Book Review: Go Set a Watchman

[Kimberly]

Having previously read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I was ecstatic to find out that the original rough draft of this book was published as the sequel. Go Set a Watchman is Harper Lee’s original draft of To Kill a Mockingbird before the editors made Lee revise it. I was excited to read this novel because I wanted to see how Jean ‘Scout’ Louise was originally intended to be and whether she would be different from the version in To Kill a Mockingbird. At the beginning of this novel I was surprised to see Jean Louise all grown up and living in New York, since she was originally introduced as a child in To Kill a Mockingbird. As the novel progressed, I started to question how Harper Lee could have made all the characters so different and how she could have revised this novel to be the class it is presently. When I was first introduced to these characters I fell in love with the morals and ideals of Atticus, Jean Louis, and Jem. However, after reading Go Set a Watchman I was surprised at how much the character had changed from who they were originally meant to be. In Go Set a Watchman, Atticus is a racist man who believes that African Americans are the plague of America. Jean Louise is grown up and believes that African Americans deserve equality and believes that she needs to go to New York to make herself a better woman. The characters in Go Set a Watchman are the draft off the characters that were eventually brought to life in To Kill a Mockingbird. Knowing that Go Set a Watchman is the “prequel” of To Kill a Mockingbird surprises me because I do not understand how Harper Lee was able to change the characters so much and edit the story into what it is now known for. In Go Set a Watchman there are a lot of controversial topics that Harper Lee tries to tackle, however, her execution is extremely flawed and rather she is left with a rough draft that lacks structure. Honestly, I would not recommend Go Set a Watchman because it took away from my love for the characters of To Kill a Mockingbird. Go Set a Watchman is a novel that helped me see where Harper Lee originally intended to go with the novel, but after reading it I am happy she revised it and changed it completely.

[Beth]

I agree with you. I was disappointed in the way the characters were presented in Go Set A Watchman. I think she would have been better to have a whole new group of characters instead of the of ones from To Kill A Mockingbird. True, people change over time, but Atticus was too radical.