To Kill a Mockingbird

You're familiar with the basic story and maybe you read it long ago. You know the book is a classic and you remember seeing the movie as a child. But have you ever sat down and just appreciated this novel for the wonderful story that it truly is? This is story about racism, culture and societal expectations. But, most of all, it is a story about integrity and doing the right thing. The story is set in the South: the town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930's. A place where white people have roles and black people have rules. This is where the great Atticus Finch is raising his two children - Jeremy (Jem) and Jean Louise (Scout). Although he is a widow, he does have the help of a servant named Calpurnia who is a cherished part of the family. Atticus is a public defender and serves on the State Legislature. He is a highly-educated and thoughtful man dedicated to his town, his neighbors, his family - and justice. His motto: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." The story, however, is not told from his perspective, but from that of his daughter, Scout who is around 5 or 6 when the story begins and about 10 or so in its closing scenes. Through her eyes, we get innocence mixed with a precociousness and the wry sense of humor she has inherited from her dad. He's a lawyer and he asks a lot of questions. Sometimes he asks them when he already knows the answer and so does Scout. Atticus is always straight-forward about answering her. Jem tries his best with her, but he is also very young at the time and trying to find his way of fitting in as well. The first few pages introduce a cast of characters and are somewhat challenging to get into. Best to relax and just enjoy the ride - it will all come clear as the story unfolds. Remember you are being introduced by a small child. The action starts soon enough, as Atticus is assigned to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. The scenes leading up to and within the courthouse during the trial are brilliant and evoke so much emotion as you "climb into another's skin and walk around in it". The writing is so vivid and the characters really come alive. Your heart wants one verdict even though your head knows it's going to be another. The town gets past the trial and life goes on; or does it? Unfortunately, not for everyone. The ending is incredible and will not leave you for a long time to come. I read this book as part of a banned book project and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I fell in love with Atticus Finch and Scout and I hope to become a better person for it! I'm glad when young people review this book and are shocked by what the world offered in 1935. That helps me understand that times are indeed changing despite still having a way to go!

I have to confess to a certain degree of ignorance regarding many of the details of this book, primarily due to the fact that the film version has become so pervasive in my memory, as well as many of the general population, that it has overshadowed the original novel. I say this after reading the novel for the third time, the second having been 18 years ago. This reading has occurred since the recent publication of its prequel/sequel 'Go Set a Watchman' so I have had the experience of reading them back to back with a fresh comparison. The novel, like the film, has a seemingly random, anecdotal quality to much of it, weaving around the double threads of the curiosity of the children toward Arthur (Boo) Radley and the trial of Tom Robinson. Like any film adapted from a novel, the film 'To Kill a Mockingbird' had to be selective in which anecdotes to leave out and which ones to include. Fifty-five years after its original publication and 53 years after the film version, a summary of the novel seems superfluous so I will proceed on the assumption that everyone has been exposed to the novel, the film or both. Assuming that familiarity, the rest of the review will largely consist of my new perceptions of portions I had forgotten or connections I had not made until this reading. The novel takes place over a span of three years, from 1932 to 1935 and in that time Scout's brother Jem makes a transition from child to adolescent while Scout moves from first to third grade. They are not constant in their perceptions of their small-town world. There is much room to grow and so the revelations do not seem to occur as rapidly as the film version would indicate. Scout has more of an inkling of what the Robinson trial is about as a third grader than she would have had if it occurred at the beginning of the novel. The spooky imagined exploits of childhood boogeyman Boo Radley that consumes the children and their playmate Dill at the beginning has receded into mere curiosity about an extremely reclusive character. I had forgotten, for example, that Aunt Alexandra moves in with the family toward the beginning of the novel because Atticus knows that they need more adult attention than he is able to give them at this time. He probably also feels that they could benefit from a female presence in the house. According to Scout, they already have a female presence—their black housekeeper/cook Calpurnia. She keeps the household running smoothly and does her best to ensure that the children stay out of mischief. She doesn't live with them 24/7 though and she is black. She is also not a blood relation. Alexandra's presence is felt throughout the rest of the novel, although she doesn't strike me as quite as shrewish as she does in 'Go Set a Watchman,' partially because in that novel she treats the adult Jean Louise almost identically to the child Scout. Alexandra's presence in the house does bring Scout closer to Calpurnia, whom she sees as too much of a strict disciplinarian at the beginning of the novel, yet in comparison to Alexandra, she actually takes the trouble to try to understand the child's point of view. As talk of the impending trial of Tom Robinson reaches the children through the taunts of children as well as raving adults such as Mrs. Dubose, Cal's feelings on the matter are not lost on Scout. As she attempts to understand Atticus's willingness to defend a black man and not respond to the racial slurs that are tossed at him, she gets a first-hand look at the other side of the racial fence when she goes with Cal to her own church. Cal defends her decision to bring a white girl to a black church to some of the black counterparts to Mrs. Dubose and Scout respects her for her courage in going against the tide of what is expected in THAT society. Cal's pastor Reverend Sykes welcomes her and this familiarity also informs his easy reception of her, Jem and Dill to the 'colored only' balcony of the courthouse for the Robinson trial. I had also forgotten that Atticus's younger brother, Uncle Jack, appears, scolding Scout at a Christmas gathering for using unsuitable language and hitting her cousin for calling Atticus the unmentionable 'n—lover'. When Scout scolds him politely for not giving her a chance to tell her side of the story, he relents and understands why she got so upset. Another character I didn't recall is the white businessman Dolphus Raymond. He lives with a black mistress and has spawned several mulatto children. He is seen by the society of Maycomb as a scandalous, immoral eccentric. Scout understands him a bit more after she is taken out of the courthouse with Dill after Dill's crying fit over the racist treatment of the prosecuting attorney to Tom Robinson, encounters Raymond and learns that the liquid he drinks out of the container within his paper sack is not whiskey, as everyone suspects, but Coca-Cola. Scout asks him why he pretends, to which he says: "I try to give 'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey—that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does….It ain't honest but it's mighty helpful to folks. Secretly, Miss Finch, I'm not much of a drinker, but you see they could never, ever understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live." He says he confides in children because they are still young enough to understand him, because they 'cry about the simple hell people give other people without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people too." Another realization I had with this reading is that Atticus is not the sole advocate for equal treatment regardless of race. Their neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson tells them that there are certain people we hire to do our unpleasant jobs for us and their father is one of them. She is certainly one of the more racially enlightened citizens of the town. As they find out, a white person who believes in treating black people equally must live closeted lives. They learn that Judge Taylor chose Atticus intentionally to be the defense attorney rather than the man that would ordinarily be chosen. Sheriff Heck Tate must maintain order as a lawman and yet he too knows that Tom is innocent and he is sensitive enough to the reclusive Boo to persuade Atticus to 'let the dead bury the dead'. In this town Atticus and Dolpus Raymond are the most uncloseted of the white non-racists in the town. The novel proceeds in its almost effortless, anecdotal way to reveal steadily stronger moral lessons for both Jem and Scout but particularly for Scout, culminating in the most intense encounter with Bob Ewell and the emergence of Boo Radley. It is easy to see how it earned its classic status. It presents such a clear, articulate and incontrovertible statement regarding racial equality and unequivocal respect for all living things (Jem even adopts a stance of not even crushing insects) that is universal and is why it can still move millions of readers 55 years after its publication. Its success and influence even provided a lesson in tolerance for the real-life model for Atticus, A.C. Lee.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this great piece of literature. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it again. It takes back to a slower, simpler time in life. Not everything was perfect , and neither is it now. The book gave characters with description I could relate to, and the writing made me feel their highs and their lows and their sorrow. And that’s what a good novel it’s supposed to do.

‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.’ Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is an undisputed classic that few will avoid having read in their lifetime, and those few are to be pitied. As I habe presentation of the novel coming up this weekend, a discussion group that I am lucky enough to be allowed to lead as part of the The Big Read here in Holland, Michigan, I felt it necessary to revisit this timeless classic (and I figured I’d review it to help collect my thoughts on the subject). The experience was like returning to a childhood home and finding it warm and welcoming and undisturbed from the passage of time, like walking the streets of my old neighborhood and hearing the calls of friends as they rode out with their bikes to greet me, of knowing the mailman by name and knowing where all the best places for hide-and-seek were, the best trees to climb, and feeling safe and secure in a place that is forever a part of yourself. Though some of the mechanics of the novel seemed less astonishing than my first visit more than a decade ago, the power and glory was still there, and I found a renewed love and respect for characters like Atticus, whom I’ve always kept close to heart when wrestling with my own position as a father. Harper Lee created a wonderful work that incorporated a wide range of potent themes, wrapping class systems, gender roles, Southern manners and taboos, and an important moral message of kindness, love and conviction all within a whimsical bildungsroman that no reader who has been graced by its pages will ever forget. ‘The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.’ Before dipping into the novel itself, I’d like to take a moment to speak about Atticus Finch, one of my favorite characters in all of Literature. Atticus is a pillar of morality, a man of honor, integrity, and most importantly, conviction. He is humble and honest, even admitting to his children that yes, indeed they are poor. In a novel about society, with its tumultuous mess of morals and class, Atticus is like an authorial deus ex machina, being Lee’s method of inserting moralizing and an example of what constitutes a ‘good man’ into the book through character and not authorial asides. I’ve always idolized Atticus and tried to think ‘what would Atticus do?’ when it come to being a father and undertaking difficult moral conundrums (I even named my second cat Catticus Finch). Atticus takes the unpopular position of defending a black man in a rape case when assigned to him despite the town nearly ostracizing him. Atticus does his duty, and does it well, as a man of conviction that believes in doing what is right and honorable regardless of the consequences, living up to his statement that ‘Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what’. In fact, Lee originally intended to name the novel Atticus before deciding it would stifle the broad perspective of Macomb by drawing too much attention to one character. Atticus remains steadfast throughout the novel, sure of himself and fully developed, whereas those around him undergo more a sense of change and development. This is a novel about personal growth and a broader understanding of those around you, and Atticus is the anchor to integrity and morality keeping his children centered in the violent storm of emotions and violence that befalls Macomb. ‘When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em.’ There is a childlike innocence spun through a novel of such weight and seriousness, executed brilliantly by Lee’s choice of Scout as the narrator. We are forever seeing a larger world through the eyes of a young girl still trying to find her place in it while making sense of all the hustle and bustle around her, and this creates an incredible ironic effect where there are large events going on that the reader understands but are delivered nearly through defamiliarization because the narrator cannot fully grasp them¹. The narration allows Lee to balance the coming-of-age hallmarks with the weightier themes, allowing the reader to maintain an innocence from the rape and racism while still able to make sense of the society functioning at large, and retreating from the darker themes into the fun of the children’s comings and goings. What is most impressive is how everything blends together, and the lessons learned in each aspect of their life are applied to all the other elements they come in contact with. The fates of Tom and Boo Radley are emotionally and morally linked in the readers mind, heart and soul. All the standard bildungsroman motifs that make people love the genre are present in To Kill a Mockingbird, from schoolyard quarrels, to learning your place in society. We see Scout, Jem, and even Dill, gain a greater understanding of the world and their place in it, watch the children come to respect their father for more than just being a good father, see them make dares, terrorize the neighbors in good fun, and even stop a mob before it turns violent. With Scout, particularly, there is an element of gender identity at play that leads into a larger discussion about class and society. Children learn from those around them, and Scout spends much of the novel assessing those around her, perhaps subconsciously looking for a role model for herself. The ideas of what a good southern woman is and should be are imposed upon her throughout the town, such as Ms Dubose who criticizes her manner of dress, or Aunt Alexandra and her attempts to eradicate Scout’s tomboyish behavior, and she learns to dislike Miss Stephanie and her gossipy behavior. Miss Maudie, however, curbs gossip and insults, and puts on the face of a southern lady, but still gets down into the dirt in the garden and behaves in other, more boyish, ways that Scout identifies with. The gender identification becomes a cog in the gear of Southern tradition in manners and class. While the court case is unquestionably controversial due to the racial implications, it is also because it forces people to discuss rape and involves questioning the Word of a woman. It forces up a lot of taboo that the community is uncomfortable in being forced to deal with it, and many inevitably turn a squeamish blind eye when forced to confront the ugly truths at hand. Macomb is a society where everything and everyone has their place, a set identification, and they do not like it being disturbed. Most important to note is the correlation that the characters who are most inclined to uphold societal traditions through self-righteous brow-beatings often exhibit the most rampant racism throughout the novel. ‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ There are many ‘mockingbird’ characters in this novel, such as Tom and Boo, but the real mockingbird is, to me at least, the innocence that is lost. The town is forced to see each other for who they really are, to question their beliefs, to grow up with all the racism and bigotry going on around them. Atticus teaches Scout that we cannot know someone until ‘you consider things from his point of view’, and through the novel we see many misjudgements of character based on misunderstanding or characters refusing to see beyond their closed opinions, or even something as simple as Scout and Jem believing the rumors of Boo Radley as a bloodthirsty maniac. ‘People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.’ This applies to many obdurate aspects of society, such as Miss Maudie stating ‘sometimes the Bible in hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of-oh, your father,’ emphasizing the ways that a closed mind is just as dangerous as a violent hand and that even religion can be misused. There is a message of love, of looking into the hearts of others and not just judging them, a message of compassion and open-mindedness working through To Kill a Mockingbird, and it is a message that we all must be reminded of from time to time. There are a few issues that arose on a re-reading of the novel, having grown myself as a reader since I first encountered this lovely book. While the moral lessons are important and timeless, there is a sense of heavy-handedness to their delivery. Particularly at the end when Sheriff Tate points out the dangers of making a hero of Boo Radley. taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight—to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head. This statement is quickly followed by Scout mentioning to Atticus that ‘Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’. It seems a bit unnecessary to reiterate the point, especially when Tate’s double use of sin was enough to draw a parallel to the message earlier in the novel that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. This, I admit, is overly nitpicky but brings up a conversation about teaching this novel in schools. This book is, ideally, read at a time of the readers own coming-of-age and the connections they are sure to draw with the characters reinforce the love for the novel. It is also a time in life when you are just beginning to understand the greater worlds of literature, and overtly pointing out themes is more necessary for readers when they haven’t yet learned how to look for them properly. It is books such as this that teach us about books, and usher us into a world of reading between the lines that we hadn’t known was there before. Another quiet complaint I have with the novel that, despite the themes of racism, Calpurnia seems to be a bit of an Uncle Tom character. However, who wouldn’t want to be in service for as great of a man as Atticus, so this too can be overlooked. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel surely deserving of it’s classic status. Though it is not without its flaws, there is a timeless message of love that permeates through the novel. It is also of great importance as a book that young readers can use as a ladder towards higher literature than they had been previously exposed to. Lee has such a fluid prose that makes for excellent storytelling, especially through the coming-of-age narrative of Scout, and has a knack for creating exquisite characters that have left their immortal mark in the halls of Literature as well as the hearts of her readers. 4.5/5 ‘...when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things...Atticus, he was real nice. Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.’ ¹This style is reminiscent of William Faulkner, such as the court scene in Barn Burning from the detached perspective of a child. In fact, much of this novel feels indebted to Faulkner and the works of Southern Gothic authors before her, and the Tom incident and case feels familiar to those familiar with Faulkner’s Dry September or Intruder in the Dust. The way the most self-righteous and self-professed 'holy' also tend to be the basest of character morals is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor as well. Lee’s story is fully her own, but it is always interesting to see the travels and growth of literary tradition.

I finally got around to reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and now I understand why so many people consider it a classic. It's one of those books that draws you in quietly and then stays in your mind long after you're finished. What I enjoyed most was how real the characters felt. Scout's perspective is both honest and memorable, and Atticus is the kind of character you don't forget. The story does a great job balancing serious topics with moments of humor, warmth, and everyday life. Even though the book was written many years ago, the themes still feel relevant today. It gives you a lot to think about without feeling preachy. This is the kind of book that appeals to a wide range of readers. Whether you're reading it for the first time or revisiting it years later, there's always something meaningful to take away from it. Overall, I'm glad I finally read it. It's a powerful, well-written story and easily one of the most memorable books I've picked up in a long time.

It is obvious why Harper Lee’s incredible book is considered a classic. It is a masterwork and, rightfully, a Pulitzer Prize winner. This is a book to keep for your entire life and read over and over again. I had read this as a teenager and as a young adult and then seen a movie adaption. When my book club chose this for this month’s reading, I thought I knew the story well enough already and didn’t want to buy it or end up on the waiting list at the local library. I am so glad I decided to buy the Harperperennial edition on Kindle. There are many different levels for readers to enjoy this book. As a mature reader, I got much more out of the book than I did as a teenager or as a young adult. The story takes place in Macolm, a small town in Alabama, in the mid-1930s. Scout and Jem have lost their mother to illness but live with their lawyer father, Atticus Finch, and Calpurnia, their housemaid. Later Aunt Alexandra comes to live with them. She is determined to change Scout’s tomboy tendencies into those of a lady. The story is a very good depiction of the South at this time in history. All the family, town and country characters are vividly portrayed. Neighborhood gossip abounds. Racisim (although still with us) was even more rampant then. Growing up with many childhood adventures, Scout and Jem grow up more quickly when their father is appointed to defend a Negro. Tom Robinson, the young Negro (the polite term at the time), is charged with a crime he did not commit. It is his word against that of a white man, Bob Ewell, and his daughter, Mayella. She says Tom raped and beat her, when, in reality, her father had done so. Tom is convicted with no solid evidence as to his guilt. Bob Ewell is determined to get back at Atticus for suggesting at the trial that he beat his own daughter. When a very drunk Bob Ewell tries to kill Scout and Jem one dark Halloween night, they are saved by Arthur (Bo) Radley, a neighbor recluse whom they had been afraid of and made fun of as children. They learn a tough lesson about the so-called “good people” of the town and countryside. They learn tolerance and respect for those who are different. Scout and Jem learn to appreciate the moral compass of their father, who is one of the few adults who has the courage to do what is right. Harper Lee has a wonderful ability to tell a story and pull the reader into each scene. The writing flows fluidly and beautifully. Sometimes I like to hear a story, however. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is such a good story that it deserves to be listened to as well. I supplemented the Kindle with the Audible version with Sissy Spacek as the narrator. How absolutely marvelous! Sissy Spacek is just amazing as a reader. She brought the story even more alive! NOTE: If you buy the Audible version for the Harperperennial edition, Sissy Spacek reads the entire novel.

If ever there were a book I would consider voting for as the “Great American Novel”, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the one…the only one. It is hard for me to say that there is a one great anything. Times change, technology improves, and social views evolve. In short, we are never the same from one generation to the next and trying to pick anything that spans the gap and the differences as the greatest of all is difficult, if not a complete waste of time. When it comes to literature, there are so many fine books and so many great writers that trying to narrow the selection to the “one great one” interferes with valuable reading time…generally. But then there is To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s story takes place in the small southern Alabama town and county of Maycomb during the depression era 1930’s. She paints a picture of the community and the people populating it through the eyes of Scout (Jean Louise Finch) the daughter of a prominent local attorney, Atticus Finch. As the book opens, Scout is preparing to begin her first year in grade school. She and her brother Jem and friend Dill pass the summer doing the things children did before the age of video games and twenty-four hour television. They played. They entertained themselves. They went on adventures. They told stories about the frightening, recluse who lives on the corner. They were children. They did all of this under the watchful eyes of Calpurnia, the black woman who is housekeeper and surrogate mother to the family. Scout describes her as “all angles and bone…with a hand as wide as a bed slat and twice as hard…” In the Finch household, Cal is treated as an equal, a partner in the upbringing of the children and an indispensable member of the family. That is in the Finch household. Outside their small world, things are different in the community of Maycomb. I find Calpurnia to be one of the most interesting of characters in the story. She is a strong and independent black woman who makes her way in the world dominated by whites. Scout is amazed on one occasion when visiting at Cal’s church that she spoke differently to other blacks, using their particular colloquialisms and dialect. It was very different from the way she spoke with Scout and Jem in the Finch home. Scout had no idea that Calpurnia lived this “double life” relating differently to the two cultures in Maycomb. In short, racial prejudice reigns, as was common in the time. Blacks, Negroes as polite members of the community called African Americans in that day, are second-class citizens with a place in the universe of Maycomb that is always inferior to the whites. Even the most white-trashy, ignorant, slovenly of whites holds a place in the community superior to any of the blacks. As a southerner who grew up in the south in the 1950s, I remember the “Jim Crowe” days. I went to schools that were not desegregated. I saw white only water fountains and restrooms. Black children were to be treated kindly, but we did not associate as a rule. They had their world. We had ours. As Scout paints a picture of Maycomb through the experiences she shares with Jem and Dill, it begins as a sort of “Mayberry-esque”, idyllic memoir of her childhood. But events open her eyes to the underlying darkness of their culture. Maycomb is not the perfect little world she thought. She is guided by her father, Atticus, through the twisting cultural maze she inhabits. He teaches her not to judge others, but to get in their shoes and walk around a while to see how the world looks from their perspective. Most importantly, never kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing and bring happiness without harming anyone else. Atticus is the rock in Scout's world, giving her rope to explore and float about on the sea, but always there to anchor her safely. Brother Jem (short for Jeremy) and friend Dill are her conscience and mentors in a way. Dill, rambunctious but sensitive, opens her eyes to things she had missed in their small community. Jem, sees and struggles with the contradictions around them...white people they have known all their lives as good people, doing things and saying things that they know to be wrong. Through her innocence and confused effort to understand what is happening around her, we see that things are socially complicated. Whites harboring racial prejudice are not all evil as Scout describes their interactions. Instead, you get the feeling that they are ignorant, not seeing the contradictions in their lives, one instant treating a black member of the community in a courteous friendly manner, the next making sure they understand their place in the community…second class. Some, however, are evil. The Ewells are the evilest of them all. Their conflict with Atticus and his defense of a black man, Tom Robinson, accused but innocent of a terrible crime leads to a chilling climax in the concluding chapters. In the event that there is someone who has not read the book or seen the movie, I will not include any plot spoilers here. Just know that it is a gripping story with a conclusion that keeps you on the edge of your seat before Lee allows you to take a breath in the final chapter. The prose is superb. The story is engaging and riveting. There are moments that will make you smile, others that will make you angry and some that might bring tears to your eyes. Most of all, Harper Lee’s use of a little girl, Scout, to bring the narrative to life is masterful. It is not a children’s book, but through the eyes of a child, we see ourselves and the world around us. For me, that is why To Kill A Mockingbird is the great American novel. It spans the gap of generations, and through Scout’s eyes, looks into our soul.

If you're going to write only one book in your life to be remembered for, let this be your guide. For starters, being an avid reader, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I have just read this masterpiece for the first time at just a few months shy of my fiftieth birthday. It's been the all-time favorite book of many people I know, mostly women. So it's been on my must-read list for a long time, hanging around with Moby Dick and a few others. But being a person who believes that you receive the message or the teacher when you are supposed to and receptive to the lesson to be learned. Aside from its must-read status and a few cultural references ( the schizophrenic Joon in the film Benny and Joon referring to her 'Boo Radley moments' comes to mind ), I was almost completely naive to the general story until a couple of years ago when the film was shown on one of the old movie channels I receive locally. I usually prefer to read the book before seeing the movie, but since I hadn't gotten to it yet, I decided what the Hell, I'll watch the movie. It's no great surprise that I loved it, which strengthened my resolve the read the book. Even though I knew the story now, I still ploughed through the book. A real page-turner. However, I was also determined to go slow enough to not overlook the subtleties of reading what I knew to be a masterpiece of modern fiction. Not disappointed, I savored every word and every page of this lovingly crafted meal. As for the story, I'm sure I can't add anything worth mentioning that hasn't already been written by better and more skilled reviewers than me. Briefly, an honest and true widower attorney in Jim Crow Alabama tries to do his small part in keeping the law colorblind in his small town. He's also trying, with more success than he realizes, to gently sculpt the minds and hearts of his two young children who are unfortunately but inevitably affected by race and class ugliness in an alleged black on white rape case. Through their observations and inevitable questions about this case, these two children are exposed to an issue they struggle to understand while also trying to cope with a real-life boogeyman next door that, in their inexperienced and naive minds, is a much greater threat to their lives than racism and institutionalized hatred. As this beautiful story unfolds, these children gradually come to understand that imagined boogeymen are far more benign than the very real ugliness in people that they thought were friendly and safe. Harper Lee's genius in crafting this novel is in her choice of teaching this lesson, which we can all learn from, through the eyes of two children as they are forced to grow up and learn to discern between real and imagined monsters. That's about all I have to say, leaving more eloquent analyses to those better at it than me. I feel richly rewarded by finally hunkering down and tackling a book that was a sheer pleasure to read and a profound lesson, even to this old-ish reader who thought I had already learned all these lessons. After experiencing both the book and the film, and I generally try to avoid comparing films adapted from books because of the near impossibility of faithfully rendering books into movies, it's an apple/orange comparison most of the time. I have to say that in this case, the film rendering is nearly flawless. Whoever decided to cast Gregory Peck should be made a Saint of Hollywood. it was perfection, both the choice and the performance. Oh, and I've decided that my next dogs will be named Atticus, Jem, Scout, and Boo, not to appear edumacated to others, but because these characters have now become the most upstanding human beings I've ever had the pleasure to know.

A genius book, to read at least once. Buy it or at least give it to someone you like.

Harper Lee hat eine bemerkenswerte Gabe des Geschichtenerzählens. Ihre Kunst ist visuell, voller taktiler Brillanz und mit kinematografischer Fluidität und Subtilität ausgestattet: wir sehen vor unserem geistigen Auge, wie eine Szene mit einer anderen verschmilzt, ohne dass es dabei zu holprigen Übergängen kommt. Die Schicksale der Protagonisten sind im Kopf, im Herzen und in der Seele des Lesers emotional und moralisch miteinander verbunden. ***** Setup Anfang Der Schauplatz dieses Buches (erschienen 1960) ist die fiktive Stadt Macomb (Alabama) Mitte der 1930er Jahre. Dort lebt der Rechtsanwalt Atticus Finch (50 Jahre alt) mit seinen Sohn Jem (Jeremy) und seiner Tochter Scout (Jean Louise) – die auch die Erzählerin der Geschichte ist. Die Geschwister sind zu Beginn des Romans, der etwa eine Zeitspanne von 3 Jahren abdeckt, 10 bzw. 6 Jahre. Die Mutter der beiden starb einige Jahre zuvor. Atticus verteidigt einen schwarzen Mann (Tom Robinson), der der Vergewaltigung einer weißen Frau beschuldigt wird. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass ein solcher in den 1930er Jahren in den Südstaaten einen fairen Prozess bekommt, liegt bei etwa 1 zu einer Million... optimistisch betrachtet. UND: Der Leser sieht die Welt durch die Augen eines jungen Mädchens, das noch versucht, seinen Platz in ihr zu finden (genau wie ihr Bruder), und dem ganzen Trubel um sie herum einen Sinn zu geben. Ein größerer Teil des Buches (und seiner „Faszination“) besteht eben auch aus einem Bericht über das „Aufwachsen“ / „Erwachsen werden“ zweier Kinder, ihren Fragen, Freundschaften zu anderen Kindern & Erwachsenen, ihren Erlebnissen und wie sie diese verarbeiten. ***** Setup Ende Das Buch behandelt eine breite Palette von kontroversen Themen, das Verhüllen von Klassensystemen, Geschlechterrollen, Südstaatenmanieren und Tabus sowie einige Botschaften wie Freundlichkeit, Liebe und Überzeugung - alles in einem skurrilen Bilderroman enthalten, den kein Leser, der je von seinen Seiten beglückt wurde, je vergessen wird. Ich habe TKAM zum ersten Mal vor 40 Jahren in der Schule gelesen und es hat mich tief berührt. Und als ich das Buch im Jahr 2017 noch einmal las, war ich genauso ergriffen, erschüttert, betroffen und überwältigt. Harper Lee brachte uns dazu, Vorurteilen und Ungerechtigkeiten ins Gesicht zu blicken, und danach zu streben, ein Atticus-Fink zu werden. Fähnchen schwingend gibt es 5-Sterne! ***** Einordnung *** Die Weigerung der Afroamerikanerin damals 42-jährigen Rosa Park (1913 - 2005), ihren Sitzplatz in einem Stadtbus einer weißen Person zu überlassen, führt nicht nur zu ihrer Verhaftung und Verurteilung (wegen Störung der öffentlichen Ruhe), sondern löste auch den Montgomery-Bus-Boykott von 1955 aus. *** Die US-amerikanische Professorin für Literatur und Theater-Geschichte, Claudia Durst Johnson, schrieb 1994 in ihrem Buch „To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries“: „In den 33 Jahren seit seiner Veröffentlichung stand das Buch noch nie im Mittelpunkt einer Dissertation, und es war nur Gegenstand von 6 literarischen Studien, von denen einige nicht mehr als ein paar Seiten lang waren.“ *** Harper Lee (1926 - 2016) wuchs in der Stadt Monroeville (Alabama), auf, wo sie sich mit dem später berühmten Schriftsteller Truman Capote anfreundete. Capote war ziemlich sicher Vorbild für den Nachbarjungen Dill (Charles Baker Harris) im Roman. *** Es gab auch zahlreiche Gerüchte, habe Capote habe in Wahrheit den Roman geschrieben oder zumindest stark redigiert. Diese wurden 2006 durch den Fund eines privaten Briefs Capotes an eine Verwandte zu Fall gebracht. *** Originaltitel: „To Kill a Mockingbird“; auf Deutsch: „Wer die Nachtigall stört“. Der „Mockingbird“ ist aber eigentlich die sogenannte Spottdrossel (Mimus polyglottos). Das Gesangsrepertoire des Männchens besteht aus 50 bis 200 Liedern. *** Harper Lee veröffentlichte ein Jahr vor ihrem Tod ihr zweites Buch „Gehe hin, stelle einen Wächter“ (im Original Go Set a Watchman; 2015). Der Titel spielt auf die Rolle von Atticus Finch als den moralischen Kompass ("Wächter") von Maycomb an. Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, mittlerweile 26 Jahre alt und Jurastudentin, kommt aus New York City zu Besuch nach Maycomb und trifft viele der Figuren aus TKAM. ***** Zitate „Aber bevor ich mit anderen leben kann, muss ich mit mir selber leben.“ (Atticus (11. Kapitel)) „Vorurteile, ein schmutziges Wort, und Glaube, ein sauberes, haben etwas gemein: Sie fangen beide da an, wo die Vernunft endet.“ (Onkel Jack Finch; jüngerer Bruder von Atticus) „Dill hatte einen großartigen Plan ausgeheckt, um Boo Radley ohne jede Gefahr für uns herauszulocken. (Man nehme Zitronenbonbons, lege sie als Köder auf den Weg zwischen Radleys Hintertür und dem Vorplatz, und schon wird Boo wie eine Ameise der Spur nachgehen).“ „Man versteht einen Menschen erst dann wirklich, wenn man die Dinge aus seiner Sicht betrachtet - wenn man in seine Haut steigt und darin herumläuft.“ (Atticus (3. Kapitel)) „Wenn ein Kind Sie etwas fragt, antworten Sie, um Himmels willen. Aber machen Sie keine Inszenierung daraus. Kinder sind Kinder, doch sie erkennen ein Ausweichen schneller als Erwachsene, und es bringt sie einfach durcheinander.“ (Atticus)

Simply outstanding. I thought watching the film would do. I was very wrong. A must-read and sooner rather than later in life.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful and thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. The story is gripping, with unforgettable characters like Scout, Atticus, and Boo Radley, who stay with you long after you finish the book. The themes of racial injustice, empathy, and moral growth are just as relevant today as they were when the book was first published. Harper Lee’s writing is beautiful yet straightforward, making complex ideas accessible and emotional. This is a novel that not only tells an incredible story but also challenges you to think deeply about the world around you. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a book that is as enriching as it is captivating.

Great read, good quality