Reviews with content warning for Racism - To Kill a Mockingbird

A beautifully written book. I was assigned to read it for my English class, and I was amazed to how much I ended up liking it. The beginning was a little slow, but after it got really good. I especially love the writing of Boo Radley and Scout.

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thefool124's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

Warning very minor spoilers. But I'll highlight the major spoilers.

To be honest, I only picked up this book as an aspiring law student looking to put something on my university application; also, my friend told me that it was one of the most boring books he has ever read. But I learnt a very important lesson: decide things for yourself. Because 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was a damn good novel.

The PoV character Scout, in particular, was a masterclass in writing a clearly clever child but a child nonetheless. A lot of authors fall down the trap of making the "clever child" act and act like an adult but Scout, despite having a remarkably inquisitive nature and booksmarts, still had blind spots when it came to societal knowledge and, especially at the start of the novel, was prone to immaturity and anger.

The novel also has one of my favourite depictions of parenting. Atticus (more on the man later) never forced ideas upon his children and instead, he acted as a role model and allowed certain habits to form organically in his Jem and Scout. For example, Atticus always reads in the evenings and so the children, impressionable, develop a voracious reading habit. And Atticus never had a fixed ideal of what his children were meant to be. When Jem makes a snowman, Atticus marvels at his talent, saying he could become an artist. But, admittedly, it was a strange parenting dynamic in that the kids called Atticus "Sir" and there was a certain distance between them at the start. But when matters escalated, Atticus never abandoned his children emotionally and always comforted them, allowing the stoic walls to fall. And really, that is what mattered.

There is great underlying message of moral resilience. In this class-steeped, traditional town of Maycomb, those who stand up for equality and what is right, like Atticus, are spat upon and those only maintain this grand racial delusion are only rewarded. For example,

the result of the court case.

So, it is seems a hopeless world, one not worth fighting against. But Atticus fights anyway. Though Atticus doesn't change much in the novel, he is a great example of a "lawful good" character in the vein of Ned Stark done well. He acknowledges and is surrounded by the evils of society and yet he decides to be fair and good.

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camhfn's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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pinkbunnyy's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

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charlotte_kuckuck's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

1.5

i read this book twice. Once for school and before that because i was bored. Just like 13 reasons why my hatred for this book only grew reading it for the second time. While I appreciate the values portrait the finished product is boring and the values drown in the wasteland that is this book. I liked the ending but to get there you'll have to suffer through boring descriptions and an outdated language. While i think there is a ton of symbolism and ways to interpret this book i don't think that everyone and their mother should read it in school, especially since it's the default option of racism being discussed in a lot of cases. The n*word is literally used a few times and i think there are better books to teach a 12th grade or any grade about the judicial system or the systemic racism in America and all around the world.

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