced writers. But it didn't take away from my experience of the story.