To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee

This book is a classic. Not much more needs to be said about this book as it has stood the test of time. I re-read it because Go Set a Watchman, which I am yet to read, was being released this summer, after many a year of being hidden. I just needed to refresh my memory of the book... the novel about "childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it..." A lot of which i did not understand when i first read it as a wee lass.

I need not summarize this book, but I do remember the tag line "Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded a masterpiece of American Literature." I still have my copy which was printed in 1982, is rife with typos. Back to the "love story" theme, after reading it you are filled with all the other feelings other than love. There is a "love" but there is not one main romance story going on. It is not a 50 shades of gray, it is not a 50 shades of black or white either. This book explores relationships, life, and the little world of a little girl. The world is the little town of Maycomb, in Maycomb County Alabama. In this little world which is set in the 40s and 50s essentially, young woman being proper, segregation, the Dewey decimal system, fancy hats, and so many other things still exist that do not legally exist today.

What I found most interesting after re-reading this book were things I did not originally grasp as a child when I had first read it. I was not much older than Scout, the narrator of the story, when laid eyes on it. I could not stop reading it as it is written in a very engaging manner, it gets it's hooks right into you no mater what your age.

There are social-cultural aspects, education, political, geography, justice, racism, class-ism, some psychology, existential and much much more parts to this plot. It is a masterpiece from that perspective. What I noticed while re-reading it was how looking at the world today, how not much has chanced in 50 or more years sociologically/culturally. We think they have, but perhaps it is not very if we look at the several cases recently that have happened in regards to class and race.

Other things I began to understand after all those years were all the references to weather and climate, football, and American culture (how the South is different from the North, etc.). Ie. they speak about how it snowed, and snow was something not common, and is still not common in Alabama. Living in Ohio, I know all to well how this works. Back then however they had no centralized heating (and probably still don not in Alabama, Florida etc.), so how they heated the houses and why Miss Maudie's house caught on fire all make sense. How the smell of the fire may linger on furniture and other things for ages. It ruins it and takes years to get the smells out.

The other aspect that came to light was the relationships between all the characters. There was the main court case which the book sort of revolved around was the "victim" and the "perpetrator", which came to light, the children and their father, the girl Scout coming into society because her aunt made her do so, and so much more. It was so fascinating reading it as an adult, and fun too. I actually read the entire book while on the elliptical for 5 days.

The book is a classic and a must read by everyone. I am excited to read the new one, however I am worried I will be disappointed, much like my fear for the new Star wars movie (which was marvelous). Do re-read it if you read the new one, I am sure it will help bring perspective.

My favorite quotes:
"many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said."
"didn't you know his nickname was Ol' One-Shot when he was a boy?"
"Two geological ages later, we heard the soles of Atticus's shoes..." shout out to geology!
"Her face was the color of a dirty pillow case..."
"There was indeed a caste system in Maycomb, but to my mind it worked this way..."
"Yonder's some Mennonites, Jem said to Dill. They don't have buttons."

Plot: 10/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing Style: 10/10
Thought Provoking: 10/10
Recommend: 10/10

Calpurnia, Jem, and Scout (from the movie).