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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and I loved this too, though I acknowledge that it was not as strong a story as TKaM. Harper Lee's down to earth writing style wins me over without fail. Scout's spunk and tendency to act impulsively and stand passionately for what she believes make her a great hero for any tale. I think her struggle in growing up to find her father is not quite what she held him up to be is realistic, even if it is a tad dramatic. Scout doesn't do anything half way, so it falls in line with her character to b passionate about her morals. The biggest flaw with this is that the flashbacks get to be a bit lengthy and the story feels unfocused at times. In the end it all ties together, but I did find myself having to flip back to figure out what she was doing before a flashback started.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think we should have let Ms. Harper Lee be a one hit wonder. We did not need any of this.
I'm not exactly disappointed, but I'm kind of ambivalent. The characters seemed at once familiar and foreign. I grew up in the north during the Civil Rights Movement and things here were much different than they were in the south. Living in New York as an adult, Scout seems to have absorbed a lot of northern thinking, which puts her at odds with most of the citizens of Maycomb on her visit back home. I've read reviews that call Atticus a racist. I wouldn't exactly say that. I would say he was a product of his time and place. I was a little surprised at all the cursing in the book. That didn't seem to follow logically from "To Kill a Mockingbird".
I liked this a lot more then I thought I would. I pushed on in reading it when my sister told me to give it a shot and while I can understand some of the uproar about the book's contents, I think the novel worked on a necessary issue that all children have once they have grown up and have to come to terms with the fact that their hero parent is as human as anyone else. Scout was still the same brilliant little girl she was in To Kill a Mockingbird, only older and more in control of who she was as a person. If she'd been anything else, I would have hated this book. I read this for Scout and it was worth the read to see her again.
I'm glad this was published, but I'm so glad Harper Lee re-wrote it and created To Kill a Mockingbird years ago. It was nice to "come home" to familiar characters in Maycomb, and I didn't mind getting an inside look into Atticus. I felt like this book was mainly about how people can make excuses for racism, which is still going on today. I guess I'm not as forgiving as Scout.
And I really didn't like the sections that were written like this: "Look sister, we know the facts: you spent the first twenty-one years of your life in the lunching country, in a country whose population is two-thirds agricultural Negro. So drop the act" (178). The whole Jean Louise talking to the reader/self thing didn't work for me.
And then it switches to "You are fascinated with yourself. You will say anything that occurs to you, but what I can't understand are the things that do occur to you. I should like to take your head apart, put a fact in it, and watch it go its way through the runnels of your brain until it comes out of your mouth" (175). So now Scout is trash-talking directly to Hester, a woman she went to school with.
And I really didn't like the sections that were written like this: "Look sister, we know the facts: you spent the first twenty-one years of your life in the lunching country, in a country whose population is two-thirds agricultural Negro. So drop the act" (178). The whole Jean Louise talking to the reader/self thing didn't work for me.
And then it switches to "You are fascinated with yourself. You will say anything that occurs to you, but what I can't understand are the things that do occur to you. I should like to take your head apart, put a fact in it, and watch it go its way through the runnels of your brain until it comes out of your mouth" (175). So now Scout is trash-talking directly to Hester, a woman she went to school with.
There's some books that should never have a sequel. This is one of the sequels that should never have been written. This was awful and I had no idea what any of the characters were banging on about. And Atticus is now a racist? Easily the biggest let down I've ever read and I'm glad I borrowed it from the library instead of spending £££'s on it.
Ok, so I liked it's being a sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird, but oh, my god...
Spoilers
Of all the people she had to kill off, WHY JEM? As he was a favourite character in TKAMB, I felt really sad while reading this.
Dill in Europe sounds pretty okay by me, but why forget to tell him that Jem died? I mean...
Henry Clinton seems a pretty okay guy in the beginning, but did that change by the end of the book...
And, last but not least, Atticus.
I'm so mad I can't even.
Spoilers
Of all the people she had to kill off, WHY JEM? As he was a favourite character in TKAMB, I felt really sad while reading this.
Dill in Europe sounds pretty okay by me, but why forget to tell him that Jem died? I mean...
Henry Clinton seems a pretty okay guy in the beginning, but did that change by the end of the book...
And, last but not least, Atticus.
I'm so mad I can't even.
Although your view of Atticus will be forever tainted, the character development of our primary protagonist and her hometown may make up for your loss.