A review by nindie
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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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