Reviews with content warning for Suicide - To Kill a Mockingbird

Wow. I really dropped the ball not reading this one until now. I'm sure it's much more impactful as a parent, though. Gripping, emotional ride from start to finish. Such perfect detail I had to keep reminding myself that it's a work of fiction.

Favorite fictional father so far! Just wow. And the slow unfolding of events as understood by a child overhearing things and not fully grasping the implications of situations is just perfection.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Racism, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Incest, Animal death, Sexism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Ableism, Confinement, Drug use, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Slavery, Stalking, and Terminal illness

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Suicide, and War

This book is for adults. It centers around a rape trial in which a black man is (falsely) accused of assaulting a white woman in a heavily segregated Alabama town.

It's deeply immersive, in a culture where racism is woven into the culture and impossible to avoid. The KKK and the "War Between the States" are part of recent cultural memory. Black defendants are always convicted no matter what. Lynching and mob violence are a very near threat.

Expectedly, the n-word abounds, among other racial slurs. Other language is not infrequent, including he**, g-d-, b****, wh*re, d**n, sl*t, etc. Lord's name in vain quite a few times.

Lots of death--not gory, but as close as it gets without actually witnessing it. Old age, and talk of the body being carried out of the home. Death penalty discussed often. A man dies:

the defendant, by 18ish bullet wounds, while trying to escape a prison camp.

Another man is killed while

trying to murder children, via stabbing by an unexpected rescuer. One child receives a horribly broken arm and is knocked out.

A rabid dog is shot.

Domestic violence:

the accusing white woman was actually beaten heavily by her father when he discovered she was making advances on the black man.

Morphine addiction is discussed and withdrawals are shown.

Both respectable and "unrespectable" poverty are shown.

Schoolyard bullying and fights, neighborhood verbal abuse and gossip about many culturally relevant "deficiencies" like unladylikeness, mental illness, intellectual disability, not being sufficiently racist, etc.

Lots of portrayals of Christianity. Some are good, including the nearest relationships to the MC, but many are not. A neighbor reports that a different sort of baptist told her she was going to hell, MC loses "confidence in pulpit gospel" when thinking on what a good person the neighbor is. "Foot-washers think women are a sin by definition. They take the Bible literally, you know." The ladies' missionary society talks about global cultures with pity and exaggeration, often conflating spiritual issues with cultural differences. A white employer tells her black housekeeper she's not being a good Christian when she is visibly affected by a serious injustice in the local community and nearly fired her for it. Etc, many more.

Other spiritual content: Kids spook each other with talk of spirits on dirt roads. "Dill was a villain's villain: he could get into any character part assigned him, and appear tall if height was part of the devilry required. "

Besides the rape trial and moderately explicit testimony, which includes brief mention of domestic SA, there's other, more minor sexual content. Incest in local families is mentioned very specifically a few times. There's a quick joke about infidelity. Kids lie and say they were playing strip poker, which gets them into trouble (less because they played with matches instead of cards). There's a "swift" kid kiss, and a boy climbs into bed with a girl he keeps promising to marry some day, but it's platonic.

"I'll tan you" and many other such comments, severe corporal punishment for children being an expected part of the culture. Kids laugh when the teacher gives "quick little pats" on the hand when they realize it was meant to be a "whipping".

dylansday_'s review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mrs_gale's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Unpopular opinion but I didn't like this book. Some parts were good, but most of it was slow and uninteresting.

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elspethmigliore's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i usually wouldn’t find myself rating a book i read for school so high, but i think this story deserves it.

there’s so many layers to this story and so much to unpack, so i’ll just say that i genuinely enjoyed it. i know it’s controversial, but i really did like it. i laughed and cried and i think it was very reflective in many ways. the character development was incredible, but also i guess that’s the point of the story. the way scout reflects on her story at the end from a different perspective gave me a very strong sense of completeness. i’m sad after reading this, but also i feel ready to go into my english class tomorrow and reflect on it.

definitely a reread ✅

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pasdecat's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is an incredible, tear jerking, life changing book. R.I.P Harper Lee

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jmeyers888's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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nindie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I read this book for my English homework since we have coursework or an exam based around it counting towards my GCSE grade. In short, my teacher forced my class and me to read it within a deadline which is never helpful in enjoying a book personally.

While reading the book, my main thought was constantly wishing to finish the book. Not only was it because I had a deadline coming up, but also it was because I found the book to be predominantly dull. There were many descriptions, characters, scenarios and even chapters that I felt were pointless in including or making a lengthy part of the book when it was unnecessary. A lot of these things included barely contributed to the plot, characters and overall themes. Because of this, the only sections where I had an interest in because they were significant were the

court trial involving Tom Robinson and the ending where Arthur Radley saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell.

Other things that were significant to the story were written out in a lengthy way that contributed to the dullness of the book.

There is another thing in which I found a problem, but this was just my personal preferences. I know that society's attitudes towards some communities were very disrespectful and corrupt at the time of this book. Despite this, I still felt tremendously uncomfortable reading this book because of the language used and the characters, even when aware of this information. It isn't the book's fault, in a way. It's because I don't feel as comfortable reading stuff like this, and I had to read this book for school and wasn't aware of how many things like this are in the book.

A last thing to say is I found too many characters included. Assumingly half mentioned wasn't necessary for anything or were mentioned in only 1-3 unimportant sentences. At one point, there were so many that I couldn't keep track of who was who.

All I was pointing out were negative points, but I like the themes it discusses, and I look forward to analysing the text thoroughly to learn more about those themes for my school work.

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vtuber's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

idek what to say about this. fantastic use of symbols and a plot that isn't slow even though it includes 3 years of events. part one is alright (setting up the pieces on the board) but part two is amazing. harper lee really builds an image of scout's neighborhood and the people living in maycomb. i feel this town is doomed forever and simultaneously hopeful that they can change. lots of discussion of racism, gender, and class divides throughout that are so important but i feel like i cant even articulate my words for what needs to be said about them so just read the damn book please

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