August Books 1) To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

[nwhyte]

Another classic reread for me. It is as good as I remembered; I had forgotten just how much of the book is the set-up for the trial scene, which is actually only a fairly short chapter. It is a brilliant and brutal depiction of childhood in rural Alabama in the 1930s, when your father is the town's most visible liberal, and of the murder of a black

Comments

[girfan]

I always wondered if part of this book was autobiographical. The friend who lived with his aunt during the summer was based on Truman Capote.
I've been to Baldwin County (my parents retired there) and it's very much like the book (in how it looks).

[acesspadesdice]

This was Harper Lees first and only novel. That is always a hint to the biographical I think.

[acesspadesdice]

Well, it is a period piece, and it captures time and place beautifully. As to the ending-well time just rolls on in the Southern Gothic.

Boo Radleys acquital would by no means have been a fait accompli in those days-the evidence of children requiring a special warning to juries, on it's unreliability. Having said that, if Atticus Finch conducted the same case today on Jims behalf-he'd be struck off-you just can't put your client at risk that way. But there's no moral tale in a tight knit legal defence.

It's a great book though, beatifully parsed and languid-a time and place book. It is a particular first edition I lust after, Ms Lee-a rare enough signatory over the life of the book and its various red letter reprints-is quite old now.

[nickbarnes]

Joe is reading this over the summer.

[seawasp]

I guess I'll try rereading it. I've been afraid to, because my memories of it are so pleasant, which makes it utterly unique in the category of "assigned reading".

[blueboxfever]

An American friend of mine bought me this book as a Christmas present, a few years ago. It's still one of my favourite novels, ever. I had just finished a course on American literature, and as such it perfectly complemented the information had gained that term.

It's really an interesting question, isn't it: though you are supposed to feel that injustice has condemned Tom Robinson, Boo Radley's actions sort of settle the score -- though they are not morally better than blaming a black man for a crime he didn't commit.