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tea_at_mole_end's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, and Slavery
Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and War
softanimal's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
2.0
I didn't know about the controversy surrounding the publication of the book until I had nearly finished it so I decided to go ahead and read the rest. I feel that generally speaking reading a book an author didn't want published is ill-considered and criticizing it is somewhat unfair. As such, here's the caveat that Harper Lee's desired for this not to be shared.
That said, this book was terrible. The writing is condescending to the reader, every character is condescending to the protagonist, and the protagonist is a hateful kind of condescending regarding all black people. There are good moments, some actually laugh out loud funny or heart-achingly tender. However, overall the book is absurdly and entirely devoted to the feelings of its white characters which though not unimportant in general obscures the violently anti-Black reality that is the undercurrent of both the lives of the characters and the narrative itself. This book somehow manages to simultaneously be about racism and totally focused on white people's feelings about just about everything but racism.
[Spoilers]
The worst part emotionally was having it ruin my admiration of Atticus Finch but in a way that was the best part, too. The point of the book (as it was annoyingly explained in the last few pages) is that your heroes are just people and people are fallable. Good point. But did Atticus have to have been a Klan member at one point???
That said, this book was terrible. The writing is condescending to the reader, every character is condescending to the protagonist, and the protagonist is a hateful kind of condescending regarding all black people. There are good moments, some actually laugh out loud funny or heart-achingly tender. However, overall the book is absurdly and entirely devoted to the feelings of its white characters which though not unimportant in general obscures the violently anti-Black reality that is the undercurrent of both the lives of the characters and the narrative itself. This book somehow manages to simultaneously be about racism and totally focused on white people's feelings about just about everything but racism.
[Spoilers]
The worst part emotionally was having it ruin my admiration of Atticus Finch but in a way that was the best part, too. The point of the book (as it was annoyingly explained in the last few pages) is that your heroes are just people and people are fallable. Good point. But did Atticus have to have been a Klan member at one point???
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Classism
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Torture, Police brutality, Medical content, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol